The club was founded in 1998, setting new standards for tennis excellence. Wayne is a former top 10 tennis player from Johannesburg, South Africa. Wayne played NCAA division 1 tennis for ORU in Tulsa Ok and he was MVP two out of four years and a three time all conference champion. After touring professionally in Europe and playing in the German Professional League for Team Bayer Leverkeusen, he returned to the US and has since directed and managed a number of tennis, fitness and sports facilities over the last two decades. As a student of this dynamic game he is fascinated by the challenge of staying current. He has written a number of articles and devised teaching methods to introduce the modern game to recreational players.
Wayne Stewart Tennis Director, Owner
Wayne is a former CPA with Ernst and Young and a certified professional instructor with the USPTR, a former board member of the South Carolina Professional Tennis Association and President of the Stewart Group, a company dedicated to providing athletic opportunities for tomorrow’s leaders to succeed.
He is a holder of numerous national, regional and South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Maryland and Kentucky state tennis titles. Wayne also achieved success in other sports activities including South African National and SA Army rugby, track and field, soccer and cricket programs. These proficiencies culminated in a 1 st place finish in America’s Top 100 College Athletes Super Sportsman Contest held at the T-Bar M resort in New Braunfels Texas. Being raised in a tennis family (two brothers played professional tennis and both are currently managing tennis facilities) sport always took center stage. It provided opportunities to excel and it opened many doors. His programs have earned awards for tennis and sports contributions to local communities and he has earned “facility of the year” awards for clubs in South Carolina and Oklahoma.
Sherry Stewart General Manager/Tennis Academy Director, Owner
Sherry with a degree in education, psychology and administration has much to do with the daily running of the club. After years in the classroom and as a private school director she continues to teach and hold high standards for our program and coaches. Her on-court presence is crucial to our athletes and players. Knowing every student and understanding each one is a top priority. Helping parents plan a pathway that best fits their child in every way is one of the many things she does to individualize the program. Having a mother’s touch on the court each day is a unique and priceless attribute of our programs. Growing up playing tennis in a tennis family at a tennis club made this transition an easy one for her.
According to Wayne there is still much more to do and that is why together with wife Sherry they devote much of their awake time of the day to the club and its programs.
Paola Stephen
Paola Stephen coaches in our junior program as well as teaching adult clinics and drills. Paola is originally from Caracas Venezuala. She was ranked nationally among the top three players throughout her junior career. She was part of the first Venezuelan team to qualify to the ITF World Junior Championships. At the end of her junior year, Paola represented Venezuela on the Feb Cup Team. She is very familiar with tennis in the United States. Paola received a full tennis scholarship at Baylor University where she received her degree in public relations. Paola completed her Master’s degree at East Tennessee State University. She was the assistant coach for the Women’s tennis team at East Tennessee for two years. During her time coaching, the team won the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in April of 2014 and went to the finals of the Southern Conference Tournament in 2015. The team took second in their conference. Paola brings a unique point of view to GTC as an experienced junior and college player, as well as a coach of young players in their college career.
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