You’ll be seeing a number of new faces, and one or two familiar faces, on the courts at Austin Tennis Academy this summer. CEO Jack Newman has hired four coaches to work in summer camps, provide individual/group lessons, and be on board for junior programs in the fall.

Estevam Strecker returns to ATA both as a tennis coach and as an instructor at ATA College Prep. Strecker was the head coach for the mens tennis team at Saint Edwards here in Austin until the college dropped its tennis programs. In case you didn’t meet him at the End of Year Party a couple weeks ago, Strecker officially starts in July.

Another familiar face for many of ATA’s JD kids and their parents is ATA alumna Keana Moon.

Moon has returned from college this summer to once again coach in JD camps, and provide private lessons to youngsters playing red ball. Coach Newman is excited to have Keana join the coaching ranks for the summer as she brings lots of experience from her many years as both a player and a student coach at ATA.

Please welcome another female coach to ATA’s team, Qili Ma.

Qili Ma comes to ATA from the University of Central Arkansas where she has been the assistant coach for the past three years while earning her Masters Degree in sports and exercise science; she has a Bachelor degree in psychology. Ma also played Division I college tennis at University of Central Arkansas for four years, earning the highest winning percentage in school history in both singles and doubles, and helped lead the school to its first ASUN conference championship her senior year.

Originally from China, Ma and her family moved to the United States when she was 13 years old. Ma played ITF throughout her junior tennis career, achieving an ITF Junior ranking of 275.

And give a ‘back home’ welcome to Dane Esses, who’s joining the ATA team via the west coast.

Esses recently earned his Masters degree in Entrepreneurship from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where he played Division I tennis as the ‘Line 1’ singles, and was nominated for male athlete of the year. For his undergraduate studies, Esses earned a Bachelors degree in sociology from Tulane University in New Orleans where he also played Division I tennis, and earned a national ranking of 47 his senior year.

Esses is no stranger to Texas or junior tennis in the Lone Star State. He’s a native Texan who grew up playing tennis in Houston (King Daddy Sports). Esses ranked Top 3 in Boys 16s and 18s during his junior career and was a 5-Star Recruit when he graduated high school in 2016.