Summer Tennis Camp in Santa Barbara

As with last year’s camp, 2017’s session (June 19-23) is aimed specifically at preparing middle-school students and incoming freshmen for high school tennis. Players will receive top-level instruction on the high school match format, tie-breaks, doubles strategy, the team element, and much more; they’ll also get to experience fun activities like our mini-tennis tournament, the week-long team competition, the camp tradition hat contest, and the best lunches of any camp in Santa Barbara!

Last year’s camp staff included: Sara Walker Scott (former UCLA #1 and pro-tour player), Tristan Prinz (former stand-out Laguna Blanca singles player and current UCLA student), Phillip Hicks (former stand-out Laguna Blanca singles player and current Yale Club team member) and myself, as well as a collection of skilled current and former Santa Barbara area high school players. In past years, we’ve also had Barbara (Hallquist) Degroot and Justin Vea as celebrity coaches. Barbara was a quarterfinalist at the US Open and former top-40 in the world player and Justin is a former All-American NCAA doubles player.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Link to prior summer tennis camp posts and media
• Laguna Blanca Tennis Camp Parental Permission Form and Release of Liability

Summer 2016 (Archive)

Our 3rd edition of the Laguna Blanca Summer Tennis Camp was a big hit! Building on years past and listening to our campers (and their parents!) led to a very fun camp.

We had outstanding coaches, like Sara Walker Scott (former UCLA #1 and pro-tour player), Tristan Prinz (former stand-out Laguna Blanca singles player, current UCLA student, and 3rd year staff member), Phillip Hicks (former stand-out Laguna Blanca singles player and current Yale Club team member).

In addition, we expanded our “celebrity player” participation, meaning that as our campers went through drills and competed in match-play, there was almost always at least one current or former high-level SB area high school player on-court in addition to the coaches. We know one of the keys to improving is playing with better players and at our camp, every camper gets that opportunity every single day!

DJ Conrad returned to play some tunes during our mini-tennis tournament and we also had a very exciting water-balloon fight on the hottest day of camp to keep things below a boil!

In the team competition, Team Panda narrowly survived a late charge by Team Phix, giving Coach Tristan his team’s first win at Laguna Tennis Camp! Individual awards were handed out to Henry Signa (Most Improved), Alessa Somer (Coaches’ Award), and Grace Fuss/Luke Williams (Co-MVP’s).

Summer 2015 (Archive)

Summer 2015 was the second year of Laguna Blanca Tennis Camp and another week of great fun! We had 16 campers and 3 regular staff, plus the addition of a “celeb coach” each day, meaning that, at 4-to-1, we continue to have the lowest student/coach ratio of any camp in Santa Barbara.

This year’s camp introduced a new afternoon activity…the mini-tennis tournament. To add to the fun, we had Dj Conrad (a Laguna alum) out to add some music to the mix. Lunches came from Chicken Ranch, Backyard Bowls, Blenders, Panera, Chipotle, and Persona Neapolitan Pizzeria and continue to put smiles on campers’ faces.

Oh, and the tennis was pretty impressive, too! We had a number of strong campers out, both returners and new, and some “celeb players” were added to the mix to give middle-school campers the experience of playing with top high school players. For those of you wondering at this point who these celeb coaches and players are, here are a few examples:

Barbara Degroot – Former #40 in the world, NCAA & USC Hall-of-Famer. Barbara was the first female athlete to receive a full athletic scholarship at USC. Sara Scott – Former UCLA #1 and pro-tour player. Justin Vea – NCAA All-American McKenna Madden – 4-year veteran of the Cate girls’ tennis team, McKenna has three-times been selected to CIF Individuals and has been a part of 4 CIF playoff teams. Patrick Corpuz – Led the Dos Pueblos boys’ high school team that finally toppled SBHS’s dominance in the Channel League. Patrick has also been a highly-ranked junior player for a number of years and will be playing college tennis in 2016. Phillip Hicks – A consistent part of Laguna Blanca High Schools’ singles lineup, Hicks has helped the team to 3 consecutive CIF playoff appearances and several year-end top-10 CIF division rankings.

Summer 2014 (archive)

Summer 2014’s Laguna Blanca Tennis Camp was a big success, thanks to all who participated. We had 15 campers and 4 staff, making for the best student/coach ratio of any program in Santa Barbara. Enthusiasm ran high, lots of great tennis was played (and progress made), and it was universally agreed that our tennis camp featured the best lunches in town!

Along with two of the finest students I’ve had the pleasure to work with, recently off to college at UCLA and University of Washington, the camp staff included experienced USPTA-certified tennis pro Zack Hasenyager. He brought a wealth of knowledge to the camp and a fresh point-of-view, coming from outside the Santa Barbara tennis scene. Hasenyager has since moved on from his assistant coaching position at the University of Redlands to become head coach at Wooster College.