Nicky Maxwell announced as QCF ambassador
The Queen’s Club Foundation (“QCF”), the official charity of The Queen’s Club, is delighted to announce that Nicky Maxwell has agreed to be The QCF’s first Ambassador. Nicky, a former Harvard sprinter and single leg amputee para-standing tennis player will be assisting The QCF in developing its work further in the inclusive tennis arena.
Nicky is currently working with the LTA as a disability tennis advisor to help get this tennis category recognised in the UK alongside studying for his Masters in International Relations in the US. Nicky recently promoted the sport playing at US Open 2023 in a Para-Standing Tennis exhibition.
Para-Standing Tennis is a category of tennis for individuals with a physical disability – such as amputees, Cerebral Palsy or individuals who have suffered a stroke – who wish to play ambulatory tennis instead of using a wheelchair. The category is currently recognised in several other countries, including the US, Australia, Chile, Japan, Germany, and Sweden.
Nicky is looking forward to supporting The QCF and has already been involved in one of the Charity’s popular family inclusive festivals at The Queen’s Club, where he spoke about his experience of tennis to the children and their parents at the event.
The QCF delivers excellence in outreach across Hammersmith & Fulham and beyond with the mission of “improving lives through racket sports”. The charity provides free weekly tennis and squash classes for children in the local community, including inclusive classes for children with special educational needs and disabilities. In the last year alone, The QCF has worked with 502 children and young people and 22 adults, improving lives through racket sports.
Nicky Maxwell said “I am so excited to be working with The QCF. They are an outstanding organisation that is instinctively supportive of disability sport, and I am so excited to help grow participation in tennis among a new audience. It is an exciting time for para-standing tennis in the UK and globally, and I am grateful that The QCF is in the vanguard of that effort.”
Kate Maurici, Head of Foundation, said: “Nicky is an inspirational athlete, whose passion for tennis, and his gentle sense of humour, make him extremely popular amongst those to whom we deliver our outreach programmes. We are really looking forward to working with Nicky to help widen knowledge of the opportunities for those with disabilities to take up the sport”
To find out more about The QCF, and how you can support further, please visit www.queensclubfoundation.co.uk