Windward Tennis Academy

Dave Power

President / Owner

Dave is the General Manager of Windward Lake Club. In 2006, he was inducted into the Indiana University Athletic Hall of Fame. He is a USPTA Master Professional since 1984 experienced in all aspects of tennis including over 30 years of club programming. He has developed over 20 nationally ranked players, four of whom were national champions. Dave has developed a unique self-coaching teaching system called "Power Tennis-The Easy Way." A two-time All-American at Indiana University and former world class player, he played in five Grand Slam events reaching the semi-finals in doubles at the Australian Nationals and the third round of singles at Forest Hills (now the Australian Open and U.S. Open). He is the author of "The Inner Coach", a book detailing the mental side of tennis.

Torrey Hawkins

Academy Co-Director

Torrey is one of the nation's top developmental coaches. For the past 15 years, he has worked with some of the best talent in Atlanta and the Southeast. In addition to several years of coaching, Torrey has had players at the Super National level for over 10 years, coached at all of the Junior Grand Slams, coached 3 years on the ATP tour, and gone to several WTA events.
 

Torrey is a PTR Certified Professional and has High Performance & Sport Science Certifications. Torrey has been a presenter at the Tennis Teachers Conference in NY during the US Open and has presented for the USPTA. Torrey grew up in Wichita, KS, where he was a top-ranked junior player in the state in singles and doubles. He was a 2-sport athlete (tennis & basketball) in high school and went on to be a 2-sport athlete for both Morehouse College (D-II) & Georgia State (D-II).

As a Co-Director of the Windward Tennis Academy, Torrey works closely with our other pros in game style identification and development of the complete player. He coordinates the Fitness & Conditioning of both the program as well as of the individual players. He also heads up college recruiting for the Academy.

Will Wright

Academy Co-Director

Will grew up in Lincoln, England where he was a top ten junior player. Will played collegiate tennis at Jacksonville State University (Division I) and was their #1 singles and doubles player for three years. Will served as the assistant tennis coach for JSU men's team in 2003 and 2004. They finished 2nd and 1st in their conference during that period reaching the division 1 regionals in 2004. He has seven years experience teaching in Spain, England, and the U.S, and is one of the top junior coaches in the south. Will is a USPTR Certified Professional and works closely with our other pros in training our elite juniors, currently working with many top southern and national players. In 2006 he coached 6 girls in the top 50 in the nation in their age group.

Henry Adjei Darko

Academy Head Professional

Henry has been Ghana's number one tennis player for over 5 years and has led the country to various Davis Cup victories. He attained a career high ATP singles ranking of 275 and 388 in doubles. Henry was born in Accra, Ghana where he learned to play tennis as a junior. He was consistently ranked in the top of his age group and received a full scholarship to the I.T.F. Tennis Academy in South Africa for 3 years. Henry also finished top 20 on the I.T.F junior singles world ranking and top 10 in doubles. In 2001, he made the round of 16 and quarter-finals of doubles at US Open juniors and made the semi-finals in doubles at the Orange Bowl. Henry turned pro at age 17 and has since accumulated, in singles, 6 future titles, a semi-final in a Challenger and in doubles, two Futures titles and one Challenger title. Whilst touring on the pro circuit, Henry trained at Windward Tennis Academy and helped with the students when he had a break from his hectic schedule. Unfortunately, he was forced to quit the pro circuit after he developed a cyst on his playing wrist. Henry is now a USPTR certified coach and coaches full time in the Academy.

Sue Johnston

Head Tennis Professional

Sue has been involved in Georgia tennis for over thirty years. She was a top ranked junior player from Stone Mountain, Georgia. Sue is a graduate of Georgia Tech where she played #2 singles and #1 doubles for the Lady Yellow Jackets.

Sue began her teaching as head pro at Atlanta Athletic and Racquet Club in Marietta, Georgia. For three years she worked alongside Mike Leach, former tour pro who is currently Director of Tennis of Ponte Vedra Racquet Club in Florida. Moving back to the Stone Mountain area she was head pro at Hidden Hills Country Club. She is joining the Windward staff having been head pro at Summit Chase Country Club since 1993. Throughout her extensive teaching career, she has taught hundreds of ALTA and USTA players producing over 50 city champions in both adult and junior divisions. She has also worked with many advanced junior players who have gone on to play collegiate tennis. Sue is still actively playing AA tennis on womens, mixed, and senior teams.

Sue resides in Snellville with her husband, Steven, and their daughter, Jordan, and son, Britton.

