Meet Xander Leonard, a 14 year-old athlete from our McKinney, TX, program. Contrary to other sports or activities he tried before, “he was eager to try this one,” his mother Kara laughed. But not only has ACEing Autism benefitted Xander in many ways, “it has kept us close as a family as well. We all…
Meet Kevin Hudak, an 18-year-old athlete from Akron, OH, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 1 year old. “One of my girlfriends who worked at the hospital stopped by to meet Kevin but discovered that he had apnea,” Kevin’s mother, Karen, explained. “Then, we discovered that he had a stroke in utero, which we…
Meet Susan Nardi, our new Program Director from our Help Group Culver City, one of our school-based programs. “I’ve worked with the hearing and visually impaired before and autism is a space I haven’t worked in before but I’ve been wanting to do it,” the PTR professional, PTA elite pro, PTA and PTR wheelchair trained…
Quinn Webb is a 15 year-old athlete from our Pittsburgh, PA, program. Diagnosed at two and a half years old, Quinn first overcame some speech impairments, and thanks to ACEing Autism, he is currently developing new social and motor skills. “Quinn has always needed help with hand-eye coordination and tennis has definitely helped him,” the…
Meet Corbin Darling, a volunteer from our Pittsburgh program. “I’m very passionate about advocacy, especially for autism so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity,” the father of two explained. On top of being an avid tennis player, Corbin also mentions that he has a connection with autism as he has family members on the spectrum.…
Meet Rhys Travis, a 7-year-old athlete from our Lexington, KY program. “He usually has a hard time transitioning so I was worried about transitioning to tennis on weekends but it’s been the most amazing thing, he never complains!” the mother of two tells us. “When it’s time to get ready, he puts his own shorts…
Meet first time Program Directors, Marie-France Isabelle and Sam Zwillinger, from our Tucson, AZ. program. They might be first time Program Directors, but both were volunteers before and stepped up to lead the program. “I knew it’s a wide spectrum but it was very interesting to see how different everyone was and figure out how…
Meet Anya Rammohan, a 15 year old volunteer from our Thousand Oaks program. Tennis being a huge part of her life, she was excited to find something where she could share that passion. “This experience made me realize how much I love working with kids on the spectrum,” the bubbly high schooler shared. When she…
Meet Nils Weldy, the first Program Director in the Charlotte, NC program. Involved with the organization since 2013, he originally teamed up with ACEing Autism after meeting ACEing Autism’s founder, Richard Spurling, at a Boston Chamber of Commerce tennis tournament in 2005. “It really was Richard and his vision of growing the sport that resonated…
Meet Sam Sostrom, an 18 year old athlete from our Phoenix, AZ program. Sam started the program 4 years ago and has never looked back since. “We’ve gone as many times as we could,” his mother Carolyn, said laughing. “It was great to see that he wanted to play more and so we connected with…
