SOUTHWEST AWARDS

Pro of the Year Award– Laurie Martin

Laurie Martin has been a certified USPTA for more than 15 years. She has served as a Southwest board member for the past 8 years as Treasurer, Secretary, V ice President and currently Regional V ice President. Laurie is also USTA Southwest Secretary, USTA National High School Committee Chair, and Arizona Tennis Coaches Association (ATCA) Past President. Highlighted in 2020, Laurie had planned a High School Tennis Coaches Conference for ATCA; also, she along with Amy Badger planned the 2020 Southwest USPTA Division Conference. Laurie also created the “Empowering Women’s Series” for the SW USPTA Women Coaches with the Speaker, Dr. Shawn Foltz Emmons.

Laurie is starting her 17th year as Xavier High School’s head tennis coach. She runs a no-cut program at all levels. Three of her varsity players have successfully moved on to play college tennis. Under Coach Martin’s guidance, Xavier ’s team had earned 5 state championships and been state team runner-up 5 times as well. Congratulations, Coach Martin – Southwest USPTA Pro of the Year!

Elevate Award – Ryan Johnson

Ryan Johnson is a USPTA Elite Professional. He is the Tennis Director at the Desert Mountain Country Club, and currently Chairman of Southwest USPTA Elevate Committee as well as the Phoenix Area District Coordinator for the Southwest Division of the USPTA.

Ryan was able to sustain club members in continuous tennis activities out of his neighborhood with pandemic guidelines and protocols. He also proposed a plan for growth to the club president, which has grown the club’s business by 247% (tennis) and 329% (pickleball). Ryan also published an article for Linked In on “Capitalizing on Tennis…”. He is certified in Pickleball and Racquet Fit as well. Congratulations, Ryan!

Industry Excellence Award – Alex Mouquin

Alex Mouquin is new to the USPTA. Currently, Alex is directing the junior program at the Scottdale Ranch Park, which he has done since 2019. The program has grown from170 to 350 students under his direction. Although the program has halted in early 2020 Alex worked hard to implement changes that allowed them to reopen late in the year. They limited 4 players to a court, but still able to sustain 300 players in the program. Alex also able to run USTA junior tournaments in the L7 and L6. Congratulations for being awarded in Industry Excellence award!

Stars Award – Zach Hackerott

Zach Hackerott from Prescott started teaching high school tennis since his college days. He started teaching part-time and worked his way up to 40 hours per week. During that time, he has brought over 50 players per week into the game. He also captains and coaches many USTA Adult Team Leagues; additionally, he volunteers at the Special Olympics.

Zach primarily has been working on keeping people engaged and playing while many of the main facilities were closed by traveling to a lot of different HOA’s court facilities that players had access to in order to keep current players playing and introduce new players to the game. He also worked closely with the Local League Coordinator to get Flex Leagues up and running. Congratulations, Zach!