Sarah Megilligan

Staff Tennis Pro

She goes by many names, TriSarahtops, Sarahendipity, Megalodon, or simply coach Sarah. In 2020, Sarah received her bachelor's in Mass Communications with a minor in leadership at CSU-Pueblo, where she also played 4 years of tennis. Sarah has been a tennis pro, pursued sales, facilitated advertising for a few small businesses, filmed/photographed events and even became a radio DJ for 89.5 the Revolution. She spends her free time annoying people with puns, lifting heavy things, hiking, and always activating her curiosity learning something new.  $60/hour

Kenneth Kilgore

Staff Tennis Pro

Kenneth moved to Denver from Cincinnati, Ohio to pursue his masters degree in business administration. His specialties include tennis strategy and footwork.If you are looking for a kind, patient, goal-oriented pro, Kenneth is your guy. His hobbies include playing soccer, listening to Anderson Paak or Thundercat, and trying out new local delis. On the ATP tour, Kenneth is a big fan of Medvedev and continues to argue that his volley skills are very underrated. $65/hour

Gerald Davis

Staff Tennis Pro

Gerald is a New Orleans native with over 14 years of teaching experience. After helping initiate grassroots tennis programs in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina, Gerald ran one of the top junior programs in the state, coaching top state & sectional players. He brings his passion and love of the sport in every session. Gerald specializes in junior development while incorporating functional training and on-court fitness.  Say hello next time you see Gerald out on court! He's active with a variety of levels in group drill classes, so you're bound to run into him!   $65/hour

Rick Escobedo

Staff Tennis Pro

Rick is a junior pro specialist, starting as early as 5 years old. Originally from Roswell, New Mexico, he played high school tennis and many years in league tennis. He understands the importance of teaching kids the fundamentals of the game, along with general core beliefs of being an athlete. Rick has spent many seasons at Keystone working as a ski instructor. If you are hitting the slopes, keep your eye out for him! Consider Rick for the junior player in your family. $60/hour

Julia Clough

Staff Tennis Pro

Julia is a Colorado native who played tennis throughout high school and college. She took up tennis at the age of four, guided by her grandfather who was a collegiate tennis player and later a collegiate coach. Julia draws on the same style of teaching that she learned with. She is patient, gentle, and easy going and focuses on a growth mindset and positive reinforcement when instructing children. She is exuberant and lights up when interacting with her students. She has been a junior pro with the children’s camps at Gates the past three summers. Outside of tennis, Julia loves skiing, hiking, mountain biking, swimming, farmer’s markets, and yoga. A recent graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, she will be pursuing a graduate degree in sustainable architecture. Consider Julia for your youth tennis needs! $55/hour

Robert Leonard

Staff Pickleball Pro

Robert has been playing tennis and paddle tennis his entire life, and fell in love with the game of Pickleball as soon as he found it. He is a PPR® Certified Coach who taught privately in Southern California before moving to Denver. Among his long list of clients is the one and only Kenny Loggins! Robert pays particular attention to the serve, non-attackable balls, and the ever important Third Shot Drop. Robert explains the how and the why. Struggling with ‘bangers’ or people who refuse to dink? Let Robert show you how to punish their undisciplined play-style!

​$80/hr semi-privates / $60/hr privates

Tanner Vann

Staff Pickleball Pro

Tanner originally hails from Chicago IL, but moved to Denver for school and snowboarding.  He picked up pickleball in 2017, and has played on the pro tour since 2019 in both singles and doubles.  He has a strong drive to help others improve their games and reach their pickleball goals.   

Playing professionally and competing with the top players in pickleball, he has a unique insider look at strategies and skills needed to improve.  This will be his third year teaching pickleball, and excels from the baseline to the NVZ.  Take a lesson with Tanner and build your pickleball IQ!

​$80/hr semi-privates / $60/hr privates

Mario Boschi

Staff Pickleball Pro

As a son of Italian immigrants, Mario has an inspiring work and playing ethic in whatever he does. Mario's' professional pickleball philosophy regarding success has never been focused purely on monetary gain, but rather the development he sees within his pickleball students and clients. Mario's foundation of a successful pickleball coach/instructor enlightened leadership, collaboration and open communication, which leads to a better pickleball player. Mario is certified in the Neuropickleball Trained Coach/Instructor team where he travels across the country, bringing you the best in neuroscience-based performance and pickleball teaching for beginners to elite pickleball players.

