After honing her skills on Longmont tennis courts, athlete Ashlee Wood is upping her game with a trip to the national stage.
The Niwot woman is one of roughly 100 athletes who will represent Colorado in the Special Olympics USA Games next year. The games, which will be held in June, will bring athletes from all 50 states to the competition in Minnesota. Wood is one of four tennis players — two women and two men — on the Colorado team.
Ashlee Wood plays a friendly tennis match at Fox Hill Club tennis courts in Longmont on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
Wood became eligible for the USA Games when she clinched the gold medal in doubles at the state Special Olympics tennis competition earlier this month. She said it “means the world” to get to compete against athletes from around the country.
“I’m very excited,” said Wood, who is 20. “Hopefully, it will take me up to the next level.”
Wood plays for the Longmont Racqueteers, a Special Olympics tennis team consisting of athletes with intellectual disabilities and volunteer “unified partners” who play with the athletes in doubles matches.
On Thursday, Wood’s teammates surprised her with the news of her placement on the Colorado delegation. Upon her arrival at Longmont’s Fox Hill Club, Wood was congratulated by her friends and draped in a flag bearing the Olympic rings.
Wood grew up participating in Unified Sports programs at Niwot High School. Since graduating, she’s stayed involved in the St. Vrain Valley School District through its P-TEACH program for aspiring educators.
Wood is blind in one eye and can’t fully use her left hand or arm. Committed to overcoming those obstacles, she spent a couple of years developing her signature serve, which involves balancing the tennis ball on her racquet before launching it into the air and hitting it over the net. She said earning a gold medal at state felt “awesome.”
“I’m really competitive, so I really wanted to get first place in doubles,” Wood said. “And I love my partner.”
Ashlee Wood, left, celebrates a point with her Unified Partner, Mary Weis-Fout, right, during a friendly tennis match at Fox Hill Club tennis courts in Longmont on Thursday. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
Her unified partner, Mary Weis-Fout, has spent years working with athletes who have disabilities through the Ignite Adaptive Sports program at Eldora Mountain Resort. Leading up to the state competition, she coordinated extra practice sessions with Wood to get them both ready.
Weis-Fout called Wood a dedicated athlete with a great sense of humor.
“She has the drive, she really has some great skills, and she’s also anxious to improve,” Weis-Fout said. “In my opinion, that’s the recipe for success.”
Claudia Deere, the women’s coach for the Longmont Racqueteers, said Wood approaches her after every game to discuss what she could do better next time.
“She’s a tenacious athlete,” Deere said. “She sticks with a strategy to win her matches.”
Brent Wood, Ashlee’s dad, said that when his daughter was little, doctors predicted that she wouldn’t be able to walk or talk. Now, he said Ashlee can’t wait to tell her brothers that she’ll be playing tennis on a national scale.
“If you don’t just toss these kids aside, and if you provide them with support and training, they can do anything,” he said.
Ashlee Wood, left, hugs coach Brenda Laartz, right, at Fox Hill Club tennis courts in Longmont on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)
