On a cold June morning, my whole tennis team attended an away game, yep even our ‘emergency’ woke up early on a Saturday morning to come along. Why? Was it the final? No, the finals are later in the year. It was our first match in our new team shirts sponsored by AAAF.

We had a great morning playing tennis, and we won. It was a good day to win too, because we go into the school holiday break on top of the ladder.

There were 3 tennis matches being played, so teams from all over saw our new shirts. Plus, next door there was football and netball – all in uniform just like us.

My mates don’t care about my alopecia, they don’t know me any other way. But sometimes meeting new people they can be a bit curious. So now, we get to share the message about alopecia with our new team shirts. We have a couple of weeks of school holidays, then it’s off to wear our new shirts, play some great tennis and demonstrate that alopecia won’t stop me.

And how’s my alopecia going I hear you ask? Well, it’s just the same, no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, no knots, no head lice, no shampoo in eyes and no worries!

In other news I’m off to high school next year, and I’ve checked, and I can wear a blue beanie in winter and a sun hat in summer. At high school I’ll be able to explain what alopecia is to my new friends.

It is really good to have AAAF sponsor our tennis team. Before our team shirts other sporting teams in town had uniform, but not us – but now you can’t miss the Romsey Tennis Club! And now we look like a team, we are united, we are one, and most importantly we’re mates!

Matthew was a part of our sponsorship program – you can also participate! Go here to learn more https://aaaf.org.au/sponsorship-program/