Meet Connor W, a 14-year-old player from our Evanston, IL program. He loves Spider-Man, Star Wars, and now tennis. As Connor’s mom, Suzanne Jakstavich, said: “I love ACEing Autism because of the community we’ve created. It’s a community for my son but it’s also a community for me because of the friendships I’ve built and…
As a child, I played racket sports. I have memories of badminton battles amongst fall foliage in suburban NC, church tennis tournaments in the summer, and epic ping pong matches. In the winter, my sister and I would don puffer jackets and head to the garage – each of us swinging with a bit more…
Meet Elizabeth (Lizzie) Fear, a 13-year old athlete from our Lexington, KY program, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome and then autism. “The biggest gift for me is to see her grow, seeing her go from playing a child’s game to playing tennis and seeing a smile on her face when she reaches a new…
Meet Kaitlin Gish, a junior at Henry High School who started as an ACEing Autism Lexington and is now an Assistant Program Director. “It really puts all my blessings in perspective,” Kaitlin said, when asked what ACEing Autism means to her. After hearing about ACEing Autism through her high school teammates, the then-sophomore, continued an…
Meet Aniah O’Neal, a 15-year-old athlete from our Dallas program who has worked her way into the match play group! “She was asked during one of her life skills sessions one of her accomplishments, and she said that one she was really proud of is that she moved up a level in tennis,” her mother…
Meet Hurston Harrington, an athletic and coordinated 9 year old participant from our Southeast Washington program, who has been with ACEing Autism for three sessions! “I was just happy to have her run around, but she seemed to really take to it, and that’s always exciting if they like something,” Joy Harrington, her mother said. …
Meet Parmida Zandinejad, a junior at The Episcopal School of Dallas, who started as a volunteer and is now an Assistant Program Director. “My time with ACEing Autism has solidified my desire to help people, go to a Pre-Med school, and it has taught me a lot about myself,” the varsity tennis player shared. …
Meet Izzy McCann, a 16-year-old volunteer from our Washington, DC program. Izzy started volunteering when she was 14 years old and has enjoyed her time on court ever since. “I really wanted them to have fun but fun looks a lot different for each child so learning what that was, was very important,” she…
Meet Graham Thompson, a 9-year-old athlete from our Houston – The Forest Club program in Texas. “He has a hard time following directions, but the structure of the program allows freedom for him,” his mother, Stacey Thomspon, explained. “He is a rigid thinker so this works great because they meet him where he is…
