The Team

Directors

 Mike Barrell

Based in the UK, Mike has taught tennis for over 25 years working with players of all levels and is the Founder and CEO of evolve9.  Mike has presented at numerous National and International conferences and authored magazine articles and manuals.

He has worked on programs for USTA, Tennis Australia, LTA (GB), Chinese Tennis Association and many other tennis nations including Holland, Norway ,Estonia, Cyprus and Hungary. Mike was the author of the ITF Tennis10s Manual and has a been a major contributor to Under 10 programs around the World.

As well as his role as Director of evolve9, he also works for the LTA as a Coach Education Master Tutor, delivering coach education, certification and training. An LTA Level 5 Licensed Coach, he was also the 2007 PTR Professional of the Year.

 Ronald Pothuizen  

In his continued role at the KNLTB he is responsible for the development of Tennis Kids, the Official Under 10 Program for the Netherlands, and the Under 10 National Competition framework. Ronald has been a Member of the ITF taskforce for Play and Stay since 2002, and is Chairman of the ITF adult expert group.

Through the ITF and evolve9 he has delivered workshops and consultancy in China, Dominican Republic, Lithuania, Cyprus, Kenya, Greece, the Caribbean, Germany, Moldova and Macedonia. He has been a Director of evolve9 since April 2010 and is Chairman of Serious Kids Stuff, the evolve9 foundation.

Our Associates

 Wayne Elderton

Wayne is the Head of Tennis Canada Coaching Development & Certification in British Columbia. He is a certified Canadian National level 4 coach as well as being certified by the PTR and USPTA.

For two consecutive years he was runner-up for Canadian national development coach-of-the-year out of nominated coaches from every sport. He is a multiple winner of the Tennis BC High Performance Coach-of-the-year award and the Tennis Canada Coaching Excellence awards, having worked with National Champions, ATP and WTA players, and top world-ranked wheelchair players.

Wayne is currently Tennis Director at the Grant Connell Tennis Centre in North Vancouver, the 2005 Canadian Facility of the year for program excellence. He is a national expert on coaching using a Game-based approach and Progressive Tennis. His materials and articles have been published by Tennis Canada, TennisOne.com, the PTR, Tennis Corporation of America, Tennis Coaches Australia, and the ITF. He was the lead designer of the Tennis Canada 1/2 Court curriculum, DVD and Coach Workshop.

 Butch Staples

 Formerly is the Head Tennis Professional at Midtown Tennis Club, Chicago. Midtown features a staff of 40 professionals and a Junior Development Pathway with over 300 participants who train on the 36 and 60 courts and is considered a pioneer in modified court programming in the US.

Prior to Midtown, Butch was the Director of Tennis at the Midtown Athletic Club in Weston, FL, Director of the Van Der Meer TennisUniversity courses in Hilton Head, SC and founding General Manager of the International Tennis Academy (ITA) in Delray Beach, FL. Butch is a USPTA Professional 1, a USPTA Specialist in Competitive Player Development, a PTR Master Professional and a Tennis Canada Certified Level 3 Coach.

He spent 10 years on the athletic staff at McGill University in Montreal where he coached both tennis and basketball. He holds a B. A., a B.P.E. and an M.S. in physical education. Butch was also named the USTA 2006 RCW Trainer of the Year. He is a QuickStart Tennis Trainer conducting workshops for both the Community Tennis and the Player Development departments of the USTA as well as conducting PTR Kids Workshops.

 Piotr Unierzyski

Piotr is a coach, coaches' educator and researcher. After an intense tennis career he has been based at the University of Physical Education in Poznan for 30 years. As a coach he has worked with players of all levels; from beginner to professionals including roles as Polish National Coach and ITF touring teams coach. Piotr has educated over 1400 coaches in over 20 countries and has been strongly involved in the Tennis10s and Play&Stay Campain, bith in Poland and internationally since its inception.

Piotr holds a doctoral degree in Sport Science, has written over 100 scientific and methodological publications and 4 books, and is a member of Editorial Boards of several scientific journals. 

Working extensively as the ITF Expert since 1994, Piotr participated in over 100 congresses and workshops all over the world, has given lectures at many universities, national and international congresses, workshops  in over 50 countries. He also runs own consultation company advising national federations, organizations and clubs. His speciality is developing programs for Coaches Education, Players' Development and Talent Identification.

