Corollary tennis is the game of tennis that allows for inclusion of athletes with varying physical and mental abilities. One of the key factors in a game of tennis is the grip on the tennis racket handle. Grip can refer to the player’s hand positioning and grasp of the racket handle, as well as the attachment where the racket is held. Corollary tennis players often have difficulty maintaining proper hand positioning on the racket while playing, due to lack of endurance and muscle strength. According to the United States Tennis Association, “Physical symptoms vary considerably from one disease to the other in this category, but are often characterized either by some degree of muscular, skeletal, or joint impairments that may affect mobility” (Manual for Teaching Adaptive Tennis, 2006). These impairments may result in the difficulty of controlling grip on the racket handle, which can affect overall game performance.
The project will change the ergonomics of the tennis racket used by corollary tennis players through
…show more content…
To start the process, the standard wrap-around grip, that is connected to the racket neck, will be removed. The racket shaft will be covered in a quarter inch layer of modeling clay all the way around where the racket is grasped. The clay-covered racket handle will then be tightly squeezed, forming finger indentations in the clay. The modeling clay model will serve as an example to base the drawings off of. Another clay mold will be created by asking another person to clutch the clay-covered handle. As many clay models as possible will be created with the amount of clay available. This will provide a variety of hand and finger outline and indentation samples to guide in the final design. Sketches of the grip will be drawn on paper to supply a blueprint of the arrangement of indentations on the handle. Relative measurements of the racket and hand will be kept in mind while outlining the