Tennis coaches
"A great coach is not only an excellent teacher but is an inspirational mentor who understands the individual needs of every student under their guidance. They consider a player's physical strengths and weaknesses together with their psychological make-up and then build their technical and tactical game with careful attention to these factors led by a bio-mechanical and psychological assessment".
I am privileged to have had the opportunity of working with many great coaches during the past decade including Martin Vantol (Nick Bolletteri Academy, Florida), Mark Cox (Win Tennis, Bisham Abbey) and Tito Vasquez (David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas). However I would like to say a very special thank you to three special guys who have encouraged, supported and inspired me with their professionalism, dedication and unselfish willingness to share their precious knowledge - Rob Booth, Andrew Jarrett and Peter McCraw.
We have an extensive team of qualified coaches with a wealth of specialist knowledge from their various tennis and sports backgrounds who provide expertise in all aspects of coaching.
Dean Cornish - Director of Tennis, TA, DCA, CCA, LTA Tennis Leader Tutor, DCA Mentor
Dean has played competitive tennis since the age of 8 when he first represented Somerset at Under 10 level. Inspired by his older brother, Martin Cornish, a former Great Britain Captain, Dean pursued a professional career as a player, achieving national and world rankings with one of many highlights coming when he partnered Davis Cup player and at that time, British Number 1, Andrew Castle. He is currently coaching a long list of County, National and International players.
Peter McCraw
We are very excited to have one of the world's top coaches on board as part of our team. Peter was previously National Womens Coach for Australia and then Head of Junior Development for the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida but is best known for for his coaching roles with Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic, Tatiana Golovin and Xavier Malisse.
He will be assisting in the development of some of our players during his three to four visits to the UK per year.
Helen Gould - TA, DCA
Helen is our longest serving coach and although she is involved with all areas of the coaching programme from taking adult sessions and supporting the performance programme, she currently specialises in the development of young juniors and is therefore based at the All Hallows School Tennis Academy.
She is both dedicated and professional and we are very proud of her development over the years. Her next challenge will be to take the Club Coach Award.
Tomas Simko
Tomas has recently moved to the UK from Slovakia. He has a University degree in coaching which is equivalent to the CCA qualification and worked full-time at the TK Tennis Centrum in Bognice. He has also played national tennis and been involved on the WTA tour. Tomas brings a wealth of player and coach experience to the team.
Stephen Pearce - TA, DCA
Stephen is a fantastic new addition to the team who came aboard in August 2008. Having previously coached on a part-time basis, he found that he enjoyed it so much he left his day time job in order to dedicate himself to tennis.
The enthusiasm and energy which he brings to the court is inspirational to all students under his guidance.
Alex Hudson
Rob Booth - TA, CCA, PCA
Having played professional tennis himself, Rob is the former British National Junior Coach and is currently based at the West Hants Club in Dorset as Head of Talent ID.
Rob is involved in a similar way to Peter and works on a consultancy basis to oversee the development of our players and to act as a guest coach on performance camps.
John Cooksley, CC1 CC2, PTR
John has many years experience of playing tennis having represented his county since the age of 8 and was the captain for the junior county cup team for Devon! He was also captain of the Cardiff University First Team.
John is a very dedicated coach and has a great passion for tennis working with both performance and social players, juniors and adults. He is a dynamic and ambitious member of the team.