Inspired Coach, Inspired Mission – JSerra’s Keith Orahood Has Big Plans For School’s Adaptive Sports Program

By February 23, 2023 News
An inspired coach on a mission, an exceptional, trail-blazing athlete and a supportive administration are the catalysts behind JSerra Catholic High School‘s goal of becoming the first high school in Orange County with a multisport adaptive athletics program.
A successful outcome appears to be more probable than merely possible.
The plan was unknowingly set in motion in early 2022, when twin brothers Keith and Kurt Orahood, longtime tennis coaches at JSerra, started an adaptive wheelchair youth tennis club-program for players with disabilities.

In spring 2022, Keith Orahood, JSerra’s assistant coach under Kurt, was inspired to start an adaptive tennis program to be included with all other Lions’ sports, after coaching then sophomore Landon Sachs, a
wheelchair bound member of the school’s tennis team.

With no adaptive tennis team in place at JSerra at the time, Sachs competed against players with no disabilities under slightly modified rules as permitted by the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of high school sports in the state.

In 2022 Sachs competed in his first ever USTA Wheelchair Tournament, finishing first in the 18 and under division. Now a junior, Sachs recently accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Arizona, which offers wheelchair tennis as one of eight adaptive sports.

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