Thursday, June 7, 2012

Blind Tennis

As someone who  has spent decades playing tennis but always finding a way to have a losing USTA record, this story from the New York Times describes what seems to me to be impossible - blind tennis.  There are adaptations to the game including court size, the ball contains ball bearings to make noise, and multiple bounces allowed but this is still incredibly impressive.

Of course I want to make an obligatory reference to technology and innovation management.  Harvey Mudd College has a project to develop a better ball that will emit sound continuously.

Also, it would be interesting to consider the spread of a "game" such as this from a technology diffusion perspective as well as barriers to technology adoption.  It is hard to think of a technology that faces higher barriers than helping blind people.

Of course the idea of "blind" tennis also makes me think of the very impressive wheelchair tennis players which I have had the good fortune to occasionally see live.

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