Heroes in the Arkansas Tennis Community
USTA Arkansas would like to thank all the Heroes in our Arkansas Tennis Community! If you know of a Hero in our community we could highlight please email Brittany@ArkTennis.com.
September 2016 Hero: Cheyanne Sweatt, High School Tennis Player
Cheyanne Rachel Sweatt is a high school senior in Hot Springs, has autism and loves tennis! Life has been a struggle for Cheyanne, but tennis has been her light through the fight.
In 2007 her parents “saw a diamond in the rough” at the Department of Human Services and decided to adopt their third daughter. Cheyanne was non-verbal, hurt and angry. Any real communication with her was difficult. As an outlet for her frustrations, her father decided to introduce Cheyanne to tennis.
As Cheyanne reached 6th grade she was playing tennis daily for in-school therapy. Her father was also playing with her every minute he could spare. “Immersing herself in something she likes is one of her issues which are normally negative” Mrs. Sweatt explains, but tennis has surprisingly been a different story. Cheyanne discovered USTA sanctioned tournaments in 2014 and loves to compete. “Cheyanne doesn’t always understand her opponent’s words, but she does understand the hand signals for “in” and “out”. Cheyanne enjoys math, so scoring is not an issue. Cheyanne also never forgets anything that enters her brain. She can tell you who she played, when she played and what the score was in a match! If you give her time to think…she will tell you where those “deuces” were and ho
w the score almost changed!” explains Cheyanne’s mother.
Cheyanne would like to thank USTA League player, Kyle Clem. Kyle accepted this delightful tennis challenge and has helped guide Cheyanne on this tennis journey. Although life is sometimes a struggle, through tennis Cheyanne is learning and practicing life lessons; “let it go”, “one point at a time”, how to win, how to lose, and how being happy is the biggest win in life!