Laura Campbell is LA-bound for a sporting challenge of a lifetime. MAXINE GORDON meets York’s very special tennis ace.

TWO tiny silver tennis racquets, next to a string of yellow balls, dangle from Laura Campbell’s ears.

“I made these myself,” says Laura, turning her head to show the earrings to our photographer.

Jewellery-making is only one of the many talents and hobbies of this 23-year-old from Haxby.

The earrings are especially fitting because Laura is one of the nation’s tennis stars. She has already won a clutch of titles and gold medals at competitions at home and abroad in the Special Olympics. The organisation encourages people with learning disabilities to train and compete.

Laura is autistic and took up tennis while a pupil at Applefields School in York, where she now works part time as a receptionist.

It was clear that she had an aptitude and an appetite for tennis and was soon winning gongs, her first medal – a bronze – in the mixed doubles at the National Summer Games in Leicester in 2009.

And she hasn’t looked back. Since then she has won a further nine medals, including four golds.

Her highlight so far? “The first European Summer Games in Warsaw where I won in the mixed doubles – my first gold medal,” says Laura.

We are chatting courtside at Wigginton Tennis Club, where Laura is having a training session with her coach, Andy Crockett.

Andy has been a tennis coach for four years and specialises in working with people with disabilities, including the visually impaired.

He has teamed up with Laura to prepare her for her biggest challenge yet – the Special Olympic World Summer Games in Los Angeles next July.

Laura will be one of a four-strong tennis team representing Great Britain at the games – and the only person from York to qualify for Team GB.

The World Games are the showpiece event of the Special Olympics and are held every four years. Some 7,000 athletes from 177 countries are expected to compete in 2015.

Laura says she is excited at the prospect of travelling to California and competing on such a big stage with athletes from all over the world. She knows she will have to work hard to be ready.

“I am working at hitting harder shots and at moving around the court and getting back to the middle after every shot, ready for the next one and not be stuck standing in no man’s land,” she says.

Besides having lessons with other learning-disabled players, Laura also takes part in general adult coaching sessions at Wigginton Tennis Club.

Her parents, Andy and Liz, are stalwarts of the Special Olympics charity in York, which aims to encourage participation in sport and fundraise. For example, it costs £2,500 to send an athlete to the Special Olympics World Games.

The family has been fundraising at local carnivals and fairs, and Laura has been selling her jewellery to help the cause.

Andy and Liz say they have witnessed positive changes in Laura since she began competing. It has greatly improved her confidence and social skills – when Laura goes away to competition she has to travel with the team and make new friends.

"A lot of people like Laura, by their nature, don't get involved with groups of friends,” says Andy. “They are far more likely to be reclusive and sit in front of a PS3. To do something physically active is a lot healthier.”

The challenges of tennis are beneficial too, he says. "Tennis is difficult for any person, never mind someone with a learning disability.”

The rules of tennis and the discipline of regular coaching and play suit an autistic person like Laura, he adds. "Once a set of rules have sunk in, they stick to them."

What is more tricky, he explains, is the unknown aspect of tennis, such as the direction of the ball in a rally.

"Laura doesn't know where the ball is coming back to and it is good for her to have to deal with an unknown environment. It gets her into a way of thinking and is something that stretches her.”

The Special Olympics differ from the Olympics and Paralympics in that they are not only for elite athletes. Participants compete in divisions, based on ability. "It is very inclusive," says Andy.

Laura is at the top of her game and competes in Division 1. Her dad says the LA games will be her biggest test.

"This is the pinnacle. This is the big one. If she goes to LA and competes and achieves on that stage, that is the most she can achieve. We get as much excitement and pride out of it as her."

Despite the buzz, Laura is displaying a level head, saying: “I don’t always win everything; the main thing is to play well and have a good, close match.”

Laura is also hoping to encourage other people with disabilities to get into tennis. She is about to start a qualification to become a tennis coach, and will be assisting Andy Crockett at some of his sessions.

Like her mum and dad, they want lift the barrier to sport for the learning disabled.

And make sure everyone has the chance to go for gold.

The Special Olympics in York are on the look out for budding athletes as well as volunteers, coaches and fundraisers, and venues too. Find out more at specialolympicscityofyork.org

To donate to the charity and help competitors such as Laura take part in events visit the Special Olympics City of York Fundraising page: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/socoyfundraising