Meet the Tennis Staff
Topnotch Tennis Academy
Our international professional staff is experienced in teaching all aspects of “Play to Win” and can guarantee improvement with the Technique to Win, Train to Win, Think to Win and Equip to Win instructional approaches. All Topnotch Tennis Professionals are USPTA/PTR certified.

Simba Happy
Tennis Director, USPTA
Simba’s tennis career began as one of the top junior tennis players in his native Zimbabwe, representing his country in international tennis tournaments. He began teaching when he joined the Florida A&M University tennis team on an athletics scholarship and later, from 2010 to 2012, he served as the graduate assistant coach of the FAMU Men’s tennis team. He joined the Topnotch team during the summer of 2012 and has served as our Junior Tennis Coordinator and Pro Shop manager before becoming the Director of Tennis in 2021.

Cole Hennessy
Certified Pro, USPTA
Cole Hennessy joins the team from Colton, New York after playing tennis for Northern Vermont University Johnson for four years. He has continued his career there on the coaching staff of the men’s and women’s teams since 2016. In May 2017, he became a USPTA Certified Professional and brings his expertise to Topnotch Tennis. He has a passion for teaching, helping players refine their fundamental skills and perfect strategies of the modern game.

Jamie Watson
Elite Pro
Born and raised in the state of Connecticut, Jamie Watson play
As a coach Jamie first worked with high performance juniors and USTA teams at the Weeburn Country Club in Darien, Connecticut before making his way north to the green mountains. Prior to joining the Topnotch coaching staff Jamie spent six years with Grand Slam Tennis Tours traveling the world and taking the world's biggest tennis fans to the yearly Majors and Master's 1000 tournaments. Here he had the opportunity to coach side by side with greats such as Tracy Austin, Gigi Fernandez and Owen Davidson in addition to many current players on the ATP and WTA tours.
Jamie has served as head coach of the Stowe Boys Tennis Team since 2014 and has coached the team to Two State runner up finishes and 1 State Championship in 2019.

Ethan Hutchinson
Tennis Desk Supervisor and Head Stringer
Ethan played college tennis for Northern Vermont University. He started working at Topnotch Tennis in 2017 and is the tennis desk supervisor and head stringer.