 Carlos Salum

President of Salum International Resources, Inc., a management consulting firm based in Charlotte, NC, USA. Salum developed Performance Architecture, a process that helps executives design a personalized blueprint for achieving peak performance, based on key training principles utilized by world-class athletes and sports teams.

His corporate clients are global organizations in the banking, medical, IT and management consulting industries in the USA, Europe and Latin America. He has participated in ground-breaking research with some of the world's leading sport scientists, such as Dr. Jim Loehr, Dr. Nick Hall, Dr. Jack Groppel and Pat Etcheberry, with whom he coached some of the world's top athletes.

He contributed to the careers of outstanding tennis players such as Gabriela Sabatini (U.S. Open champion, 1990) and Sergi Bruguera (French Open champion, 1993-94) and the Argentine and Italian Davis Cup Teams, among many others.

Web: www.saluminternational.com  - Newsletter: www.saluminternational.com/vortex/index.html 

 Michelle Skelley

Michelle has been teaching tennis for over 20 years.  She is a USTA National QuickStart and RCW Trainer, a PTR National Clinician and Tester for both the Junior Development and Adult Development pathways, and a member of the CardioTennis National Speaker's Team. 

Michelle has helped with several QuickStart demo events including those at the White House, Disney World, and at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.  She has also presented at numerous Regional and State conferences and has authored a tennis tots curriculum for a local recreation department.  In 2009 she was named the USTA Eastern Clinician of the Year.  Currently Michelle is the Director for 10 & Under Tennis at the Miller Tennis Center in Buffalo, New York.

Michelle is also the Director of Tennis Whizz, evolve9s' highly innovative Pre School Tennis Program.

 Rufus Keown

Rufus has been working in the tennis industry since 1995 and is currently Director of the Victorian Tennis Academy in Melbourne, Australia.He has achieved a Bachelor of Business Management; a Graduate Diploma in Sport Management; and is a Tennis Australia Club Professional Coach.

He is a Tennis Australia Learning Facilitator, Hot Shots [National U10 program] Ambassador and sits on the Local Coaches Advisory Board. He has presented at workshops around Australia and produced drills manuals and lesson plans for Tennis Australia.

Rufus is extremely enthusiastic about developing inspirational environments for young tennis players.

 Adam Jasick

 Born and raised in Michigan, USA, Adam played college tennis at Grand Valley State University and graduated with a degree in Movement Science majoring in Sport Pedagogy. Adam has worked with top international junior players at Van Der Meer Tennis Academy on Hilton Head Island, SC and is currently the Director of Junior Tennis at Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California. 

He is also the Executive Director of a Non-Profit Organization that provides free tennis to over 5,000 impoverished elementary school kids each week. Adam has worked extensively in the Red, Orange & Green (ROG) System as a partner with evolve9 and has consulted for many clubs and organizations internationally as well as lectured on various U10's subjects for the PTR, USTA and ITF. Adam is a USA Tennis High Performance Program Graduate, PTR National Tester and Clinician, and a TIA Cardio Tennis National Speaker Team Member. 

 Mike Slattery

Mike is currently the Director of Under 10 Tennis for Tennis Clubs Inc, a 6 facility club group in Connecticut. He is considered a pioneer in 10 and Under Tennis in New England, serving on a USTA sub-committee to help develop the format for 10 and Under Tennis Tournaments in the NE Section.

Mike has spent over 12 years developing juniors in Connecticut, and was the recipient of the 2010 USPTA "Coach of the Year Award" as well as the 2010 USTA "William Freedman Award", for outstanding contribution to the development of junior tennis.

Mike was USTA New England ranked junior and went on to play tennis for Quinnipiac University, graduating with a degree in Business Administration. Mike coached tennis at The University of Georgia, Kansas University and Tyler Junior College where he worked with some of the top college players in the country. He has worked with many top national and international juniors who went on to the ATP and WTA tours.  Mike's certifications include USTA High Performance Coach Levels 1 & 2, USPTA Professional 1, PTR Professional, USTA Sports Science Levels 1 & 2.