“Sometimes,” he said, “they put another layer of tape on with the sticky side out, so they can push their chair better.”
Late last year, however, Norton started to miss on-court teaching and contacted Ajay Pant, the general manager at Midtown, about working in the Kansas City area.
Pant said he tried to dissuade Norton at first, thinking the move would be a step backward from his work with the USTA. But Norton was persistent, and Pant realized he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring such an established teaching talent onto his team.
Norton became director of junior high performance at Midtown Tennis Club in October.
He said it’s only a matter of time before he gets a wheelchair tennis program established in the Kansas City area.
“I was at Wal-Mart the other day, and one of the greeters at the door was in a chair,” Norton said. “I talked to him a bit, and he told me there weren’t many programs in the area.
“I’ll build it up given time. The first thing I’ll probably do is go to rehab facilities, get the word started. St. Louis has a pretty big (professional wheelchair) tournament. The No. 3 quad player in the world, Nick Taylor, lives in Wichita.
“There’s no reason why we can’t have something here.
“Just to know what these people have accomplished and the satisfaction they get out of it … it’s huge.”
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