BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Before Bentlee Williams was old enough to walk, her body had already survived more than most people face in a lifetime. She had stomach surgery at two days old, complete kidney failure at a week and open-heart surgery at three months.
Before she was even born, doctors weren’t even sure she would survive at all.
“When I was pregnant with her, they actually weren’t even sure if she was going to survive outside of the womb,” said her mother, Cameran Williams.
Bentlee came through all of it. Now 15, she has competed in gymnastics since she was 3 years old and has twice won at the highest level Special Olympics offers in the sport. It was around that age, when she got her first glasses, that her family learned of another challenge: she has no depth perception.
One eye turns inward without correction, and anything moving toward her is hard to track. She could hit a ball off a tee, where the distance never changes, but tracking a moving object was another matter. Toss her a piece of clothing to put away, and she would bring her hands together only to watch it slip through.
Which is what makes the sight of Bentlee tracking a tennis ball across the net, and sending it back, a small miracle layered on a larger one.
Cameran, a former volleyball player, found tennis about four years ago and joined women’s league play at Auburn’s Yarbrough Tennis Center. Bentlee wanted in too, but she couldn’t reliably make contact because regulation tennis balls moved too fast for her to time.
Then, Cameran heard about Dream Court, the adaptive tennis program that runs clinics at those same courts.
The difference came down to equipment. Dream Court uses a two-toned, lower-compression ball, which is easier to see against the court and slower off the bounce, giving Bentlee the extra beat she needs.
“The way that they adapt and use a two-toned colored ball made a huge difference for her,” Cameran said. “She was able to see the ball a lot better.”
What it unlocked went beyond a single stroke. Last year Bentlee played in her first tournament and won. The skill of tracking something moving toward her has even spilled into daily life. These days, when Cameran tosses her that piece of clothing, Bentlee catches it.
It also gave Cameran and Bentlee a sport that now belongs to both of them.
“It’s not hers. It’s not mine. It’s something we get to do together,” Cameran said. “I love that she goes with confidence. She shows up and knows exactly where she’s supposed to be, and sometimes tells people where they need to be.”
Bentlee is one of more than 100 athletes Dream Court now serves across Alabama.
A prayer answered
Jessica Weyreuter, the program’s founder and executive director, was a professional tennis player before she was a coach. After graduate school in Alabama, the job offers she was chasing didn’t come, and a friend was left paraplegic in a skiing accident. It was one of the lowest points of her life.
“I asked God if he could guide me,” she said. “It was very clear to me that I needed to start a tennis program for children and adults with disabilities.”
She launched Dream Court in Montgomery in 2013, where the city donated land for two courts. What began with five athletes has grown to serve more than 500 children and adults over the past decade, expanding into Huntsville, Daphne, Auburn and, most recently, Mobile.
Auburn’s chapter began with a teenager willing to make the drive. Auburn High School student and tennis player Jisung Choo kept traveling the hour to Montgomery to volunteer, and started wondering why Auburn couldn’t have the same thing.
He and his younger sister, Victoria, pitched a local chapter; Weyreuter was hesitant to hand a satellite to a high schooler, but the family had earned her trust, and the first Auburn clinic was held in the fall of 2023.
When Jisung left for college, he handed the program to Victoria, now 16 and the local coordinator.
She reserves courts, recruits athletes, communicates with parents and runs the clinics, all while taking International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement classes and playing varsity tennis, where she went 22-2 and reached the Class 7A state final as a junior for the Lady Tigers.
“Through Dream Court, I’ve really come out of my shell,” Victoria said. “Seeing the athletes’ smiles is something I’m really grateful for.”
How it works
There’s a common assumption that adaptive tennis needs a special court. It doesn’t.
“The tennis courts for adaptive tennis are the same as every other court,” Weyreuter said.
What matters, especially for wheelchair players, is access.
The adapting happens in the equipment — different court sizes, rackets and lower-compression balls — and in the coaching, which borrows the five skill levels used by Special Olympics and matches the ball to the player. Ages have ranged from 5 to 90.
That flexibility is what Cameran points to when other parents hesitate. “Give it a chance, because the program is so wonderful at adapting to each kiddo’s needs,” she said. Rather than making athletes fit a fixed level, “they make each court appropriate for what skill level each student brings.”
What makes it work is a simple ratio: one “coach buddy” for each athlete, all clinic long. Starr Miller, who volunteered for four days at Auburn’s summer camp, called it “beyond a doubt, a life-changing experience.”
The athletes remembered her name the next day. “You become friends,” she said. “That’s the joy of doing it.”
Growing
Dream Court’s calendar has grown to include camps, unified doubles leagues and tournaments. For any athlete who wants to compete, the program covers entry fees, lodging, transportation and meals for up to three tournaments a year, and was the reason Bentlee walked off the court last year with a win.
“The athletes love the competition, and it’s been amazing to see their growth through it,” Weyreuter said.
Three years in, Auburn has become a proving ground: the first satellite to hold its own fundraiser, and this year the first to host a Christmas party outside Montgomery.
The immediate aim is more athletes on the courts. Volunteers and athletes can register at dreamcourt.org under the Programming tab, then Auburn; because clinics and travel are free to athletes, the program leans on sponsors and local businesses to keep going.
Weyreuter’s request was simple.
“I would like the community to be open to learning that people with disabilities have huge potential. They really can learn to play tennis, if they have the opportunity.”
For Cameran, the proof is a daughter who spent the first months of her life in surgery now having a game she can call her own.
“I don’t think that would have been possible if Dream Court hadn’t come and shown me she was able to do it,” she said. “She just needed these specific accommodations to be successful.”
