About Us

Soundball Singapore (Soundball SG) is a non-profit organization made up of volunteers who are passionate to bring the sport of tennis to the wider visually impaired (VI) community. Through Blind tennis, we want to make a positive impact to the lives of the VI in our community.

Since early 2012, Soundball SG has been conducting weekly Saturday sessions for the VI community. We started with a few keen VI participants and now we have over ten players playing regularly under our programmes today.

Besides our community programmes to promote healthy living and social integration through Soundball, we also actively participate in exchange programmes and overseas tournaments with members of International Blind Tennis Association (IBTA).

Whilst our focus is to reach out to the wider VI community, the continued growth and success of Soundball would not have been possible without our group of volunteers. Through the dedication and support of our volunteers, Soundball continues to grow and to bring the sport of Blind Tennis to the VI in Singapore.

Our History

Soundball SG was founded in 2012 by Ms Sook Zhen. She chanced upon the game on a BBC documentary and as an advocate of empowering the visually impaired, she was inspired and immediately reached out to her friends in Japan to send her some soundballs.

We had no funds to afford tennis equipment such as racquets and special sponge tennis balls that cost S$20 each then. The premises at SAVH were less than ideal. The ground was uneven and our players depended on the ball bouncing predictably.

The shelter had a tin roof and when it rained our players could not hear the balls bounce. After scouring the island for over half a year, we were grateful when Pathlight School allowed us to use their school hall to conduct our weekly session.

Tennis racket and soundball balls.

As the group grew in size and skills, a single session was no longer enough. Our co-founder, Kenneth Ng, found another training location at United World College and increased the sessions to twice a week and organised the first local blind tennis tournament.

Fast forward to 2021 when Covid-19 affected all sport activities globally, we could no longer train in these schools. However, that did not dampen our spirits. With luck and determination, the newly appointed Head of Soundball SG, Ms Chris Hortin, secured a partnership with SportCares to have our regular sessions at public tennis courts around Singapore. This greatly increased the visibility of the game and helped spread awareness of Soundball.

Our Philosophy

Vision

To be able to play blind tennis anytime, anywhere around the world with anyone.

Mission

To promote the well-being and social integration of the visually impaired community through active participation in blind tennis.

Patience | Agility | Commitment | Excellence

“Attitude determines Altitude”

Soundball is about believing in yourself.

At Soundball SG, we believe that every visually impaired player, despite their disability, deserves to play sports. and every player can strive beyond his or her perceived limits.

 

Our Programmes

Check out the many ways we engage the community!

Soundball For All

Our regular training sessions had been re-branded as “Soundball for All”, as we believe this game can be enjoyed by anyone of all abilities.

From 16 July 2022, we piloted the “Soundball for All” to have a group of partially sighted and sighted kids to learn Soundball together as we believe the game can be enjoyed by everyone of any abilities. Through the 8 session specially crafted by our dedicated volunteer coaches, the kids were taught the fundamentals of tennis by playing Soundball. Through this common learning experience, the kids are learn to understand, accept and respect the VI community.

Let's Play Soundball​

We recognise that is not many physical games in which the VI and his/her family/care-giver are participating together.

Hence we piloted this ad-hoc programme to promote healthy living among VI through regular participation in sports and to build relationship between care-givers & care-recipients through a common sport activity

Soundball at Ahmad Ibrahim

As part of our outreach program, Soundball made history by starting a weekly program for the VI students at Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary school.

Our plan is to reach out to more VI students in Singapore so that they can enjoy an early start in life to play sports, which is so important in helping them to develop their fundamental movement skills.

The Team

Meet the lovely people driving the community.

Chris Hortin-Tan, Head

Marc Chiang, Assistant Head

Valerie Ng, Treasurer

Interested to learn more?

Drop us a note and say hi!

Help us improve our website.

Soundball SG is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and applying the relevant accessibility standards. We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of Soundball SG. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers on our website.

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