ACEing Autism is a nonprofit organization that provides tennis programs for children with autism to improve their social and motor skills. Since 2008, it has introduced tennis to over 750 children with autism through weekly clinics run by volunteers. These clinics have a structured format including warmups, drills, games and cheers. The organization aims to serve over 1,000 families per week by 2018. It partners with tennis tournaments to provide free clinics and raise awareness of its mission. The article discusses how ACEing Autism benefits children with autism and how the writer became involved after moving to Charlotte.

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ACEing
AutismConnecting Communities
Through Tennis.
by Nils Weldy
Ultimate Air Shuttle and ACEing Autism were connected
through a mutual contact at the Charlotte Chamber. We
wanted to help tell their story, and with ACEing Autism pro-
gram locations developing in Cincinnati and Columbus, we
are excited as this meaningful partnership begins.
AUTISM HAS BECOME A HOUSEHOLD TERM thanks to increased public awareness driven
by a growing diagnosis rate in the United States. The likelihood of your child’s classmate, team-
mate or even sibling is now 1 in 68 as recently announced by the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), with males four times more likely than females to be diagnosed.
What is autism? Simply stated, autism is a neurologically-based developmental disorder
which generally results in impairments with social interaction and/or communications, and is
often characterized by repetitive behaviors. Autism is truly a spectrum of disorders, as children
vary widely in their abilities and impairments.

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Meet ACEing Autism
In 2008, ACEing Autism was founded by
the husband and wife team of Richard Spurl-
ing, a USPTA certified tennis professional
with an MBA in entrepreneurship, and Dr.
Shafali Jeste, a pediatric neurologist practic-
ingatChildren’sHospital(Boston)atthetime.
They saw an opportunity to help address the
lack of quality recreational programs avail-
able to children on the autism spectrum.
Taking flight in the community
Since its founding 8 years ago, ACEing
Autism has introduced over 750 children with
autism to tennis, delivered more than 4,700
hours of ACEing Autism classes to program
participants nationwide and completed over
10,500 hours of community service through
its robust volunteer force. Weekly clinics meet
for 50 minutes over a 6-week program pairing
one to two volunteers – typically high school
or college students – per participant. The clinic
starts with a warm-up jog around two courts,
ABOVE: Founder, Richard Spurling works with a student at a clinic held in
partnership with the Delray Beach Open, 2016. Photo by Alex Huggan.
513.984.8090 • WWW.EMBERSRESTAURANT.COM

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stretching exercises, hand-eye coordination
drills, introduction of a tennis skill, group
game and final cheer to punctuate the session.
“There is a growing body of literature
about the benefits of exercise programs for
children with autism spectrum disorders
(ASD). By developing a program that helps
raise the confidence level of children with
ASD while teaching them the game, each
child leaves the session feeling they accom-
plished something,” said Spurling.
“The beauty of tennis is that you need at
least two people or four people to play. With
ACEing Autism it’s the social interaction
between the participants through games and
learning skills on the court that helps lead to
friendships,” Spurling continued.
My connection to ACEing Autism
I met Richard through a Boston Chamber
tennis tournament two years before ACEing
Autism was launched. We played tennis regu-
larly before our respective departures from
Beantown; Richard and his wife to L.A. and
I relocated to Charlotte to work for the NBA’s
Bobcats (now Hornets). After settling into
Charlotte life, I found I missed a few cultural
elements that I had grown fond of in Boston,
most notably beer tasting events.
In February of 2012, after close to two
years of planning, I launched my own craft
beer tasting event: Queen City Brewers Fes-
tival (QCBF). Throughout the organizational
process, I kept Richard up to speed with prog-
ress. When Richard flew to Charlotte from
L.A. to volunteer at the event, he brought me
an ACEing Autism kit so I could develop a
program in my community. In September
2013, we launched ACEing Autism in Char-
lotte, and naturally, we aligned QCBF to
benefit ACEing Autism.
Today, I serve as Marketing Director for
ACEing Autism as well as Program Director
in Charlotte. It has been incredibly reward-
Since its founding
ACEing Autism has
introduced over 750
children with autism
to tennis, delivered
more than 4,700 hours
of ACEing Autism
classes, and completed
over 10,500 hours of
community service.
ABOVE: Charlotte Program Director and Marketing Director, Nils Weldy at ACEing Autism’s clinic at the 2016 Delray
Beach Open. Photo by Alex Huggan.

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ing to see firsthand how ACEing Autism
has improved the lives of so many children,
their siblings and parents, volunteers, tennis
coaches, players and students. I could not
be more excited about the future of ACEing
Autism; the refinements made to our lesson
plan – our product on the court – further
strengthens our programming as the most
effective sports related intervention for chil-
dren with autism. We are also very fortunate
to have a number of ATP-level tournament
partnerships to help showcase our mission.
Through its specialized clinics and grow-
ing force of dedicated volunteers, ACEing
Autism’s impact on its participants is produc-
ing benefits that will last a lifetime, and the
vision is to serve more than 1,000 families in
nearly 100 locations on a weekly basis by the
end of 2018.
This summer we are offering free ACEing
Autism clinics to families affected by autism
at the BB&T Atlanta Open, Winston-Salem
Open, US Open at Flushing Meadows and
next year at the Western and Southern Open
in Cincinnati. With Ultimate Air Shuttle
serving nearly all these cities, we are excited
to bring our organizations together by devel-
oping travel programs that provide Ultimate
passengers access to unique food, beverage
and sporting event experiences, all while
helping to support ACEing Autism’s work in
the communities it serves.
To learn more about ACEing Autism, its
mission and vision, visit aceingautism.org or
send a note to info@aceingautism.org. n
RIGHT: (top) From left to right:
ACEing Autism ambassadors,
Ford Craven and Crystal Gainous
and ACEing Autism Founder and
President, Richard Spurling; (middle)
The first annual “Clinic in Costume”
with players from Queens University
of Charlotte at Freedom Park in
Charlotte, NC, 2015 (photo by
Stephanie Withey); (bottom) Charlotte
Program Director and Marketing
Director, Nils Weldy at ACEing
Autism’s annual winter fundraiser,
Queen City Brewers Festival, 2016
(photo by Taps and Snaps).