How two Midwest teens are changing the game as para-standing tennis players

Enacting change isn’t easy—and when it comes to doing so, there’s an old refrain that says young people will be the ones to lead the way. This is currently ringing true on the tennis court for two Midwest teenagers—Annabelle Murphy, 17, and Sharla Plier, 15—who are living proof of a more inclusive era that’s currently blossoming in the sport.

Both young women have made a name for themselves at their schools and in their communities as para-standing athletes, a modality in tennis in which amputees and players with other mobility challenges play standing up rather than while being seated in a wheelchair. Macomb, Mich. native Murphy was born with a congenital upper limb difference and uses a prosthetic arm, and first picked up a tennis racquet at age 7. Plier, from Port Washington, Wisc., was born with the condition tibial hemimelia—missing tibia bones in her legs—which resulted in the bilateral through-the-knee amputations when she was 14 months old. An athlete from the age of 9, Plier tried sled hockey, track and field, and swimming before getting on court.

The individual nature of a sport like tennis is what makes it ripe to be adapted to all ages and ability levels. There are hundreds of tennis programs around the U.S. that cater specifically to, and tailor the sport for, players with physical, and cognitive and developmental, disabilities—but Murphy and Plier are unique in that they are truly integrated in their high school teams. They compete alongside able-bodied teammates, and against competitors from other schools. 

To do so, they’ve overcome many challenges, and had many people supporting them on and off the court. Murphy’s disability has necessitated her developing her own playing style—but it’s one that she says is difficult for opponents to adjust to. It begins with the first shot of a rally, the serve, where she tosses the ball up with her racquet to hit it. Her one-handed backhand, a rare shot even for an able-bodied teenager in the modern game, is played almost exclusively with slice.

“A lot of kids, they can’t hit that because it’s spinning so much,” she says, “so there’s a point where a disadvantage is almost an advantage.”

“Ever since she was little, I’ve always described her as having quiet determination,” Murphy’s mother, Michelle, adds. “She's up for anything … and she just puts her mind to it. She starts working hard, and never makes excuses. She just finds a workaround and does what works for her, and I think tennis is a sport that really lends itself to that.”

But victories aside, these young women are also an example just how beneficial tennis can be.

Many studies have shown that the sport has numerous positive impacts on overall health and wellness—those who play can live nearly 10 years longer than those who don’t, for one—for players of every age and ability. Michelle Murphy says that the inherent problem-solving and self-sufficiency that comes with playing tennis has “helped flesh out” her daughter’s natural determination and other qualities. This was evident for Plier, too, as recently as the last school year, when she experienced some health challenges from the months of February through April.

“Her biggest motivation in feeling better and getting better was getting back on the tennis court, because she knew the season was coming,” her mom, Pam Plier, says. “I think from a mental health aspect, it’s something that gets her up and drives her … because she wants to be there.”