For any typical teenager, it’s tough to wake up on Saturday morning and get the day started when you’d like nothing more than to just roll over, sleep in and enjoy a restful weekend.

Marina Ruiz has lost track of how many times she’s had to rustle up her 15-year-old daughter Samantha and her son Ivan, 11, for their weekly Saturday morning tennis clinic put on by the ACEing Autism program that takes place at South Hills High in West Covina.

“Believe me, there are days when they don’t want to get up,” Marina says. “But once they get there they complain when it’s finished because it’s only an hour and they want more.”

Those words are music to the ears of ACEing Autism West Covina program director Bonnie Huang, who has watched the Ruiz children thrive in the program. The month of April has been designated National Autism Acceptance Month, which celebrates and honors the experiences and identities of Autistic individuals emphasizing understanding, inclusion, and support while moving beyond awareness towards meaningful acceptance.

“With every session I see this improved confidence in the children,” said Huang, who admitted she didn’t “really know what I was getting into” when she started the West Covina clinics in the fall of 2023. “It’s not just confidence, but they are getting better, and you can see it with the hand-eye coordination. I would love to see the kids be able to rally and play on their own, but the overall goal of our program is for them to interact with other kids, get exercise, and have fun.”

Huang oversees the West Covina program and is assisted on court by her sons Matthew and Evan and South Hills High tennis coach Pete Weber. Marina can’t speak highly enough about the consistent interactions with the volunteers.

“They care, and they go above and beyond,” says Marina, a La Puente resident. “There should be a program like this everywhere. They talk to my children, and the children talk back. That interaction is not always easy for someone with autism. It’s been very beneficial.”

As a member of the USTA National Adaptive Tennis Committee and on the USTA Southern California Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, Justin Belisario is keenly aware of the benefits for an autistic child who spends time on the tennis court and that the time is right to move from awareness to acceptance.

“Autism acceptance shifts perspective to embracing individuals as they are,” said Belisario, who played college tennis at Johns Hopkins University and is also a member of the AAPI Task Force for the RSPA. “They are all unique and valuable members of our community. I hope we can all better understand and celebrate neurodiversity. People with autism deserve a world where they can be their own genuine self.”

Belisario joined ACEing Autism, a national nonprofit that teaches tennis to those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, more than 10 years ago, and since March 2016 he has served as the Director of Program Operations.

There are currently more than 175 ACEing Autism programs in 33 states. “I am glad that there are a number of therapeutic programs for the autistic community,” he said. “However, it is encouraging that we can provide more adaptive recreational programming opportunities that is lacking for this population.”

Trey Mihal joined ACEing Autism in the fall 2022 as a volunteer and became a Program Director/On Court Support in the summer 2023. He noticed the ACEing Autism banner at the Burbank Tennis Center and wanted to get involved immediately because of his background as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and his love for tennis.

“There are so many benefits for someone with Autism playing tennis,” Mihal said. “It definitely creates a safe place for people to learn how to play a sport. Tennis is so adaptable and being outside and being able to socialize with others is just a huge part of it.”

Mihal described one instance where he could tell a 5-year-old was feeling intimidated by being on the bigger court with all of the other kids in the program. “So we adapted the tennis program to a small makeshift tennis court on a grassy area nearby where we set up a mini net and set up all of the aspects of that clinic into a smaller area. At the end of the five weeks on the last day he actually ran down to the main court and he was running around and participating with the others. For him going from crying and being scared to being fully integrated and included into the program and his comfortability was pretty amazing to see.”

Marina said Samatha and Ivan have tried other activities like karate and it wasn’t to their liking. “Maybe it was too intense or too slow,” Marina said. “Here it’s just right because they work with the children and it’s that consistency and positivity and reinforcement. It has impacted them physically and emotionally and it’s something that they want to do.”

Marina said she is amazed looking back at the short time Samantha and Ivan have been involved in the program and how much the two have learned and grown.

It looks as if one of program director Huang’s goals will come true and soon the Ruiz family will be out rallying with each other.

“I never thought they would ever be involved in tennis,” Marina says. “At first Samantha said, ‘I might not be good at it.’ But it’s been so therapeutic and peaceful for them. We haven’t gone to play by ourselves, but the kids have already talked about doing that once the [spring] program is finished.”