ASSOCIATES
All of my associates are my former assistants, who spent fair amount of time working with me, getting the chance to understand my philosophy, vision, principles and teaching methods. They are all USPTA/CPTA certified and real tennis enthusiasts. They all also head their own tennis businesses today and are supporting me at some of my programs during the year.
Zdenek Janousek (CZE - USPTA/CPTA/CTA) - Zdenek came to my education course for coaches in Bratislava/Slovakia in spring 1992 as a construction project manager and left the course as a tennis coach, he made his hobby and passion to his fulltime job. Today, he is in my opinion probably the most educated, the best organised and simply the most professional tennis coach living in the Czech Republic, giving with his in Karlovy vary (Carlsbad) based AZ TENIS and Janousek Tennis Institute (JTI) the perfect example of a well organised tennis company. Zdenek is an active part of many of my education courses for coaches and the man behind the CPTA/USPTA organisation out of the Czech Republic. His homepages www.aztenis.cz and www.jtitennis.cz are probably the best, any coach without a major organisation around him has. Even when you do not speak Czech, look at his unique great shot analysis of the top players. Since December 2003, Zdenek (being member of the board since 1995) is also acting as a President of the Czech Professional Tennis Association (CPTA).
Michal Cech (CZE - USPTA/CPTA) - Michal, native of the Czech tennis city Prerov, was former top 10 junior player in former Czechoslovakia. Unfortunately, certain injuries based on wrong training blocked and later stopped his further career development. Michal came to my CPTA/USPTA course in the Czech Republic in 1999 and his readiness to learn and his smart positive approach struck me immediately. Since 2000, Michal is as the First Assistant a vital part of the MBTA's Annual Spring Tennis Camps in Naturns/Italy. Michal's professional approach and excellent observation skills make him to one of the best coaches I know. Besides his limited activities with us, he runs his Michal Cech Tennis Academy (MCTA) in the German city of Dresden.
Jaroslav Novak (SVK - USPTA/CPTA) - Jaroslav generally called Jaro comes from a tennis family based in East Slovakian city of Kosice. He can look back at a very successfull junior career bringing him into top 100 in the ITF rankings and into the Slovak Junior Davis Cup Team. Unfortunatelly, mistakes of doctors treating his knee growth problems with Cortison!! stopped his active playing career at a very young age. Jaro also came to my CPTA/USPTA education course in the Czech Republic in 1999. Despite his than very young age (20), he impressed me with his extremly professional and hard working attitude towards tennis training. Since 2000, Jaro functioned as travelling pro coach of the MBTA based on demand, since 2003, he was also participating in the MBTA's Annual Spring Tennis Camps in Naturns/Italy. Today, he is mainly active as a club coach in the UK. Besides that he also runs together with his father a tennis school - Novak Tennis Academy in his hometown Kosice and keeps active in the real estate field.
Christer Francke (NOR - USPTA/CPTA) - Christer, former Davis Cup player of Norway, who earned his position thanks to extremly hard work and splendid stamina, came to my old base in Leukerbad/Switzerland in winter 1994. Besides getting helped from me on his game, he worked as my asisstant for some months to improve his teaching knowledge. However being one of the top players in his country and keeping the top 20 position into his mid 30's now, Christer understands the value of continuous coaches education. As a splendid game observer, Christer serves as Norwegian tennis commentator on Eurosport and is the head coach of one of the most prominent tennis clubs in Norway's capital Oslo. He was several times part of the MBTA's Annual Spring Tennis Camps in Italy and we shared care of the Norwegian tennis prodigy Karoline Steiro. More about Christer can be found on www.chriscan.no
Pavel Burda (CZE - USPTA/CPTA) - Pavel was studying tennis at the Sports Faculty of Charles University in Prague with me in 1993-95. Because of his professional approach, I hired him as my assistant in Leukerbad/Switzerland several times for periods of months and sometimes left him even running my business during my international engagements for certain shorter time. Today, Pavle is on an independent contractor basis head coach in a prestigeous tennis club in German city Stuttgart and ready for brief MBTA engagements when the schedules fit both sides.
Michael Kunz (SUI - TVS) - Michael is a life-long tennis player, who came to my tennis coaches education program in 2003 and based on that experience have chosen me as his coach. In the past years, we have been together able to polish Michael's, in the beginning rather complicated and unefficient technique, and as a result he was able to develop serve as his weapon and significantly rise in the rankings. Besides his medical studies, Michael works on part-time basis as tennis coach and supports me in the times of my international engagements.