The room went quiet and all that could be heard was the sobbing of an emotional young man. His crying was soon drowned out as the small crowd of fans and media rose to their feet and began applauding. He had just reached the pinnacle of disabled tennis with a win in the US Open quadriplegic wheelchair tennis division a few days prior, beating the world number one in the final. Lucas Sithole was not ready for the media circus which followed. He simply had never dreamt of this moment.
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Back in 1998, 12-year-old Sithole, without much direction in life, found new meaning following a tragic accident in Dunhouser, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Helping load goods onto a train with a friend, Lucas was caught underneath the wheels of the train when it started moving and his body was shredded to pieces. What remained was his left arm, but most of his right arm and both his legs were gone. For Lucas, it was if the world he knew was destroyed in an instant. Depression washed over him and for a while there was no end to his nightmare. The glimmer of hope appeared later when he turned to disabled sport.
At first, Sithole did not know which sport to take up and he started with athletics. When he moved to Pretoria in 2005 to complete his schooling, he switched to wheelchair tennis. He excelled in the discipline.
By 2011, he had risen to the top-ranked player in South Africa. Even then, Sithole was abundantly clear about what tennis had done for his life.
“Tennis gives me a reason to live,” said Sithole in April 2011, when he was already ranked 14th in the world.
“Tennis is an individual sport, and I don&#8217;t like playing team sports. Tennis is life, and it gives me life. It all started when I accepted myself after my accident. I didn&#8217;t stay indoors, I went to look for help and my primary school was a big help.”
The approach he takes, the humble man admits, is a mental one. It is about never looking back, staying in the moment and planning for the future.
Watching Sithole move around the court with ease in his wheelchair is a sight to behold. Throwing the ball up while holding the racket, both with his left hand, he boasts a powerful serve. But, it is the way he moves around using the stump of his right arm to turn the wheel of his chair and then his left hand which helps produce his speed.
His conduct on the court has also drawn much praise and he is idolized in the disabled community. On his return to South Africa, he was greeted by large crowds of disabled school pupils all hurrying to get an autograph from the first African to win a title at the US Open.
When asked where his inspiration comes from, Sithole says his coach.
“In wheelchair tennis my role model is my coach Holger Losch.”
Losch was a regular tennis coach and had to make the adjustment to quad tennis, but the partnership has grown in strength since they joined forces.
He too, was not short of praise for his star player.
“We are really proud of him for his win and the way he behaved,&#8221; says Losch.
Now, Sithole—having risen to number two in the world in the quad division after his win in the final over the number-one-ranked David Wagner—is readjusting his goals. Having competed in his first Paralympics in London in 2012, his major goal will be to win a medal at the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro.
In the meantime, Losch says he hopes the success of Sithole will inspire many more disabled athletes in South Africa and in particular the already growing sport of wheelchair tennis.
“Nine years ago, there were about three players playing wheelchair tennis in South Africa. Now there are about 500 children playing wheelchair tennis every week. We host six tournaments in [the country] on an annual basis and that&#8217;s just great for the game.”
Meanwhile, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, the deputy minister of disabled people, says Sithole&#8217;s success in the sport will give hope to the entire disabled population of the Rainbow Nation.
“From Newcastle [KwaZulu-Natal] to New York that’s quite a journey for Lucas. When people with special needs are recognized they can achieve anything.”
Bogopane-Zulu says the possibilities are endless now that Sithole has announced himself on the world stage with his major win.
“March on and give disabled people a chance. We need to recognize the rights of the disabled to give them the belief to achieve. We need people to invest in wheelchair tennis so we can produce more Lucas Sitholes.”
Even the sport’s national governing body, Tennis South Africa (TSA), were quick to congratulate Sithole, with the president Bongani Zondi heaping praise on the 27 year old.
“We are proud as TSA to have a champion at long last and also a black South African. We are proud of Holger and all the work Wheelchair Tennis South Africa are doing.”
Sithole was a student at Philadelphia Secondary School. Thirteen-year-old Neliswe attends the same school says she wants to be just like the tennis star. For the young girl, who was born without legs, the chance to rub shoulders with one of her idols is an experience she says she will never forget.
Following on from his title at the US Open, Sithole reached the final of the Australian Open in January. Despite winning the first set, the South African could not hold Wagner off in the final two.
Whether or not Sithole goes on to win more big events, it is quite clear to see that he has already accomplished his mission.

