OLYMPIC TENNIS CENTRE – SPORT & VENUES EVALUATION REPORT OF ATHENS 2011 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES

TENNIS

1. KEY STATISTICS

Executive SummaryContent: Overall the competition was very successful. The schedule was not affected either by weather conditions or any other delays. Teams and officials were satisfied by the venue, services offered and accommodation conditions.

The CompetitionContent: 5 events were played, (Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles), in 8 morning sessions.56 Awards Ceremonies. A total of 150 athletes 93 male and 57 female and almost 550 matches were played in 8 competition days. The first three days of competition the preliminary rounds were played and the remaining five days the final rounds. The court surface was hard, Decoturf II the same as U.S. Open. The balls that were used were Wilson, Australian Open.

The VenueContent: Olympic Tennis Centre (OAKA complex). The venue has 16 courts in total (Centre court of 8.000 seats, Show Court1, with 3.000 seats, 10 match courts, plus 4 Practice courts. All supporting facilities were in the Centre Court. The venue was particularly well planned in that it provided all groups (athletes, T.O.s, Ball Persons, Media etc) with adequate space. This was recognized as being the major advantage vis a vis venues used in previous Special Olympics Games.

Technical DelegatesThe cooperation with the Technical Delegate and the Assistant Technical Delegate both in the lead up as well as during the Event was excellent. The Technical Delegates, Teresa Leitao and Greg Gibson, were the key persons representing SOI during the Event who with their great experience and hard work contributed to the success of the Event.

The AthletesContent: 150 athletes (93 Men and 57 Women) representing 33 delegations.

Highlight of the Competition: Was the mixed doubles demonstration match which was held at the last day of competition between the two Davis Cup Greek players and two Special Olympic Athletes Alexandros Giakubovits/Brittany Tagliarenni vs Paris Gemouhidis/Kelly Wren

Highlight of the Event: The dance show which was presented from the volunteer’s team of Spectator Services on Centre Court which was followed by the invitation of all the athletes and volunteers to join the dance on centre court. All the athletes enjoyed and loved the dance so much and expressed their feelings.

Unity Sport EventsBoth the three Unity Sport Events that have been organized during the Event have been extremely interesting, exciting and well organized and all the participants have enjoyed them.

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OLYMPIC TENNIS CENTRE – SPORT & VENUES EVALUATION REPORT OF ATHENS 2011 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES

Key LessonsContent: 1. The competition schedule in 8 days was ok but it would be preferable for the competition - although Unity Sport Events have been very exciting- not to involve them so much especially in the first days of competition where preliminary rounds are being played in order to dedicate the whole time in divisioning

2. It would be better if the Head Coaches Meeting is scheduled one day before the start of the preliminaries rounds in order to have enough time to amend the changes that usually occur after the HCM

3. It is extremely important to communicate to all delegations that they should provide the Organizing Committee with the qualifying scores of their athletes in the registration forms and that it should be done by the correct way

Recommendations for Future Special Olympic GamesContent:

Emphasis should be given to divisioning as it is the most crucial element of the whole competition

It would be preferable from a scheduling point of view to have matches in the afternoon when the temperature is not so high

It would be nice for future events that organizers attract more spectators to watch the Games

1. Summary & Facts

Recap on Key Statistics

Statistics Special Olympics

Dates of Competition 26/06 – 03/07/2011 (8 days)

Number of Athletes 150

Number of Sessions 8 morning sessions

Other 12 Match Courts – 4 Practice Courts

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OLYMPIC TENNIS CENTRE – SPORT & VENUES EVALUATION REPORT OF ATHENS 2011 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES

Sport & Venue Staffing

Special Olympics

General sports staff at venue

Discipline specific staff

Total sports staff at venue

Paid 13 13 13

Volunteer 224 224 224

NTOs 45 45 45

ITOs 11 (TD’s included) 11 (TD’s included) 11 (TD’s included)

2. Test EventsContent: Tennis did not organize a Test Event before the World Summer Special Olympics and we believe a Test Event prior to the Games is always useful and helpful. For Tennis this was not a problem, as all the staff was very experienced as most of them had worked for the Olympic Games of Athens 2004 and were also familiar with the venue. Usually, the Test Event should be organized one year prior to Games time and as a full simulation of the actual Special Olympics Event. This means to create the closest possible conditions in terms of staffing (paid and volunteer) all functional areas operations, number of courts, competition schedule, number of sessions, number of athletes, number of T.O’s and staff.

3. Sports EquipmentField of PlayContent:

A list of the equipment used on the match courts is included in the attached document.

Warm UpContent:

For the purposes of this document, warm-up areas are considered the practice courts, and the changing rooms.

The equipment used at these areas is listed in the attached document.

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OLYMPIC TENNIS CENTRE – SPORT & VENUES EVALUATION REPORT OF ATHENS 2011 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES

TrainingContent: For the purposes of this document, the training areas are considered the 4 practice courts, as well as the match courts whenever used for practice.

The equipment used at these areas is listed in the attached document.

Image and Identity did an excellent job regarding the look of sport equipment and made the venue looking extremely nice.

4. GMS The whole Results experience during the Games was quite positive. There were not any serious problems and everything that occurred was dialled very fast and effective. All areas of the Results section (volunteers, results, print distribution and verification of results according to SORIS) worked out very well and the cooperation with the Technical Delegates was smooth and productive.

From the experience gained throughout the eight days of the Event the main recommendations can be summarized in the following:

1 GMS should be able to produce the brackets draw according to the needs of Tennis2 It is absolutely important that GMS can give the tennis score par example ( 4-1 4-0) of every match and not only the

win or loss3 It is not necessary and common in Tennis to produce points for the wins or losses of the matches as in Tennis we use

the score of each match to determine the result 4 It should be taken in consideration not to produce repetitive reports with almost identical information in order to

minimize print distribution and save a large amount of paper

5. Sport PresentationContent:

The Sport Presentation team did the best job they could with the resources available to them. There was presentation and music with a speaker system in both Centre Court and Court One to enhance play.

6. Constituent Group Feedback

Examples of quotes or other types of feedback

Athletes & Team Officials Very good comments about the venue the services and the atmosphere.

ITOs/NTOs Positive about every aspect of the organization, the venue facilities and the atmposhere.

Honoured Guests Very good comments about the venue and the services

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OLYMPIC TENNIS CENTRE – SPORT & VENUES EVALUATION REPORT OF ATHENS 2011 SPECIAL OLYMPICS WORLD SUMMER GAMES

Families Very good comments about the venue the services and the whole atmosphere.

Workforce Very happy, very excited with the Event and the venue, except the food.

Spectators Very enthusiastic about the games played, the courts and the general atmosphere

Other

7. Supplementary Material

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