-Based in the UK, Mike has taught tennis for over 20 years working with players of all levels and more recently as Director of evolve9, providing consultancy to clubs, organizations and National Associations. Evolve9 offers many services including resource design, program management and practical on court coach education delivery. Mike has presented at numerous National and International conferences authored magazine articles and manuals. His work has seen him work on programmes in developing tennis nations including Holland, Norway,Estonia, Lithiania, Cyprus and Hungary. Mike currently also works for the LTA as one of a team of coach education tutors, delivering coach education, certification and training. An LTA Level III Licensed Coach, he was also the 2007 PTR Professional of the Year. Mike owned his own community based tennis club for over 10 years and now manages the Under 10s programme at the West Hants Club in Bournemouth where he still works on court each week.

Ajay Pant-Ajay is currently the National Tennis Director for Tennis Corporation Of America (TCA)and General Manager for TCA owned Midtown Tennis Club in Overland Park, Kansas. He worked with beginner to world ranked players at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. A Master Professional, National Tester and National Clinician for the PTR, Ajay was honored as the International Tester Of The Year in 1993, International Clinician Of The Year in 2000 and Pro Of The Year in 2004. He is also certified by the USPTA P-1. Ajay was recognized as a “Specialist in Competitive Player Development” in 2001 and completed Level I and Level II of the USTA Sports Science Exams. He was selected by the USTA for the Elite High Performance Coaching Program in 2000 and is a USTA Recreation Coaches Workshop Master Trainer. Ajay is the recipient of the USTA/Missouri Valley President’s award for 2007. Pant is a member of the National Cardio Tennis and Wilson Speakers Team. He served on the Board for the Chicago Indoor Tennis Association and currently serves on USTA National Committees for Schools and Multicultural Participation.

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-Butch 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.

Carlos Salum-Carlos is the 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 Online Newsletter: www.saluminternational.com/vortex/index.html Blog: www.sirvortex.blogspot.com