USTA League Southern Section Championships: News

News of tournament teams

Cancer Survivors Deal With Tough Competition

THREE TYPES OF CANCER HAVEN'T SLOWED TEAMMATES

By Kathryn Osbon/USTA Southern intern

Trey Love/All American Imaging

Nothing can stop the senior women’s 4.0 team from Alabama, even though three different types of cancer have affected more than half of their players.

More than half of the team’s members have overcome breast cancer, skin cancer or cervical cancer at some point in their lives. Throughout all their treatments they all agreed that tennis gave them something to look forward to. Their teammates served as a support system of other survivors that they could not live without.

Captain Sharon Dobbs, who had breast cancer in 1993, said that her opponents were very understanding of her condition and even allowed her to be late for a match one time, because her radiation appointment ran long.

Brenda Capas can also relate to this sentiment. She had breast cancer in 2002 and said that her chemo treatments did not stop her from playing either. She continued to play with no hair and temporary tennis tattoos on her head.

Judy McMahan was another one of the cancer survivors, who despite going through 36 rounds of radiation to fight breast cancer in 2004, said that she never missed a day on the court.

The team from Birmingham has been playing together for two years but has known each other for much longer. Other members of the team who fought cancer are Lynda Weaver (breast), Patsy Blake (cervical) and Stewart Garner (melanoma).

Garner said she was afraid to play tennis after treatment for melanoma on her face for fear that the sun would cause further damage. However, she was able to gain the courage to retake the courts to play alongside her friends.

Throughout all there health troubles the team has clung to tennis as their way to keep in good spirits. The team has said that being on this team has helped them all tremendously while battling their own cancer. They said that being on a team that understands them as only another survivor could, has made them enjoy the game and appreciate the relationships they have formed so much more.

Team	Alabama Senior Women’s 4.0
Home Courts	Trussville Racquet Club
Captain	Sharon Dobbs