Sarah is currently the Manager – Club Development in the Places team at Tennis Australia and is responsible for the delivery of numerous programs and initiatives aimed at creating successful and sustainable clubs and venues. With a background in swimming, Sarah has also worked within the club development space at Swimming Australia where she was responsible for managing the volunteer workforce and the volunteer and coach framework. Most recently, Sarah has successfully launched an online education and resource portal for clubs through the shared platform, Bounce.

Professional Learning Officer with the Australian Council of Health Physical Education & Recreation (SA Branch). He is also a casual staff member at Flinders University teaching in the Physical Education and Sports Studies program. Rick is a past club coach, Tennis SA Board member, Chair of Tennis SA, Ken McGregor Fund and Chair of the TSA History Committee.

Although Rob Barty does not have a tennis background, he is the proud father of Australia’s top ranked women’s tennis player, Ashleigh Barty, who is currently ranked at number 15 in the world. Rob is no stranger to a sporting background having played golf for Queensland and Australia as a junior.

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.

John Birrell is currently the Manager and Head Coach of Tennis Plus, operating out of the Tennis Gold Coast Association. John has played tennis in the Europe and the United States whilst also living in Germany for 10 years where he played and coached. John has been a Tennis Australia Qualified Coach for over 30 years. Having worked at the Pat Cash Tennis Academy as a Head Coach, John has plenty of coaching experience under his belt. John is father to Kim Birrell who was the 2019 winner of the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff.

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.

Olivia has a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science with Honours and is currently undertaking her PhD at Victoria University and Tennis Australia. Her PhD focuses on stroke heaviness, specifically how it can be quantified and the effect of heaviness on performance and injury in professional tennis. Olivia has previously worked as a research assistant at Tennis Australia and has sport science and performance analysis experience in swimming, AFL and tennis.

Molly is a current PhD candidate at Victoria University in conjunction with Tennis Australia, investigating the multidisciplinary risk factors and causes of low back pain in elite adolescent tennis players. Molly also works in the Tennis Lab where she assists players in racquet and string selection, customisation and development.

Molly completed her undergraduate degree, Bachelor of Applied Science – Exercise and Sport Science at RMIT University before completing an Honours degree at La Trobe University. Molly investigated the validity of inertial measurement units for measuring swimming velocity for her honours whilst also being employed by the Australian Institute of Sport as a Biomechanics scholar in 2015. Molly’s previous experience helping and working with a variety of projects (Cricket, AIS gait lab and Swimming) has enabled her to continue her passion for working in sport at Tennis Australia.

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.

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!

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 the Manager of Performance Information and Analysis at Tennis Australia. Her role includes management of the Performance Analysis team and the Athlete Management System, as well as supporting and informing Performance systems, strategies and processes with evidence-based information. Danielle recently completed her PhD which explored the epidemiology and aetiology of elite tennis injuries. Additionally, her research portfolio includes reviewing the junior and professional tennis structure worldwide in partnership with the International Tennis Federation which was the basis for the newly formed Transition Tour. Danielle is also the Australian Fed Cup team manager.

Winner of the 2013 Australian Tennis Award, Newcombe Medal as well as 2012 Tennis SA ‘Coach of the Year’ and 2013 Tennis Australia ‘Excellence in MLC Tennis Hot Shots Coaching’ award. David is an ambassador for Cardio Tennis and ANZ Tennis Hot Shots, as well as a Learning Facilitator with Tennis Australia’s coaching courses.

In most recent years, Graeme has been the owner and managing director of Rider Sportwear. His tennis background goes back to the early eighties when he attended Middle Tennessee State University on a tennis scholarship where he then went on to work as a tennis professional at Willow Springs Racket Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Among other career successes he coached former professional tennis player, Anne Minter on the WTA tennis circuit and has spent many years coaching his children to pursue their tennis careers.

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.

With 30 years Insurance and Management Experience in the Underwriting, Broking and Captive Insurance space Stephen joins us today as the Senior Relationship Manager for Tennis Australia.

Stephen’s role is to bring competitively priced program with the best possible cover available. Stephen and the team at Marsh Advantage manage over 100 various Insurance schemes and have strong links into the Corporate Sport industry.

Stephen is married with 2 boys, a social tennis player and an avid Collingwood and Liverpool fan.

Lyndon is completing a PhD co-supported by Victoria University and Tennis Australia where he is investigating practice effectiveness. He also works with the Australian Paralympic Committee tennis program and Tennis Australia’s Tennis Lab. His day-to-day roles include providing skill acquisition support to the Australian Paralympic wheelchair tennis team and supporting Australia’s best professional and junior athletes with ensuring they are using the best equipment for their game.

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.

Head of HPE at Clare High School, School Sport SA Lower North Zone Convenor and Acting Assistant Principal. Have led the implementation of a Thematic Curriculum with the development of student Physical Literacy as a key outcome. Strong involvement in community sport.

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.

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.

Steve is the Head of Places at Tennis Australia. This key role is the link between our delivery network and focuses on Coach Development, Club Development, Venue Sustainability and operational guidance and support. Steve and his team oversee key projects and developments in venue management and development, operational modelling, future planning and benchmarking with a key focus on quality management, participation pathway delivery leading to customer retention. Steve has over 15 years’ experience working in the leisure industry, leading large staff teams and engaging the community.

