Jay Deacon is part of the Coach Development QLD team, serving as the current Coach Development Coordinator. A longstanding Tennis Australia Club Professional and USPTA Pro 2 Professional, Jay is also a Tennis Australia Hot Shots Mentor, Cardio Tennis Mentor, Teach Ambassador, Learning Facilitator, Lecturer at University of Queensland.

Fun Fact: Jay is godson of Harry Hopman!

In his role as Talent Director and in extensive roles as a teacher (a qualification he added to his repertoire back in Australia), mentor and coach, Chris’s drive to educate and inform is what sets him apart in this industry. Passionate and caring, Chris started Study & Play USA to offer students a service that would prepare and guide them for their journey to the US as well as support them with their college and sporting careers. Having trained and competed at an elite level as a sportsperson both in Australia and in the United States, Chris’s knowledge and opinion of college sports scholarships in the USA is well respected. Chris and his wife Alexia commenced Study & Play USA in 2004 and since then has been educating and informing thousands of Australians about how to advantage themselves of the Study & Play opportunity.

Matt is a Tennis Australia Club Professional and also holds a certificate in IV Training and Assessment. He has had 15 years coaching experience with Lifetime Tennis and other current venues include, Nudgee College Boondall, St. Michael’s Ashgrove, St. Joseph’s Nundah and St. Kieran’s Brighton. For the last 8 years Matt has been a Coach Developer with Tennis Australia.

Frank is the Director of Rising Star Tennis Academy and has been a coaching professional for more than 20 years in NSW and the ACT region. He assists Tennis Australia, schools and the ACT community in helping to nurture and develop upcoming ANZ Tennis Hot Shots providers, assist in developing awareness of ANZ Tennis Hot Shots in the community and also assists in contributing to how Tennis Australia help evolve the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots National Programs and initiatives into the future. Frank presented at the 2016 Grand Slam Coaches conference ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Masterclass.

Ignacio has been a first division player in Argentina since 1998 as well as being in the coaching environment since 2005 where he received his Certificate of Grade 1 from Argentina and the ITF. After arriving in Australia, Ignacio has been a Senior Assistant Coach at South Eastern Tennis Academy and Head Coach of Nottinghill Pinewood Tennis Club running the junior tennis program with many players achieving their first ranking points. He is now the Head Coach of MCC Glen Iris Tennis Club under the Director of Vida Tennis Kane Dewhurst. In this position he’s helped in developing the high performance squads at the club and an internal talent ID with many players inside the Super10s and also in the National program.

Prior to accepting a role at Tennis Australia as National Academy Manager – WA, Tom had an exceptional junior tennis career as a 4 time National Champion, #1 ranked junior in Australia and A.I.S Scholarship holder. He joined the Auburn University Men’s tennis team in 2003 and led the Tigers to be a top 10 NCAA ranked program. Tom also played number 1 for Australia at the World University Games during that time. He graduated with a BSBA in Economics in 2006 and went on to be admitted to the Queensland Supreme Court as a lawyer after completing his Juris Doctorate law degree. Tom has captained junior Australian Teams and managed numerous International tours with some of the countries best athletes. Tom is passionate about the Wellbeing Program at Tennis Australia and believes that Wellbeing is everyone’s responsibility. At Tennis Australia the aim is to produce ‘Happy and emotionally healthy players, with a love of Tennis, who embrace the opportunities and thrive on the challenges – on and off court.’

Danielle is a Sport Science and Athlete Development Analyst at Tennis Australia. Her role includes managing the National Academy athlete management system as well as undertaking internal and external research. Part of her research portfolio includes reviewing the junior and professional tennis structure worldwide in partnership with the International Tennis Federation. Danielle is also the the Australian Fed Cup team manager. She is currently undertaking her PhD at Tennis Australia and Australian Catholic University with her research topic exploring the relationship of training loads, musculoskeletal function and shoulder injuries in elite, youth tennis players.

David Hodge is an organisational leader and career coach. He is the Director of Athletes Agency International, which specialises in driving a personalised U.S. College recruitment process for families worldwide. The certified agency focuses on education, features over 400 years of combined experience on staff and currently boasts a 100% success rate. As a Head National Tennis Coach for Tennis Australia, David oversaw player development in Queensland for 5 years. His coaching career including stops at Stanford University and the University of Colorado, the professional and ITF junior circuit as well as numerous high schools, academies and clubs.

David has served as Australia’s World University Games Coach and has presented, coached and contributed to publications all over the world. He earned a Bachelor of Science and was an All-American at Baylor University and has Club Professional and High Performance coaching qualifications with Tennis Australia and the United States Professional Tennis Association. As a professional player, David competed in the Australian Open and won numerous professional titles but his passions now lie in creating opportunities for others. He enjoys philanthropic pursuits and has been heavily involved in numerous charitable projects.

Matt is a Tennis Australia Club Professional and also holds a certificate in IV Training and Assessment. He has had 15 years coaching experience with Lifetime Tennis and other current venues include, Nudgee College Boondall, St. Michael’s Ashgrove, St. Joseph’s Nundah and St. Kieran’s Brighton. For the last 8 years Matt has been a Coach Developer with Tennis Australia.

Matt Smith is an LTA British Tennis Level 5 Master Club Coach, LTA Tutor and former British Coach of the Year, with over 16 years of coaching and leadership experience. Currently Matt is in the position of LTA Coach Engagement Manager as part of the British Tennis Coach Development team, leading on coach learning and development. Prior to joining the LTA, Matt developed his own, award winning, tennis business at a rural 3 court club and went on to become the Head Coach at an International High Performance Centre (University of Bath), receiving an Hons degree in Tennis Management. Here he grew the tennis programme into the largest in the UK, with specialist expertise in 10&U player development, programming, sales and customer service – working as a coaching business consultant for developing tennis centres for the LTA.

