Tennis Professional

Erica Zabkar

Erica, who is from Roswell, Georgia, is a former student at Universal Tennis Academy. She played collegiately for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she earned First Team All Southern Conference honors. As an assistant Women’s Tennis Coach at UNCG, Erica helped guide the Spartans to a Southern Conference regular-season championship in 2012. She won the 2012 ITA Carolinas Assistant Coach of the Year award. While continuing her master’s degree, Erica worked with juniors at Green Valley Swim & Tennis Club in Greensboro, NC.

Erica earned a Master’s (2011) and Bachelor’s (2008) of Science in Kinesiology from the UNCG. She completed Master’s of Science in Athletic Training from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) in May 2014. She is currently a certified and Licensed Athletic Trainer. Erica enjoys working with players of all ages and abilities.

UTA Partner

Stewart Russell

Stewart Russell is originally from Northport, New York and graduated from Roanoke College in Salem, Va. with a degree in Sociology. Stewart directs the junior and adult programs at James Creek Tennis Center.

Stewart has been a USPTA Elite professional for the past 15 years and is working towards becoming a Master Professional. Stewart is a USTA National Junior Player Development coach who participates in Regional and National events hosted by the USTA. Before joining Universal Tennis Academy, Stewart was the Head Men’s Tennis Coach at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia for five years. He was also the Director of Tennis at Brookstone Country Club in Acworth, Ga. He has a comprehensive and extensive background in teaching players of all ages and ability levels.

Stewart and his wife Penny have two children. Their daughter, Taylor, is a certified personal trainer in Savannah and their son, Justin, plays baseball at Kennesaw State University.

Work in the Community:
– Serve and Connect @ Washington Park Tennis Center
– Volunteer assistant for wheelchair tennis program created by Ron Walker @ Blackburn TC
– Volunteer assistant for Acing Autism program
– Member of the USTA National Junior Development coaching staff for 12 years
– Volunteer in all teach-a-thons to help raise funds for AYTEF and Chattahoochee Foundation
– Coordinator of Northside Hospital Tennis against Breast Cancer annual event @ James Creek TC

Tennis Professional

Clement Darko

Clement was born in Accra, Ghana where he learned to play tennis. In 1998, he was named to Ghana’s Davis Cup team and he competed professionally on the men’s tennis circuit. He was consistently ranked Nationally in the top 5 and achieved a top 80 ranking on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Circuit. He won two junior doubles tournaments with partner Lleyton Hewitt. As a junior, he was brought to the United States on a tennis scholarship to the world-famous John Newcomb Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas. He has coached several highly ranked junior players. Clement has coached tennis for over ten years and is USPTA and GPTA Certified. In his spare time, Clement enjoys playing soccer and working out in the gym.

Tennis Professional

Gabriella Kovacs

Gabriella is originally from Szazhalombatta, Hungary and attended Armstrong State University in Savannah, Ga. Gabriella played on the Pirates Tennis Team from 2006 – 2010. During those four years, the team won three National Championships and Gabriella was named All American five times. She received a degree in English – communications and in Public Health.

Gabriella started to teach tennis while she was in high school years when she coached children ages 3-12 years old. She enjoys coaching younger children as well as competitive juniors. She also works with adults of all ability levels. Gabriella still enjoys competing and continues to play in professional ITF and Challenger tournaments.

Tennis Professional

Barbora Krtickova

Barbora is originally from Nove Mesto nad Metuji, Czech Republic. In junior years she was among the best in the Czech Republic. She won the prestigious Czech Junior National Championship “Pardubicka Juniorka” in doubles in 2008. Barbora also played on the WTA tour, with her highest WTA ranking 652. in singles, and 539. in doubles. During her professional career she won 2 doubles titles, one in Greece, one in Hungary. She also played singles finals of 10K tournament in Morocco. 

She attended Armstrong State University where she became one of the best players in Division II. During her college career she was ranked the highest #2 in Singles and #1 in doubles. She won Super Bowl of Small College in singles in 2012, and in doubles in 2010 and 2012. She was named All-American eight times. With her team, she won the Division II Team National Championship in 2012 and 2013. Barbora graduated in 2014 with a degree in Health and Human Performance. 

She went on to get her master’s degree in Sport Administration at Georgia State University while she was also assisting with Emory University women’s tennis team. In 7 years that Barbora coached the Emory women’s team, the team won Division III National Championship twice in 2016 and 2021, was in 3 championship finals in 2015, 2017, and 2018. The team also won the ITA Indoor National Championship in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Barbora has been coaching tennis for over 10 years and is PTR Certified. While she has coached some top Division III college players, she also enjoys working with kids and adults of any age and level.

Tennis Professional

Sam Poole

Samuel Poole is originally from Detroit, Michigan and graduate of Wayne State University with a degree in Education. Sam played college tennis for Eastern Michigan University and Chicago State University.

With over 20 years of experience, Sam has trained and traveled with several nationally and world ranked juniors, who went on to compete at the collegiate and professional level. Sam was a lead coach at Center-court Sport Academy-NJ where he coached in their full time tennis academy and was director in their U10 program. Sam was an Assistant and Head Coach at the University of Detroit Mercy-MI, where he lead the team to two conference finals.

When Sam was not on the court he was consulting and stringing for Harvard Mens and Womens Varsity Tennis programs. Sam enjoys working with Adults and Juniors of all Ability levels.