The Ball Bashing Role Model  On A Roll

Justin Smith pulled into the driveway after attending his mom’s surprise 60th birthday. His girlfriend at the time got out the car to fix the jammed gate when she suddenly screamed and ran inside the house.
“There was a knock on the window and I instinctively put the car into reverse and as I was reversing out, the hijackers started shooting at me,” says Smith as he draws a deep breath.
He lost control and crashed the car across the road. The hijackers came around, tossed him out the car and demanded his cell phone, wallet and jacket.
“As I was taking off my watch, I heard a gunshot and that was that. It was like a computer rebooting. As you hit the reset button it all goes dark and then everything starts coming back again.”
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Smith was airlifted to hospital where he received the devastating news. The bullet was lodged in his C6 vertebra and doctors could not operate as it would cause more damage. There was nothing they could do other than sticking a band-aid over the hole and hope for the best. Lying in the hospital bed, with no sensation from his shoulders down, reality began to set in.
“My mind was just racing: Where to now? What are we going to do? What’s my future going to be? Here I am, 28 years old, a week before my 29th birthday, now what?”
The months that followed were spent with councilors and physiotherapists in a rehabilitation center where Smith began to regain his strength. Smith’s unnatural positivity had one of the councilors concerned about his state of mind.
“At the end she said to me, ‘Did anyone explain to you there are certain steps that you go through in terms of acceptance?’ I said, ‘No, I obviously just went straight to the end.’”
His progress was slow yet consistent and as he began to move his arms, toes and legs the possibility of being able to walk again seemed promising.
Smith’s research led him to the Project Walk website, a company based in the United States (US) that specializes in spinal injuries. He relocated to California for nine months where he went through intensive rehabilitation and was able to walk with a walker. The trip cost him close to R1 million ($90,000). It was here that he met a friend who would introduce him to EKSO Bionics, a company that made a suit that could help paralyzed people walk. The battery-operated suit fits over people’s clothes and its motors control the steps of the person inside it. When EKSO came to South Africa in 2012, Smith went to test the so-called miracle suit. After only 30 steps in the EKSO, he was sold.
His dream of creating a center like the one he had seen in the US began to take shape when he bought an EKSO suit for R1.7 million ($153,000). He found a small office space in Johannesburg and created a gym with the equipment he had acquired over the years. Just Walk Bionics opened its doors in June 2012 and has since acquired more than 40 clients who have clocked in more than 80,000 steps in the EKSO suit. Sessions cost R900 ($80) for an hour in the suit and R370 ($33) for 45 minutes on the fitness equipment. The rehabilitation center’s aim is to bring hope to wheelchair-bound patients who never thought they would walk again.
“It’s like a light switch goes on. They’re apprehensive at first because they don’t know what’s going to happen. Then they go through all the steps and it stands them up into a bridge position and they stand there and they just look at the world from a totally different elevation,” he says.
Like any business, Just Walk Bionics has its fair share of challenges.
“The problem with the clients is that they are people with huge expenses already because of what their disability brings. Because we use new technology, medical aids don’t pay for it, they only refund a certain part of it.”
The company is currently running case studies to show medical aid companies the benefits of EKSO in the hope that they will fund it. The benefits include: relief of pressure sores caused by long periods of sitting, improved circulation and cardio vascular improvements.
Smith sees this project as part of his responsibility to give back to the community and to aid those who cannot afford to take a trip overseas or buy the suit.
“We had a client in Cape Town who spent £5,000 ($8,156) for just one week in the UK to experience the unit. I calculated that he could have walked for an entire year, three times a week for that same price.”
There is no doubt that Smith has achieved a lot. And even though he is wheelchair bound he has enough movement in his legs to drive his dream car.
“Of course you can image the response I got when I rolled in the dealership and said, ‘I’d like to look at one of your Range Rovers.’ The salesman brought one around and I wheeled to the side. I sat there for about five minutes in the doorway looking at everything. With my dad holding the door I managed to pull myself up into a standing position and onto the driver’s seat&#8230; Six months later, I bought one.”
“Nobody said life was going to be easy. Life is full of challenges and it’s how you approach those challenges that get you through it.”
Smith’s face lights up as he speaks of the future upgrades of EKSO and its ability to allow people to climb up ramps and stairs. It all sounds pretty impressive. One day you are told you will never walk again and the next you are climbing stairs. Imagine that.

Tag: Wheelchair

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