On Nov. 16, ACEing Autism staged its first tennis clinic in the Coachella Valley for individuals on the autism spectrum, at the Shadow Mountain Resort tennis courts in Palm Desert.
Tailored to children and young adults ages 5-25, the program offers both “affordable and impactful tennis programming to (those) with Autism Spectrum Disorder” and “will help participants develop tennis skills, improve fitness, and foster meaningful social connections in a supportive and inclusive environment,” as per the nonprofit organization’s press release.
The program is structured as seven one-hour clinics, all held on Saturday mornings. The cost is $140 per participant; the nonprofit offers families who can’t afford the fee a scholarship, or helps them get assistance from other supportive entities. A spring session has been confirmed for Palm Desert this coming April, but registration has not yet begun.
Mylene Martin, the marketing and communications manager for the nonprofit, explained what a typical day of activities entails.
“ACEing Autism has developed a nine-step curriculum, and that starts with an introduction,” Martin told the Independent. “Then we do warmups, hand-eye coordination, racket skills, forehand (and) backhand volleys, and, depending on the time, some serves. We’ll always have games.”
Martin said the clinics are run with the help of volunteers, trained by ACEing Autism staff and supervised by a program director. “The really good part about the curriculum, and the way it was created, is that every drill or game can be adapted to each child or teenager (or young adult), so you can have kids doing the exact same drill, but differently. … It’s adapted to where they’re at. … Especially for kids on the autism spectrum, we really try to work on socialization. So even if they might need to do a drill in a way that’s a little bit easier, they still feel included.”
Given all of the various sports, why did the founders of ACEing Autism identify tennis as the sport for autistic individuals to embrace?
“A lot of families and kids with autism are looking for feeling included in something, but also going at their own pace and being able to work on the challenges they might have, so that’s definitely one of the reasons that tennis works well,” Martin said. “We’re able to provide activities with modifications, so we meet each participant at their entry point and where they are at. The main thing is having that inclusion, and that possibility of socializing with their own peers, while also being able to do the different drills and games at their own ability. You get to work on refining motor skills, focus and attention; tennis promotes all those, and also promotes turn-taking, learning to listen and be able to speak at a certain time, and recognizing those social cues that sometimes kids with autism struggle with.”
Martin said participants usually make significant progress over the seven weeks.
“First of all, usually we see progress with their social skills … having kids form a bond, usually with their volunteers,” Martin said. “They learn to speak more, and do turn-taking. We can see a lot of improvements with them listening to the volunteer, or being able to interact more with their own peers. We also see improvements with motor skills. Some kids with autism struggle with strength in their hands or their wrists or some parts of their bodies. So some of the drills address that.”
“Some kids just don’t feel they can do it. They lack the confidence to be with the other kids … so by breaking it down for them, and taking our time and having them lead the pace, it helps build confidence that they can do these things.”
Mylene Martin, marketing and communications manager for ACEing Autism
Martin said participants often improve their attention span and their ability to focus.
“At the beginning, when one student first came, it was really hard for him to be able to do any of the drills and stay with the group,” Martin said. “It just got better and better. Later, I saw him in another program, and he was able to stay focused, and listen to the volunteers, and do the drills and have fun during the entire hour. That was a couple of years after he started with us. I remember his mom was like, ‘This is a totally different child!’
“There’s also confidence. Some kids just don’t feel they can do it. They lack the confidence to be with the other kids … so by breaking it down for them, and taking our time and having them lead the pace, it helps build confidence that they can do these things, and can play tennis like anybody else they might see at the park when they walk around. Obviously, fitness improves. … Some of the parents have told us that it helps their (child’s) sleep as well, because they get to release their energy and be active.”
Christy Sherley is the program director engaged to oversee the Palm Desert winter session. Registrations are still being accepted for the subsequent clinics in this current session, which are slated for Nov. 23 and 30; Dec. 7 and 14; and Jan. 4 and 11. As the owner of the Marin County (CA) Tennis Camp, Sherley has been teaching tennis to young people for years in a variety of roles.
“I am most looking forward to meeting our participants and introducing them to the wonderful game of tennis,” Sherley told the Independent via email.
Martin said that it’s not only the participants who benefit from the program; the volunteers often do as well.
“I’ve heard so many testimonies from volunteers about what they gain,” Martin said. “They learn leadership skills, organizational skills, social and communication skills, patience and being able to adapt. You might have to do a drill 20 times; sometimes that’s what it takes. … A lot of our program directors are high school students, and so are many volunteers, and … we’ve heard amazing stories of volunteers who end up changing their major because of their experience with us. They go into a specific field because they’ve seen the impact that they’ve had”
During the majority of the year when there are no ACEing Autism in-person sessions, the organization offers their newly involved tennis enthusiasts a way to stay engaged in the sport.
“We all wish we could do (in-person sessions) year-round; we really do,” Martin said. “But we have some online videos that they can do at home. We created them when the pandemic happened to try to keep everybody active. … Let’s say they go to a park. They can use those video drills to keep reinforcing the skills that they’ve learned during the session.”
Martin said she hopes ACEing Autism establishes a long-term relationship with the Coachella Valley’s autism community, and possibly expands into other valley cities.
“If we are able to find the right program director and a facility that allows us to come, we’re always open for expanding and giving more opportunities to this wonderful community to participate in tennis,” Martin said.
For more information, visit aceingautism.org/programs/palm-desert-ca.