With a background in education and 25 years teaching experience in both Tasmanian (Scotch Oakburn College, Launceston College) and Victorian (Genazzano FCJ College) schools, Natalie coordinates and oversees the education services delivered to the athletes in each of Tennis Australia’s National Academies. This involves providing classroom and on the road support for distance education athletes as well as ensuring they successfully complete their education programs via communication with their subject teachers. Natalie manages and supervises the various assessment tasks and exams for each athlete and each subject that an athlete is enrolled in. Natalie also provides support to Pro space athletes who are completing their tertiary education. Natalie is the point of contact for Australian athletes to ensure they meet academic eligibility for US College. During their development pathway Natalie educates the athletes about US College as an option post secondary school.

Rebecca McDonald is the National Head of Schools at Tennis Australia. She has a Bachelor of Commerce (Sports Management) with an extensive tennis coaching background. Rebecca was a key author of the Tennis for Primary Schools and Tennis for Secondary Schools resource, and also manages, develops and implements educational content that links the education sectors to tennis.

Anne Minter is a former Australian professional tennis player and her singles ranking peaked at No. 23 in 1988. She has won four WTA singles titles, a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open 1988, she twice reached the R16 at Wimbledon, represented Australia in the Fed Cup for 7 years reaching the final in 1984 and she competed for her native country at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul.

Apart from Anne’s own coaching business of 20 years, tennis has been kept in the family with 2 of her children becoming professional tennis players as well.

Health and Physical Education Teacher at Cygnet and Franklin Primary Schools. Prior to teaching, he has worked in corporate health and for the North Melbourne Football Club where his role supported junior development programs in schools and community engagement initiatives. He has a strong focus on supporting students to transfer their learning from the HPE context to community.

Janelle is an Australian swimmer who competed in 2 events at the 1988 Summer Olympics as well as other events such as the Pan Pacific and Commonwealth Games. She is also a multiple Australian title winner. After retiring at the age of 22, Janelle went on to become a flight attendant with Qantas for 15 years. Junior coaching now takes up her time with roles such as Head Coach at Cotton Tree Aquatic Centre, Mentor Coach on the Australian Junior Pan Pacific Games, Fiji and Team Coach at the Junior World Championships in 2017. Up next for Janelle is taking on the Assistant Coach role for the National Event Camp in February 2019 alongside Head Coach Dean Boxall. With a portfolio of various coaching roles, some of her most proud achievements would be coaching her son in the Australian Surf Swim Gold U15’s and her daughter to representing Australia in Swimming and Surf Life Saving.

Deanna is currently the Coach Development Coordinator for VIC/TAS at Tennis Australia (TA). Along with her qualifications as a TA Master Club Professional and certificates in Sports Coaching, Training and Assessing and Fitness – Strength and Conditioning Coach, Deanna has had experience as the Tennis Victoria Programs Coordinator for Get Into Cardio Tennis, Business Development Manager for ACE Coach and Corporate and the National Business Development Manager for Curves and Snap Fitness.

Michael Poulton is an experienced coach development professional, who has worked extensively in elite sport and education. Most recently Michael has worked as a performance development consultant with the Gold Coast Suns and Geelong football clubs assisting them to maximise their coaching capacity and effectiveness. As the AFL’s Competition & Stakeholder Manager, Michael designed and implemented the AFL Senior Coach program, lead the AFL’s High Performance Advisory Board and developed the National Strategy for Coach Development at all levels of coaching, including club and grassroots football.

Previous to joining the AFL, Michael was the National Coaching Manager for Athletics Australia for 6 years and has extensive experience liaising with the National Sport Organisation network of coach developers and the Australian Sports Commission. During an extended period working at the University of Ballarat, Michael taught in coach education along with a range of subjects in human movement, physical education, and sport management.  His teaching career started as a Primary School Physical Education specialist. Michael continues to coach and support coaches in hockey and was an active track coach for over 10 years.

Dr Matthew Sanders is a Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of the Parenting and Family Support Centre at The University of Queensland. He is the founder of the internationally recognized Triple P-Positive Parenting Program, which is now run in 28 countries around the world in 22 languages. He has published extensively in the area of parenting, family psychology and the prevention of behavioural and emotional problems in children. He is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Australian Psychological Society, New Zealand Psychological Society, Australian Association of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and the Academy of Experimental Criminology. He is an Honorary Professor in the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Manchester, Glasgow Caledonian University, and the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland. He has been a consultant to the Council of Europe on Positive Parenting and is a former Queenslander of the Year. He is author of the recently released book The Power of Positive Parenting: Transforming the Lives of children, Parents and Communities using the Triple P system. In 2018 he received a Queensland Greats Award from the Queensland Government.

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.

AISNSW Student Wellbeing Consultant – teacher 25 years (PDHPE, Dance, Head of Sport, Dean of Wellbeing). Strong focus on social and emotional learning, curriculum implementation and child protection in independent schools in NSW. Dog mother and aunty.

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.

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.