To know Lissie Cleave, who is legally blind, is to know there are always dogs in tow — dogs that have taken the Paparoa resident to the top of the fiercely competitive world of canine agility.
Her four-legged crew’s love of chasing tennis balls has also contributed to a new adventure. Cleave is in her first year of playing blind tennis, and she’ll shortly be travelling internationally to serve up a storm at the European Open Blind and VI Tennis Championships in Poland.
“Playing tennis internationally — that’s a bizarre sentence to me. I don’t know how to cope with that sentence,” Cleave told Seven Sharp. “It’s wonderful, but it’s mad,” she laughed.
After Poland, Cleave will compete at the Blind Tennis World Championships in northern Italy at the end of September.
“I’m stoked. It’s just snowballed in the most beautiful way. It was never going to be on the cards for a little country bumpkin.”
Cleave said she comes under the B3 category in blind and low-vision tennis.
“B is blind, and three is the level. One is completely blind, B2 have light perception and may have a decreased range of vision,” she explained.
“[As a] B3, I can see things, but not in great detail. It’s two-dimensional, so I have no depth perception, which makes hitting a ball a little bit tricky.”
‘I work from memory’
Unlike traditional tennis, blind tennis is played on a smaller court with a slightly lowered net. The ball is made of foam and is larger than a tennis ball. It contains a bell inside that emits sound when hit or when it bounces.
“When [the ball] bounces, I can see it there,” said Cleave, who explained that she can’t see the line of the net when she’s playing.
“It’s just not there. I work from memory. I know how high it is from when I was standing next to it.”
Cleave has a twin sister, Shannon, who is also legally blind. Shannon’s Para triathlon conquests have taken her around the world, and she’ll join her sister as she heads for Europe.
“She’s my older sister by 13 seconds,” said Cleave. “And I’ve been in her shadow for those 13 seconds,” she joked.
Cleave, who has been busy training for her European debut at the Paparoa Memorial Hall, said she’s excited about the road ahead.
“I would have never dreamed that any of this was possible,” she said. “It’s just relit a spark. I’ve got a very competitive nature that I try and deny.”
Cleave is coached by Niki Le Mesurier, who was full of praise for her student.
“I love helping her simply because she is receptive — she wants to learn, and she wants to get there. She’s a fantastic ambassador for New Zealand.”
Cleave is funding her trip to Europe herself and has set up a Givealittle page for anyone who wants to donate.
“To go to something that has ‘world’ in the title is just, I don’t know, you just have to pinch yourself,” shared Cleave.
