In the Trenches: Open To All

It was another Wednesday evening and I was getting ready to start my 7 pm Adult Advanced Beginner drop-in class at Westchester Park Courts in Los Angeles. Six players had pre-registered and two walk-ins came into my class. One of them was a gentleman named Sahan, who was new to the group. After the warm-up, I could tell Sahan processed information differently than most individuals I had seen before. I quickly determined that he was a neurodiverse* person. On a dime, I needed to adjust how I would teach the class to make it a great experience for him and everyone else participating.

I had already had the experience of having a child in one of my After School Black Top Tennis programs who was on the spectrum in a class, so I was sort of prepared for the adjustments I needed to make. Sahan's coming to class started me on a journey. As a coach, I felt like I needed to learn more about the community and give me the skills to create a better learning environment for everyone. At that same week out in Rancho Mirage, I ran into my good friend Jason Allen (at that time he was manager of USTA Wheelchair Tennis) who wanted to introduce me to Richard Sterling, President of Aceing Autism.

I decided to gain a better understanding of working with autism I would need to dive into it. Lucky me, Richard had a school location a few miles from my house that wanted to have a tennis program. So, I went to The Help Group and took all the training classes to start running the tennis program.

The experience I gained from the past two years has been invaluable as a coach. The wide range of physical and mental health conditions that can exist in Autism is tremendous. The training that the Aceing Autism team of Richard, Jason, and Miles gave me was a great introduction. The on-site assistance I get from administration, behavioralists, teachers, and support staff has opened my eyes to how to effectively communicate when I coach not just those in this community, but everyone. The joy, I get in seeing students that are non-verbal, yet will talk during a tennis period is priceless.

Autism Speaks says that 1 in 36 children in the U.S. have autism, up from the previous rate of 1 in 44. The odds are high that at some point you will have someone on your court who will be on the spectrum.

I encourage all coaches to take a training course or to volunteer in a program to gain some experience, so you can be better prepared to offer everyone on your court the best experience possible.