​$80/hr semi-privates / $60/hr privates

Meike Babel

IC Tennis Pro

Meike is a former world-class tennis player, reaching a career high of #27 in singles and #45 in doubles in 1995 on the WTA tour. She played in 19 Grand Slams and represented her native country, Germany, in Fed Cup. After retiring from the pro tour, she was a coach for women's tennis at Tulane & Vanderbilt U. She worked as mental skills coach with the women's tennis teams at Vanderbilt & Emory Univ. Meike enjoys working with players of all ages and levels. She's known to be a tough coach, with extreme knowledge and a playful side. $100/hour

Andy Booth

IC Tennis Pro

Former Director of Tennis at The Snowmass Club in Aspen, Colorado, Andy is a USPTA Elite Professional, twice elected as President of the USPTA Intermountain Division. He’s had great success in taking league players to the next level through strategic court positioning and stroke production. In addition to being a hitting partner for Johan Kriek (two-time Australian Open Champion), Andy was also on-court with Cici Bellis and Nicole Gibbs, two young up and coming American WTA Professionals. $90/hour

Michael Towne

IC Tennis Pro

Originally hailing from Richmond, Va., Michael was crowned Virginia State "All Prep." in high school. He also played college tennis his freshman year at Hampden Sydney College. While out on court, Michael likes to focus on strategic configurations, thinking outside the box, and considering all angles of the court. He has a calming demeanor and a knack for targeting (and then correcting) the weaknesses in a player’s game. Michael also has a mediocre mid-range basketball jump shot and sub-par kickball skills (just don’t tell him that). $70/hour

Brian Williams

IC Tennis Pro

Originally from New Jersey, Brian moved to Colorado in 2017 and began working at Gates soon thereafter. He graduated from the University of Scranton in 2014 where he played singles and doubles; earning First Team All-Conference honors. His favorite shots to win a match are his top-spin forehand and serve, although he wants to teach you ALL the shots. When not on the court, Brian enjoys skiing, traveling, and climbing a variety of Colorado 14ers as a way to simultaneously explore and get a healthy dose of outdoor exercise. A solid coach & great guy. $70/hour

KB Makgale

IC Tennis Pro

Born in Botswana, Africa, KB’s favorite sports, besides tennis, are soccer and football. KB’s serve, topspin, and footwork are a few specialties, among many. KB played tennis at Metro State College of Denver. KB is a true veteran of Gates Tennis Center, having taught lessons here for over a decade. He is quite fond of court 12, but can elevate your game successfully on any given court number you may find yourself on with him. KB has a very calm and even temperament on court, allowing students to feel comfortable and progress at a fast pace.  $70/hour

Carey Brading

IC Tennis Pro

A former national junior champion,Carey represented his native country of New Zealand in international play before attending and earning a B.A. in Business Management from Colorado State University-Pueblo,where twice he was awarded All-American status and selected to represent the NAIA national team.Carey has earned many accolades, has several USTA/USPTA certifications, and has been as high as #308 in ATP rankings. When not teaching tennis, you might find Carey on the dance floor doing the Cha-cha. www.careybrading.com $70/hour

Sam Hitman

General Manager / Hitman Sports Management

From South Jersey, Sam honed his tennis game in Hammonton, NJ, a rural farming town.  His first coach was his mother. Sam was #1 singles all 4 years in high school, and then played at Rutgers U.   In college, Sam organized Bike Trek USA; and did several “Across America” transcontinental bike rides with a college group. It was on bicycle when Colorado caught Sam’s eye. (probably from the top of Wolf Creek pass!)  After graduating, Sam moved to Colorado in 1993, and has been involved with Gates Tennis Center since!  (minus a 6 year hiatus from Gates, circa 2000-2005)    Starting in 1993, Sam was a Tennis Professional at Gates, when he had long hair, ran popular drill classes, and could move much faster than today! (that’s according to Sam)  He was interested in the management side of the industry, too.   Sam “took a break” from Gates for about 6 years, and was a Director at a local tennis center. He came back to Gates in 2006 as a principle in a Tennis Management company hired to operate Gates.  Today, Sam is the owner of Hitman Sports Management that operates GTC and 3 other facilities in the region.  Sam is also a part-owner of a beautiful indoor tennis center in Santa Fe, NM.  He tries to run Gates as a great community place and as a public amenity, that it was designed to be when beautifully built by the Gates Foundation and the City of Denver.  Sam is a dedicated husband and father of 4.  Beyond playing with his kids, Sam likes playing tennis with his wife in Hawaii on special occasions; and while he still roots for his Philly teams (76ers, Phillies, Eagles) first, he then roots for all the Denver teams (Nuggs, Rockies, Broncos) as a very close second. Email: samhitman25@gmail.com

