Danville Teens Help Autistic Children Learn Tennis

DANVILLE, CA — Fifteen students from Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley high schools helped coach tennis to students on the autism spectrum. The six-week program is run through the nonprofit ACEing Autism, a nonprofit that aims to help children on the spectrum “grow, develop and benefit from social connections and fitness through affordable tennis programming.”

The volunteers and two adult coaches hosted their first session on Sunday, when they taught basic tennis skills to autistic children ages six to 14. To prepare, volunteers underwent training with ACEing Autism and studied videos on how to communicate with autistic children.

“I saw firsthand how the program helps kids with autism improve their hand eye coordination, social skills and confidence level and what a difference it makes to the parents to have one-on-one coaching for their children,” said Monte Vista student and Program Director Neil Chandran, who has coached courses in Danville and Los Altos. “I wanted to help bring the program to my own community of Danville and Alamo.”

The current course is at-capacity, but Chandran said that the group hopes to run another spring session, and expand to other East Bay communities.

"It has been awesome to see the support we’ve had to get the ACEing Autism program up and running in Danville," Chandran said. "Usually, we’re competing with each other across the net but it's great how everyone has come together to help."