In 2017 he embarked on a unique, once-in-a-lifetime, adventure delivering tennis to primary schools and orphanages to over 100 communities across 28 countries as part of a sponsored international Charity project named the ‘Mini Tennis World Tour’. With the project continuing today, it has given over 10,000 children access to tennis across the world.

Marc is currently holding the position as Head Coach at Melbourne International Tennis School (MITS) along with other roles such as Head Coach of Maribyrnong Sports Academy Tennis Program, Tennis Australia Coach Developer – Club Pro Coaching Course (VIC & SA), Richmond Football Club – VFL Assistant Coach/Director of Coaching and Tennis Correspondent at SEN Radio Melbourne. He holds qualifications in the Tennis Australia High Performance Course (Level 3), certificates in Sports Coaching and Training and Assessing and other notable accreditations such as GPTCA Level B Coach, USPTA Professional Coach and Level 2 AFL Coach.

A Physical Performance Coach and the Academy Manager for Tennis Australia, Adelaide. Alistair has recently completed his PhD in exercise science, specialising in high performance youth development and competition preparation for tennis. Alistair is currently responsible for the design and delivery of the physical performance program of the National Academy in Adelaide. The program is designed to specifically tailor long-term athletic development for over 45 junior tennis players, ranging from 8 years through to 18 years, club level through to International juniors within the National Academy.

Chris has been working for Tennis Australia for 12 years. For the past 6 years, he has been Manager of the National Academy in Brisbane and prior to that, he was the National Coach in Melbourne. In addition to overseeing the staff in those National Academies, Chris coached many successful Australian players during their formative years such as Sally Peers, Kim Birrell, Ellen Perez, Zoe Hives, Isabelle Wallace, Kaylah McPhee, Andrew Whittington, Dayne Kelly, and Sean Berman. His experiences with several of those players forms the basis of his presentation today.

Prior to working for TA, Chris was the Head Coach of the University of Tennessee Men’s program. During his 7 years there, Tennessee was one of the most successful programs in the NCAA peaking at #2 in the national rankings after making the NCAA Team Final in 2001. As a player, Chris achieved ATP rankings in both singles & doubles peaking at #325, was a 2-time NCAA All-American peaking at #12 in singles & #1 in doubles, and was runner-up at junior Nationals in both the 18&U and 14&U age groups.

Alison Scott is the Head Coach & Manager at the Thorneside Community Tennis Association, the National & QLD State Coach for players with an intellectual disability (PWID), Head Coach of the Australian ID Team since 2015, Tennis Australia Cardio Tennis Ambassador and a Wheelchair Tennis Development Coach.  With over a 22 years’ experience, Alison has expansive industry knowledge in coaching, player/program development and facility management.  In 2018 Alison was selected to attend the ASC “Women Leaders in Sport” workshop, the Tennis Australia Industry Leaders Workshop as well as presenting at several Tennis Australia coach and professional development workshops and courses.

Helen is the owner/manager of the Helen Rice Tennis School (HRTS) established in SA in 1979. She is the head coach at Denman and Netherby Tennis Clubs in Adelaide, South Australia and the HRTS also coaches at O’Halloran Hill Tennis Club and at other various schools. Helen is a Tennis Australia Club Professional and has been coaching for over 39 years. Some of her most notable points include Newcombe Medal Winner 2017 for Club Coach Excellence, Board member of the Fed Cup Foundation, a presenter at both the TA Grand Slam Conference and Grand Slam Master Class Workshop and a mentor for TA ANZ Hot Shots and Cardio Tennis.

With many years of coaching experience, Gary has worked with Australian champions and world ranked players such as Pat Rafter, Jason Kubler and John Millman to name a few. He is a level 3 Coach and has presented at coaching conferences and workshops in Australia, Japan and Korea.

Georgina Vernon is a current PhD candidate with Victoria University and a Performance Analyst at the Tennis Australia Brisbane National Academy where she assists coaches with the filming and coding of matches and training to help with athlete feedback.

Prior to starting with Tennis Australia, Gina spent 2 seasons as a Sport Science Intern at the Gold Coast Suns AFL Club while completing her Bachelor of Exercise Science and Honours at Griffith University. Her passion for sport science led her to start her PhD in 2016 with a focus on skill acquisition and specifically to investigate the factors that influence a tennis player’s ability to anticipate the serve. Gina aims to submit her thesis in 2019.

Peter completed his undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Science at Victoria University. Throughout this degree, Peter gained valuable experience working with world leading professors in skill acquisition, and was employed by the Australian Institute of Sport AFL Academy, Cricket Australia and Tennis Australia. Further developing his knowledge of skill acquisition and factors leading to skill expertise, Peter was awarded an academic scholarship to complete an Honours degree focusing on the influence of working memory capacity on decision making skills in sport. Peter completed this degree with distinction and was offered a further academic scholarship to complete his PhD with Victoria University in conjunction with Tennis Australia. He is currently undergoing his PhD in enhancing perceptual cognitive skill in tennis using virtual reality technology. Peter has also developed valuable experience from his own participation in sport, representing Victoria in volleyball and athletics, as well as playing at state level in football, basketball and tennis. Peter also spent 5 months at the German Sports University where he studied sport psychology and underwent full time triathlon training with world leading athletes and coaches. Peter has been coaching tennis for 10 years and enjoys getting the most out of players both on and off the tennis court.