Katie Hardin

Tennis & Pickleball Department Manager

Katie is a veteran of Gates Tennis Center and might even be confused for a Denver native at this point, having moved here from Tennessee about 30 years ago! Katie has been a rock star front desk manager and is now focusing her time on the Tennis and Pickleball side of the business. She brings her invaluable GTC knowledge to all things programmatic and will help coordinate and execute our extensive Tennis and Pickleball programs.  She likes staying active, playing pickleball, sampling the best beers Denver has to offer, and watching anything in the horror film genre. Is she more of a Freddy or Jason fan? Ask and find out! Email: khardin@gatestenniscenter.info

Doug Morton

Doug joined the Gates team in 2020 having previously moved to Colorado from Big Sky Country. He has played tennis competitively across the western US and served as President of the Board of Directors for USTA-Montana. At Gates, Doug is the man in charge of things "facility" (that's a lot of moving parts)! He is a natural problem solver and is dedicated to keeping our property running smooth and looking great. In his free time, Doug can be found on or planning his next epic backpacking trip, trying out new brewpubs or volunteering on one of several non-profit Boards.  Email: doug@gatestenniscenter.info

Andrew James

Marketing/Design Manager

Andrew moved to Denver in 2014 to explore the great outdoors and all the unique high altitude activities that Colorado has to offer. He was hired as part of the original Lakewood Park Tennis staff, where he wore many hats, helping to build the first iteration of their website, designing their logo, stringing, and more. He transitioned to GTC several years later and narrowed his role to marketing and design. He is now in school, pursuing a degree in Digital Design. In his spare time, he enjoys tennis, skate/snowboarding, music production, and live music. Email: andrew@gatestenniscenter.info

Michael Glaser

Business Services Manager

Bio coming soon! Email: michael@gatestenniscenter.info

Brenden Sullinger

LPTC General Manager

Brenden has been with Hitman Sports Management since 2013 working at the Pueblo Tennis center, a Southern Colorado club. There he started to help manage as well as develop a coaching style focused on efficiency. While he played collegiately at Colorado State University-Pueblo he only started at the age of 14. Showing that you don’t always have to start very young to be a collegiate player. On loan from Lakewood Park Tennis Center, his focus is growing the game in the Lakewood community, and continuing to make LPTC a vibrant facility. Gates is lucky to have him during LPTC's court construction/upgrades.  Email: brenden@gatestenniscenter.info

SPECIALISTS

Dan Rosner

Certified Stringer

Dan moved to Denver in 2018 from Minnesota. As a lifelong tennis player, Dan is now appreciating the fact that it's much easier to play tennis outdoors in a Colorado winter vs a Minnesota winter! He is also a big fan of live music, and found the scene in Denver to be a pretty awesome fit for him. After spending some time in Minnesota stringing for a retail shop, he transitioned to full time stringer at Gates Tennis Center and became USRSA certified as a Certified Stringer in Minn, Colorado. When he's not at Gates he's probably hiking or listening to music.

Melissa Harris

Customer Service Specialist

Melissa “Missy” Harris is a Denver native who loves all things tennis. She has played for several years in various USTA leagues, but also enjoys playing non-competitively. Working at Gates Tennis Center is a perfect fit for her when she is not practicing graphic design, hiking around Colorado, biking, quilting, or baking a mean peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. Fun fact that relates back to Gates Tennis Center: Missy designed the Wooden Open logo a few years back. You've probably seen this design on shirts being worn around the facility by staff or customers!

Position Open

Volunteer Coordinator

We're Hiring! Please inquire with email and resume to samhitman25@gmail.com