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North Haven Girls’ Tennis Serves Up an Ace for Autism

The North Haven High School girls’ tennis squad recently held a clinic in which members of the team assisted in the teaching of tennis to children who have autism. The Indians hosted the clinic in conjunction with ACEing Autism, a non-profit organization that specializes in tennis training programs tailored to meet the unique needs of children with an autism diagnosis. The free event, which took place at North Haven Health and Racquet Club on June 16, provided participants with the opportunity to learn tennis skills, build confidence and social skills, and have fun.

North Haven girls’ tennis Head Coach Bob Migliorini; his wife, Maureen Fay Migliorini; and his daughter, Alyssa Migliorini; are the program directors for the Connecticut ACEing Autism program. This is the first Connecticut program for ACEing Autism, which has 62 other program locations in 28 other states.

The decision for Coach Migliorini and Maureen Fay Migliorini to invest their time in rolling out this tennis program to children with autism was a very personal one. When their three year-old son Aidan was diagnosed with autism last year, they wanted to find a way to connect him with a sport that is a big part of their family, while also helping him build his social and play skills. Migliorini and his team worked closely with Richard Spurling, the founder and executive director of ACEing Autism, and his outstanding support staff, to bring the program to children in Connecticut.

Migliorini, who is also the men’s and women’s tennis coach at Albertus Magnus College, is an avid tennis player who has coached children from ages 5 to 22 for more than 15 years. His daughter, Alyssa Migliorini, a former All-State player at North Haven who went on to play tennis in college, recently completed her master’s degree in speech language therapy and is employed as a speech language pathologist at a local special education school. Maureen Fay Migliorini has a background in management consulting and uses those skills to help manage program administration and marketing logistics.

At the clinic, Coach Migliorini, Maureen Fay Migliorini, Alyssa Migliorini, and volunteers from the North Haven girls’ tennis team were trained by Spurling on the curriculum and techniques for teaching tennis to children with autism. They then conducted a free tennis clinic for children aged 5 to 10 that included a total of eight participants. After that, they held another clinic for those aged 11 to 18 that had four participants. Coach Migliorini said the event was very successful and that there was plenty of positive feedback from the parents and participants. He added that the general consensus was that all of the children had fun.

The athletes from the North Haven girls’ tennis team who volunteered at the event were Lily Mezzi, Jessica, Tran, Daniella Bryson, Julia Migliorini, Claire Looney, Megan Kell, Nadia Kavgaci, Gillian Benowitz, Sarah Puzone, and Kaitlyn Ha.

Moving forward, Coach Migliorini and his team are planning to host a four-week summer program and an eight-week fall program at North Haven Health and Racquet Club.