Evert Academy now has 18 full-time tennis coaches. All of them are interested in this job, as they have a good social package. In addition, the Academy is considered a good school for young coaches, and in addition to the experience gained, the corresponding line in the “employment book” is also valued.

There is also a Russian-speaking coach at the Academy – Ivan Puchkarev who came from Simferopol. At one time he was the 1st racket of Ukraine among juniors and entered the top 3 TennisEurope. But he didn’t turn pro, he graduated from Oklahoma State University, after which he came to work at the Academy. Ivan expressed his impressions of the work in a short interview:

“I really like working here. We try to develop young tennis players in every way, to give them life skills through sports. The family atmosphere helps our students achieve their goals at practice, in the classroom, and at actual tournaments. In addition, our coaching and administrative staff is dedicated to instilling a sense of discipline in students. Of course, we cannot say that only future professionals are trained here. Almost any junior player will be accepted to the academy; it’s a commercial enterprise, after all. But, most importantly, he must have a desire to train. However, he will be assigned to a group that corresponds to his level and in order to move to stronger guys, he will need to work hard and gain relevant skills. Only then will he be promoted to the next level.

Here’s what Academy Director John Evert has to say about the coaching staff: “At our academy, all of the coaches are hand-picked, as they call it. Chris Evert and I wanted to make sure that our selection of coaches turned out to be independent. Our coaching staff is 15-20 coaches, depending on the type of program and number of players. All of the coaches have extensive experience working with juniors. Most of the coaches have professional experience. Many of our coaches have played in professional tournaments. Many have played for their countries in the Davis Cup. It is very important for a personal trainer to know how to properly develop the talent of a young player and to know the technical aspects of the game. We have at least 11 meetings each week with our coaching staff. Eight to nine of those meetings consist of discussions about each player individually, what we are working on to improve him, and the other 3-4 meetings consist of discussions about technical, tactical, and strategic aspects of the game.”