Meet the tennis coach leading a team to Deaflympics

Catherine Graham has been head coach at Ramsbury Tennis Club for nearly 20 years

A deaf tennis coach who helped grow a small rural club into a thriving hub is preparing to lead a team of players to the 2025 Deaflympics in Tokyo.

Catherine Graham has herself competed five times at the Deaflympics, winning gold in the mixed doubles in Taiwan in 2009.

For nearly 20 years, she has been head coach at Ramsbury Tennis Club in Wiltshire – winning awards for her work and the rural club along the way.

So far, two British players have been selected for this year's Deaflympics in November, with more expected to be announced. "I'm very excited about taking my team out there to Japan," she said.

The Deaflympics, inspired by the Olympics and sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee, were first held in 1924 in Paris.

This year, Britain is sending at least 100 competitors and support staff to compete in sports including swimming and football.

Ms Graham is head coach for the Deaflympics team – as well as being the Lawn Tennis Association's national deaf tennis coach.

She said she had retired from competitive deaf tennis in 2012 and the national coach role "felt like a natural step".

Ms Graham competed five times at the Deaflympics. She now focuses on coaching others

In 2020, following a successful year for British tennis players at the World Deaf Tennis Championships in Turkey, she won the coach of the year award at the Deaf Sports Personality of the Year.

One of the players she is taking to Tokyo is Lewis Fletcher, her fellow head coach at Ramsbury, who has competed in the Deaflympics in previous years.

Together, Ms Graham and Mr Fletcher have helped grow the club into a large centre, with seven floodlit courts.

In 2022, Ramsbury won the Lawn Tennis Association's award for county club of the year.

Lewis Fletcher, fellow head coach, has also represented Great Britain at the Deaflympics

Ms Graham said it had been a privilege to see her local club go from "strength to strength".

"The membership has grown strongly, the standard of play has risen and the programme now caters for all ages and abilities," she said.

"The support from members and the committee has been outstanding and it has helped me become the coach I am today."

Ramsbury Tennis Club has seven floodlit pitches

Speaking about the upcoming Deaflympics, Mr Fletcher said: "It's great to have Catherine on board.

"With her wealth of experience, both playing and coaching, and also her understanding of the international deaf scene, we're very lucky to have her."