Enter 2024 City of Logan Sports Awards
UPDATE: Nominations for the 2024 City of Logan Sports Awards are now open on the Logan City Council website. Submissions close 4 September, 2024.
SMASHING BARRIERS ON THE SPECTRUM
Tennis player Hunter Thompson is one of many athletes to be celebrated at the annual City of Logan Sports Awards, which pays tribute to the city’s athletes, sporting staff and sports events. Last year, Taneille Crase was awarded the 2023 Sports Award and Athlete of the Year as a 3-time Australian heptathlon champion.
Hunter’s story in the lead up to his sporting award recognition in 2022 is an inspirational one.
Five years ago, Beenleigh-based Hunter Thompson was failing every subject at school and struggling to attend class.
By age 19, Hunter was tinkering with his car, plays Fortnite – and representing Australia on the world stage.
In 2023 he attended the Virtus Global Games in Paris where he was surprised and humbled to win gold in the newly introduced category for tennis players with autism.
Hunter was also named the 2022 Elite Athlete with a Disability at the City of Logan Sports Awards.
His mother and coach, AJ Thompson of Beenleigh’s FuturePros Tennis Academy, says his recent successes have been years in the making.
‘He deserves it because as a junior, he participated through mainstream channels and it was incredibly difficult,’ she says.
‘It’s a very warm and fuzzy feeling for him to be recognised and he’s very quietly proud.
‘It’s also great because it’s opening doors for him and other elite athletes on the spectrum.’
Hunter, who first picked up a tennis racquet at the age of one, has overcome numerous challenges as a neurodivergent athlete.
Before he was diagnosed with autism at 16, his biggest challenge was related to black and white thinking while on court.
‘Things are either right and wrong and if someone on the spectrum feels a sense of injustice, the world starts spinning out of control,’ AJ says.
‘As a child, he’d end up crying in the middle of a match or just throw the game because he couldn’t move on from an incorrect referee call.’
Like many others on the spectrum, Hunter also has sensory sensitivities and can get overwhelmed while playing on sand or clay courts.
Despite these challenges, Hunter has served and sliced his way into the upper echelons of Australian tennis, training with the likes of Christos Kyrgios, brother of Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios.
This was in no small part due to his parents’ efforts to make tennis more inclusive.
AJ and her husband Kyle have worked closely with Tennis Queensland and Tennis Australia to ensure tournaments cater for athletes with disabilities by providing sensory rooms and umpires.
The duo, along with Hunter, now coach 40 tennis players on the spectrum at their Beenleigh academy.
‘Hunter is a beautiful advocate for tennis and autism and is proof that the elite level is attainable, regardless of skill or disability,’ AJ says.
‘He’s also become more confident – the Hunter you see on the tennis court is totally different, joking around and leading his teammates.
‘On the court, he’s less protective and truly expresses himself. Tennis has given him that confidence – that he’s good at something and that he’s okay – and it’s really wonderful seeing other kids feel the same way.’
Get the latest updates on the FuturePros Tennis Academy Facebook page.
