Chris Okely has long been passionate about sport – and about helping people with disability feel more connected and active within their communities. Now, as Inclusion and Diversity Lead- All Abilities at Tennis Australia, the former South Australian is combining those passions to powerful effect.
“My journey started taking statistics on weekends, counting how many touches SANL players had of the ball, to what I’m doing now,” said Okely, who worked in casual roles across cricket and SANFL before taking on a life-changing position at Adelaide Atletico FC – the first soccer club in the city to form a fully-fledged team for people with disability.
It’s his experience in tennis, having first joined Tennis Australia in contract roles in 2023, that’s proved the most transformative. “It’s pretty humbling for me that I grew up loving sport and always wanting it to be my release from disability. Now, working in tennis, we’ve got the platform to help change other people’s perspectives of disability and working in tennis has changed how I see myself,” said Okely, who became a permanent team member earlier this year.
Drawing on that blend of professional and personal experience – including his own perspective living with Cerebral Palsy – Okely has helped lead the delivery of Tennis Australia’s inaugural All Abilities Week presented by Bupa, a nationwide celebration that shines a light on inclusion and accessibility and how people with disability thrive in the sport.
As he explains, the week not only facilitates participation but also provides education, awareness and creating spaces where everyone can belong.
Tell us about the big picture of All Abilities Week?
Over the last six-12 months, we’ve been co-designing with Member Associations (MAs) a way to build capacity and learning around people with disability and getting them out on court. Then the week has come together, taking lived experiences of myself and others within the disability community, and the barriers we face in different sporting environments probably not being ready for people with disability. Rather than just hosting come-and-try days it’s an opportunity to educate on whether environments are actually ready.
The week itself is a moment in our calendar to celebrate all the work we do because I think even before working at Tennis Australia, I wasn't super aware. Now I've seen it firsthand and working in tennis has changed my perspective of disability and made me pick up on things I didn’t even realise I was doing. From my lens, it's just been awesome to pull together and it's feels like my brain and my lived experience with all the ups and downs of having grown up with a disability and the relationships I’ve built within tennis makes it extremely rewarding to pull it together.
What does All Abilities Week mean for coaches and tennis facilities?
We have 30 clubs activating at the same time and they've gone through an education series with different speakers across tennis to be ready and help grow awareness of the disability space through their clubs. The training has covered a lot of what I have experienced in my life - misconceptions around disability and a bit of myth busting. Highlighting that yes, you have to be aware of people's disability but if you're a good coach, you're a good coach to someone without disability or with a disability.
LEARN: All Abilities Week Presented by Bupa
Before tennis, you worked in AFL, soccer and cricket. It seems like that passion for sport has been life-changing?
Yes. My journey of sport's an interesting one because I always looked at sport as I wouldn't be on the field. It would have to be off it because of my disability. Like at 12 years old, when I got to high school, I got told ‘probably don't play mainstream sport, it’s going to be dangerous for you, you have to go down the para-sport path’ – which is OK.
But I've always wanted to be the person off the court, off the field, changing the game. And that's where I'm super blessed. Like I think I follow 15 or 20 different sports. And having sport has always been my release for my disability, knowing that if I'm knowledgeable about sport, people stop looking at my hand and start focusing on my sporting opinions and now I get to do the same for others with a disability and am in a dream role that is everything I have ever wanted.
How has tennis in particular shaped you?
I've just learned so much about myself, even as someone with a disability working full-time. Tennis has just been far and beyond my expectations as an organisation. Now, I feel like to help shape others experiences within the sport and to start giving back with my lived experience within sport and the disability more largely is really cool.
I'm hopeful that All Abilities Week brings the opportunity to highlight the work that we do across all people with a disability. I'm humbled every day thinking that I get to wake up thinking about disability and learn so much about different disability and some of those learnings I can bring into my day-to-day life with my own disability.
And how does that extend to other areas of your life?
I used to walk into a room and think about someone looking at my arm and thinking, ‘yeah, this guy doesn't know what he's on about, or he's got a disability I need to treat him differently’. Where now, walking the halls of tennis, I don’t.
Even in my social life, I used to really struggle in social situations, but working in tennis and such a diverse organisation has really changed that. Now I don't think about it. I used to in photos, hide my disability. I'd stand behind someone so my left arm was covered in photos, where now I don't even think of that and I’m surrounded by so many supportive people.
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This speaks a lot to the power of tennis and inclusion?
Yes. Early in my life, I admit my disability was defining me. In my first job, for example, I was on a disability-supported wage to work in sport. And that's what I thought I'd have to live forever. I never thought I'd be in a permanent career, working full-time where really my disability doesn't affect it. But I think tennis more largely has played a role in my leadership and the strength in my voice. I now see my disability is an element of me, but not as a larger part of my identity. I think that’s also the impact of sport more largely and I've been super blessed from probably 16, 17 years of age to work in sport.
Do you see yourself as a role model?
It’s a tough one because I'm not the biggest ambassador of pumping myself up, but yes, I probably do. Before working in tennis, I never would say I’m a role model. where now I get to thrive in tennis I see myself now as a man that leads through collaboration . I am truly lucky through my role to access diverse opinions in the disability space, which allows me to be a role model and a leader.
What's your advice to any clubs, venues or individuals that might be thinking ‘I’d love to get involved in the disability pathway, but I'm not quite sure how to do that?’
I think the best thing about people with disability is that if you create an environment where they feel safe, they'll tell you what supports they need, and they'll make it really clear to you. And if you create an environment where the disability community feels safe, then it takes a lot of the decision-making away.
We are so lucky within tennis that we have so many great partners and so many great people within the disability community helping tennis achieve our goals of being the sport that best includes and embraces all people with disability. Between myself, between our advisory group, between our partners, someone will give you the answer and collaborate with you to best support players with disability .
So I think just step in, give it a go and the disability community will give you a chance to get it right if you show you are collaborative and genuine in including you in their community. I believe people with disability have a stronger selfself-awareness and will tell you what support they need to thrive