Southlake man helps U.S. to high finish in wheelchair tennis

Southlake’s Steve Welch recently competed in the Wheelchair Tennis Premier International Team Competition in The Netherlands, where he and the U.S. Men’s team finished seventh overall, a four-place jump from last year's competition.

Welch, who began competing in wheelchair basketball when he was just a child, said he took up tennis because, among other things, he liked the challenge of it.

“I contracted a bone disease when I was eight years old in 1980,” Welch said. “I played basketball most of my life. When I was about 16, I picked up tennis. A guy on my basketball team introduced me to it, and it was totally different. It was an individual sport, so I did both for most of my life, but now that I am 42, I don't play basketball. It is a lot more physical, and that is one of the things I really love about tennis is you can really play at any age.”

Welch actually competed in wheelchair tennis for a living throughout his “younger years” and then quit for a while, but said the allure of the sport got him to pick it back up again about three or four years ago.

“The challenge just really appeals to me,” Welch said. “Now, the biggest appeal is the travel. It's a pretty extensive tour. Every week it's between two and five tournaments, which is a lot more extensive than when I started playing.”

The men’s wheelchair tennis team finished 11th last year at the international competition, and Welch said he was pleased with how his team performed at this year’s event.

“It was one of our best showings in recent times,” Welch said. “We hadn't had our best two guys show up for a while for various reasons, so we did pretty good.”

Welch said he competes in about 12 tournaments per year and said that on Paralympic years, that goes up about four or five tournaments.

“I have a little daughter,” Welch said. “So I can't be doing it all the time like I used to.”

Welch said he is not sure how much longer he will continue to play, but said when people watch him play, he would hope that they take away a couple of things.

“I can certainly understand how it would be inspirational for some people,” Welch said. “But sometimes when I watch some of these other guys that have more severe disabilities playing, I'm inspired by them. I would hope that people would see it and realize that there is always somebody better off and somebody worse off than you are.

“If someone is inspired by watching somebody play that has some challenges and has overcome them, than I’m happy about that.”