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USTA announces campus head pros

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - The United States Tennis Association (USTA) today announced its team of new head tennis teaching professionals at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. The state-of-the-art facility, set to open to the public in January 2017, will offer innovative tennis programs, clinics, camps and playing opportunities for all ages and abilities for residents of the Orlando community.

The team will be involved with all programming and activities at the facility and will report to Kathy Woods, Director of Tennis at the USTA National Tennis Campus. The team of head tennis professionals who will join the USTA National Campus staff include:

• Chanelle “Chani” Anderson will focus on high performance development programs for youth players and assist in the teaching and coaching of adult players. Anderson is a former WTA professional and earned a career-high singles ranking of No. 37. Her teaching and coaching experience includes overseeing junior programs at Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla., and most recently, at the Interlachen Country Club in Winter Park, Fla. Originally from South Africa, Anderson now resides in Lake Nona, Fla.
• Rita Gladstone will lead programming at the USTA National Campus’ Nemours Family Zone for young players, adult beginning players, and senior adult players. Gladstone is a nationally-recognized USTA trainer and a lead faculty coach of USTA early development camps. She is certified by both the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) and United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA). A former collegiate player and graduate of the University of South Carolina, Gladstone has most recently been the Director, Nike Tennis Camp at Rollins College, and Junior Program Director at Airport Park in Port Orange, Fla.
• Tim Pleasant will provide program direction for players ages 11-18 with a focus on increasing participation, as well as providing high performance training. Pleasant brings more than 20 years of experience as a teaching professional and five years as a collegiate coach at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla. A graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, he is certified by USPTA and is a member of the American Tennis Association. Previously, Pleasant served as the head tennis professional at the Trails Racquet Club in Ormond Beach, Fla., and directed a junior tennis academy at Rock Hills Tennis Center, S.C. The Pleasant family was honored as the 2015 USTA Florida Tennis Family of the Year.
• Ben Zaiser will focus on all areas of adult play and programming. A graduate of the University of Maine, Zaiser has more than a decade of full-time teaching experience and administration at the Midlothian Atlantic Coast Athletic Club in Richmond, Va., where he has been the head tennis professional since 2013 and adult tennis coordinator from 2008-2013. A PTR-certified pro, Zaiser also is an experienced tournament director. He is a native of Skowhegan, Maine, where he contributed in high school coaching from 2000 to 2005.

The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 715,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest-attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the Emirates Airline US Open Series, linking seven summer tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships and helps under-resourced youth and individuals with disabilities, and supports wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. For more information on the USTA, log on to usta.com, “like” the official Facebook page, facebook.com/usta, or follow @usta on Twitter.

Posted on November 1, 2016
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