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Meet The Pros

Dave Desure

Head Pro

Dave is a Las Vegas native and competed on the collegiate level at the University of Las Vegas. Dave has been a fixture in the Del Mar teaching scene for nearly 25 years. He has coached beginning players all to the professional level. He is known for making tennis fun, exciting, and engaging. Dave is widely known as the inventor of the String Thing, a string straightening device. Currently new products are being developed now and will be introduced into the tennis world in 2019.

Cesar Grobel

Staff Pro

Cesar Grobel from Brazil came to the United States on a full scholarship to play college tennis at Barton College. He was ranked 32nd in the nation and was named Conference Carolinas Player of the Year. After college Cesar worked for 4 years as a Tennis Professional at a country club in Richmond, Virginia.  He also been traveling all over the country this past year with a top junior prospect player. Cesar enjoy teaching all levels and ages. 

Cynthia Delgado

Staff Pro

Cynthia played competitive junior tennis growing up on the East Coast & has continued to play adult tournaments & leagues as well as on Intersectional teams representing SoCal. She coached 7 years at The Bishops School in La Jolla and was involved with the middle school program as well as the boys & girls high school teams. She loves sharing her joy of the game and seeing players improve and catch that excitement. She has taught beginners through advanced levels and can cover everything from basics & etiquette through strategy & mental tournament toughness: always with good sportsmanship as an integral part of an athlete’s development.

David Evans

Staff Pro

David Evans is a USPTA Certified Tennis Professional with a priceless combination of proven tennis training techniques and state of the art strategies and tactics. He learned these things working with multiple Top 50 World Ranked Tennis Players, playing college tennis, becoming a Top 50 USTA Mens Open Singles Player in Northern California, winning countless tournaments, and successfully teaching tennis to hundreds of students of all ages and skill levels.

Jeff Fleming

Staff Pro

Jeff Fleming  is a USPTA Certified Tennis Instructor and is also a Certified Interscholastic Coach for Middle school and High school from NFHS.  Jeff moved to San Diego from Jacksonville, Florida to attend USCD. He played tennis while attending college and progressed after college to play tournaments. Jeff has won many tournaments in singles and doubles and has also played league tennis for many years as well in singles and doubles.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced level Jeff can help you improve your skills, shot accuracy and game strategy to provide years of enjoyment for the wonderful game of tennis. Jeff’s excellent coaching has helped his students win tournaments. Jeff is notorious for tracking down Coach John Weiss’ drop shots, but still declares him the “Drop Shot King”.

 

 

John Delille

Staff Pro/ General Manager

John Delille was a former tennis director at Rancho Valencia Resort in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. Additionally, he was a former tennis director at the Nike Camp at Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. Delille was the head varsity coach for both boys and girls at Torrey Pines High School, where he was recognized as Coach of the Year 2015. Delille is married with two children living in Tierrasanta, CA.

 

John Weiss

Staff Pro

John is a California native, a self described tennis junkie, known for his patented Weiss slice and is called the Drop Shot King by his contemporaries. He loves working with students who realize that mastering this ‘lifetime’ sport requires dedication, patience and commitment. I like to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the student. Design an approach to focus on strengths but still work on weaknesses to build confidence for a well rounded game. 

 

Lucio Cangiano

Staff Pro

Lucio, a native of Sao Paolo, Brazil, played his college tennis at MSU Denver where he earned honors as a two time First Team All-RMAC singles player and a two time Second Team All-RMAC doubles player as well as the 2010 Fall ITA Central Region Singles champion. He finished his career at MSU Denver with 30 wins and 15 losses at singles, breaking the Roadrunners single season singles win record. Lucio joined the Carmel Valley team in 2020 and works with all students from beginners to advanced, including working with our junior program.  Highlights of his impressive tennis accomplishments include:

* Peninsula Tennis Club. Open level (singles champion)
* 10.0 – 10.0 mixed doubles San Diego District doubles champions.
* 10.0 mixed doubles Southern California sectionals champion.
* 10.0 mixed doubles (3rd in the nation)

Maria Ward

Staff Pro

Maria specializes in teaching beginning and intermediate level students to develop the strong skills needed to win tournaments. She focuses on the basic tennis techniques that prevent injury, increase range of motion, and improve endurance.

Maria employs a teaching style based on patience, persistence, and having fun. She guides students through every aspect of the game from how to grip their rackets, proper forearm/backhand techniques, where to look when hitting the ball, how to anticipate where to move on the court, and shot selection strategies.

Although her opponents nick-named her “Cannonball” because of her rocket-like forearm, Maria teaches how to hit power returns from the baseline along with how and when to mix-in lobs, drop-shots, slices, and spins. Maria learned to play on the clay courts in Jakarta when she was 9 years old and trained for years to develop expertise in every aspect of the game. Since then, Maria has successful history of winning local, regional, and national tournaments. Maria’s name is listed on the many of the Championship plaques proudly displayed on the walls at the Carmel Valley Tennis club.

Nick Piotrowski

Staff Pro

Bio coming soon.

Rashad Hensley

Staff Pro

Rashad Rae Hensley has coached at Carmel Valley Tennis Club since August 2020. He specializes in coaching both beginners (including peewee’s) and intermediate levels.  He also teaches at the clinics and helps all players signficantly improve their game.  He refined his exceptional coaching style during his 15 years of teaching and playing at various USTA tournaments, leagues, and WTT divisions.  He is passionate about tennis and driven to help all players develop the skills needed to consistently win.