Meet Mack Raymer, a 14-year-old athlete from our Winston-Salem program in North Carolina. “I just ran into ACEing Autism, and I thought it was great, so I signed him up right away and when I told him, he was like ‘great! What is tennis?’” his mother, Casey, laughed. “That is telling of Mack’s personality, that’s…
Today, we’re heading to our brand new program in Redding, CA, to check in with Program Director Karina Chang. “It was incredible to see the participants improve so quickly in such a short amount of time,” the rising high school senior said. Karina, along with her co-Program Directors, her father Tony Chang, and Rebecca Berg,…
Meet Mia Seltman, one of our kind and thoughtful DC area high school volunteers, who this year took on the additional role of first ever ACEing Autism intern! During her winter and spring semesters, Mia worked on court with athletes at both our Southeast and Northwest, DC locations. At the same time, Mia took photos…
Meet Shannon Govekar, a first-time volunteer from our Burlingame, CA, program. “I was excited to teach, nervous about how to teach and what was the right approach,” the Roboticist explained, laughing. “I just wanted them to enjoy the sport and I wanted to enjoy the experience.” After receiving a newsletter from his tennis club, Shannon,…
Today, we’re heading to Burlingame, CA, to check in with Gianna Carlevaris and Rachel Leonard. “It was great to see everything that goes into it,” Rachel, the new Program Director, mentioned. “Even with a few bumps in the road, it was amazing to see volunteers go the extra mile.” Gianna continued, “our new volunteer Oliver,…
We’re excited to check-in with first time Program Director Naveen Shah from our Washington, DC – Georgetown University program. After learning about ACEing Autism at the TOC National Championships last year, Naveen knew he had found a great way to add a missing piece to his club tennis team. “I always felt like we were…
Meet Alistair Davis, a 15-year-old athlete from our Akron, OH, program. After seeing everyone’s reactions to Alistair’s story by his High School Varsity Tennis Coach Craig Sampsell, we knew we had to get to know him. A freshman out of Firestone High School, Alistair participates in our ACEing Autism Akron program and “he really looks…
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…
