MEET OUR TEAM
Robert Wright Senior Director of Racquets
Wright, originally from Hertfordshire England, is an LTA and PTR certified pro with over 20 years of coaching experience. Rob played tennis for Oxford Brookes University with a major in Sport and Exercise Science. Since joining Cliff Drysdale Tennis in early 2016, Rob has held key leadership roles at luxury resorts in California, Maryland, Wisconsin, and Florida. He has overseen racquets operations at the Omni Amelia Island since 2019 and in this time the facility has seen substantial growth in both membership and resort racquets experiences. Wright has been recognized twice as Cliff Drysdale Management’s Director of the Year, and most recently the Omni Amelia Island was awarded the USTA’s 2024 Outstanding Facility Award.
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Thien Nguyen Adult Program Director
Nguyen, originally from Vietnam, first started playing tennis at the age of 8. Within his first 6 months of playing, he was the champion at the U12 Asian Championships. This victory put him on the radar of IMG, who offered him a full scholarship to train and compete. Nguyen moved to Florida at 9 years old and 4 years later was the Orange Bowl U14 Champion. At 15 years old, Thien earned his first ATP point and has a career-high singles ranking inside the top 400. After touring the world on the ATP tour, Thien was recruited by Loyola Marymount University, a Division 1 tennis school in California, where he represented their tennis team and graduated with a Master's in Entrepreneurship. Thien is incredibly passionate about coaching tennis and using his experiences to improve players of all ages and abilities. Other fun facts about Thien, he has singles victories against Nick Kyrgios, Daniil Medvedev, Cameron Norrie, and many other top-ranked players in the world! He is PTR certified.
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Hunter Lathrop Junior Program Director
Hunter Lathrop is originally from Stratton Vermont, he has been surrounded by tennis and skiing his entire life. Hunter was raised in a family of professional ski racers who raced for the U.S. Ski Team on the World Cup circuit. At the age of 14 he made a decision to split up his time on court and on the mountains by getting a scholarship to a Ski Academy in Vermont where he graduated high school. During the Spring and Summers Hunter dedicated his time on the tennis court where he consistently ended his tennis season in the top 10 in the New England section, before heading back to the mountains for ski season. Hunter eventually decided to make tennis his full time career by going on to play Collegiate tennis for University of South Carolina Aiken. In 2010 Hunter made his Cliff Drysdale coaching debut at Stratton Mountain Resort, the past 15 years he has experience at many different tennis resorts, including being a Director of a club in Miami FL for 3 years and Co-Director at a club in New York for another 2 years. Throughout his experience he has been a Certified USTA Tournament Director where he has organized several junior tournaments.
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Bryan Gabb Pickleball Program Director
Bryan Gabb, originally from Lake Charles, Louisiana, began playing competitive tennis at a young age. While studying at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he worked four summers at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas. At the ranch, Bryan spent one summer as a tennis pro and three as an on-court director for the junior summer camp program, while maintaining a key role on the adult program.
From January to August of 2022, Bryan was a teaching pro at Lake Charles Racquet club before joining the Omni Amelia Island Resort team. He is a PPR certified pickleball professional and PTR certified.
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Jay Smith Racquets Professional
Jay, originally from Southampton, England is an LTA-certified tennis professional. He studied at the University of Chichester playing as number one on the tennis team and making the semifinals of the BUCKS nationals league. Since arriving in the states, Jay has been an essential member of the Cliff Drysdale Team, working as a Tour Professional. This position saw him working at 22 signature events all over America in 2023, including Ladies Retreats, Doubles Bootcamps, Pickleball Camps and much more! Outside of touring, Jay has worked as a full time Racquets Professional at The Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne and Southampton Racquet Club in New York. He is PTR certified.
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Gregor Brydon Racquets Professional
Gregor Brydon, originally from Oban, Scotland, has been involved in tennis his whole life and competed at Stirling University in one of the toughest leagues in the nation. Gregor brings over 10 years of coaching experience, including a time as the Co-Director of Adult Tennis Programming at the acclaimed John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas. Gregor is also an LTA-certified coach.
During his time in Cliff Drysdale Tennis, Gregor has held positions at Omni Amelia Island Resort in Florida as well as Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont. Most recently Gregor has been the Director of Racquets at The Club at Castlewood in California where he has been running the program for the past 2 years. Gregor loves being on court with all ages and abilities, he is well known for his on-court enthusiasm and charisma!
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Scott Garcia Racquets Professional
Scott Garcia, originally from Muskegon, Michigan, began playing tennis at the age of 5. Tennis became a staple in his life as it helped him manage his Type One Diabetes after being diagnosed at 11. He grew up playing at various clubs around West Michigan where he found Hope College, a school that helped turn his passion for the game into his profession. Under the exceptional leadership from Hope’s Racquet Sports Management Program, Scott became certified for tennis, platform tennis, pickleball as well as personal training. He is certified by PTR, PPR, PPTR, RSPA, and the ITPA. During his time in, and after graduating from the program in 2022, Scott has worked across the US, including Michigan, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, and has made his return to Florida to be a part of the Cliff Drysdale team! Scott enjoys working with all ages and skill levels of players and says his biggest draw to coaching is “to give everyone a lifelong sport regardless of when you start. The small addition of even one racquet sport to your life will improve it in more ways than you can imagine.”
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