Staton Helton

Associate Tennis Professional

Staton grew up playing tennis in Blakely, GA. He was the MVP of his high school team, losing only one match in four years. In junior tennis he was top 8 in Georgia and top 40 in the South in singles and was #1 in doubles in Georgia. He played collegiate tennis at Troy State University (Division I) in Troy, Alabama. Staton has been teaching tennis since 2003, having been an assistant pro at Altadena Valley Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama and West Lake Country Club in Augusta, Georgia. Staton is a USPTR certified professional.

Greg Grover

Vice-President/Owner

A graduate of Stanford University and UCLA's Graduate School of Management with an MBA in Marketing and Public Relations, Greg is also a USPTA Master Professional since 1990 and Windward Lake Club owner. Greg played varsity tennis at Stanford University, where he learned to teach under his coach and mentor, Dick Gould. He was previously Tennis Director at Countryside Tennis Center and Dunwoody Country Club. A past president and honorary member of the Georgia Professional Tennis Association, he was awarded the Educational Merit Award in 2001 and 1995 as well as the Georgia Professional of the Year in 1996, 1986, and 1982. Greg is the author of two books on creative tennis programming and a third book on doubles strategy for players and coaches. In 2008, Greg received a distinguished honor from his professional peers by being inducted into the USPTA Southern Hall of Fame.

Steve Nash

Associate Tennis Professional

Steve Nash was born in Tulsa, OK. He played as a top junior in the Missouri Valley, Texas, and Southern sections of the USTA. Steve trained under our own Windward Tennis Academy professional, Torrey Hawkins, from the ages of 14-18. In 2004, he achieved a round of 16 placement at the Boys 18s Super National Hard Court Championships tournament in Kalamazoo, MI, along with a top 50 singles ranking. Steve played Division 1 NCAA tennis for one year at Furman University and the remainder of his college career at Auburn University from where he graduated in 2008. Prior to Windward Lake Club, Steve was the Associate Academy Director of Summit Chase Country Club in Snellville, GA. Steve is still an active participant in Atlanta’s competitive tennis community. He and his wife Lindsey live in Gainesville.

Andre Jones

Conditioning Coach

Andre is from West Monroe, Louisiana and has recently joined Windward Lake Club as the Conditioning Coach for our Elite/Select Performance Groups and our Windward Tennis Academy. He will also be assisting in the conditioning of various swim programs for our swim and dive teams. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 2010 with a degree in Exercise Physiology. While at LSU, Andre was on the training staff for football, tennis, and women’s basketball. After college, Andre worked for IMG in Bradenton, Florida where he was responsible for the conditioning program for both tennis and baseball.

Andre has enjoyed training several tennis players including James Clusky, the captain for the Irish doubles tennis team, and Michael Venus, an ATP tour player.

Andre is CSCS (collegiate strength & conditioning) certified and CPR/AED certified. He and his fiancé, Stephane, will be getting married in October of 2012.

Jim Ragsdale

Associate Tennis Professional

Jim Ragsdale has been coaching junior and adult tennis in the south for over 30 years. From 1997-2011, Jim developed the award winning River Hills Club ACE Academy, Mississippi’s longest running and most successful junior academy producing many star students including NCAA Division 1 SinglesChampion, Devin Britton. Jim was selected as the “Team Mississippi” coach at the Southern Closed Championships 16 times. He was the Tennis Director and Head Pro at the Memphis Country Club in Memphis, TN, where he was responsible for all aspects of the country club facility. Jim is also one of the original founders of ACE Academy in Atlanta. Jim has served on the Advisory Board for Nike, Wilson, and Prince. Jim is a graduate of the University of Alabama and served in the United States Army.

Jim is USPTA and USPTR certified. He has a son and daughter who also enjoy playing tennis.

Brian Glass

Associate Tennis Professional

Brian has been an independent pro for 15 years in the Atlanta area. He was the head pro at Brookfield Country Club from 2001-2004. He has coached 8 teams to the ALTA City Finals. He has played in the Atlanta Pro League for 8 years. Brian has many years of experience coaching southern and national level juniors and helps coach our juniors in the Academy.

Brian is USPTA certified. He is a graduate of Georgia State University.

Payten Ellington

Associate Tennis Professional

Payten is from Atlanta and graduated from Chattahoochee High School where she played the number 1 singles position. She went on to play the number 3 singles and number 1 doubles position at the College of Charleston. While Payten was at the College of Charleston she was an All-Conference player. We are pleased to have Payten coach at the Windward Tennis Academy where she will be working with our younger players.