Elite Squad 2017-18

Our Coaches

Many thanks to our coaches each has unique International coaching experience - all coaches are qualified & Blue Card Holders to work with children.

Jeff Schneider

  • Director Head Coach
  • Yoko Schneider

    • Director/Coach Japanese Liason

  • Steve Eckstein

    • #1 IN THE WORLD ITF Mixed Doubles Champ 2018 & #6 ITF World Singles Ranking end of 2019

    Academy Athletes

    Our Elite athletes play tournaments all over Australia & the World!


    Super proud of our all our players over the last 4 years 2016-2018 who have had excellent results at tournaments and league matches. Special congrats to the players below (6) who Qualfied for the Australian Junior Camps 2017/2018 (Showdown) in Melbourne early December! Also well done to Director/Head Coach Jeff Schneider who has been selected as QLD manager of the 14s Girls (2017) and 12's Boys team (2018) at the showdown (National Championships Melb).See channel 7 gold coast story on our top players..


    Olivia Gadecki - Taiyo Yamanaka 全日本Jrチャンピオン 山中太陽

    SOME ACADEMY HISTORY - We welcomed Japan's #1 16s Boy Taiyo Yamanaka to our academy in 2018. He played the KDV AMT QLD Claycourt Championships in May - Qualified and won thru to the 1/4 finals going down to eventual winner Gavin Van Peperzeel 1-6 4-6. He enjoyed the training & tournment so much he changed his schedule to come back from his ITF Junior Tournaments in Taiwan to play the Brisbane Platinum AMTs June/July. Taiyo will be training at Sanctuary Cove from Mon 18th June in preparation for the tournaments everyday from 5pm with our elite squad he has also decided to engage Jeff Schneider as his fulltime coach. #taiyoyamanaka #山中太陽
    Taiyo returned in Sept 2018 for the Pro Circuit Qld and Darwin tough just to get into the Q draw but took his chances when he did Qualifying for Cairns! Taiyo returned in Jan for ITF Traralgon and Aust Open Juniors after which Taiyo has now decided to base himself at Activa in 2019. His tournament campaign this year has included qualifying at the Australian Open Junior, huge ITF tournament wins in Melb, AMT Gold singles & doubles winner at Ipswich QLD, ITF J2 in Taiwan followed by 3 (in a row) ITF Tournament wins in Thailand amounting to 20 consecutive singles match wins!
  • Taiyo is currently (July) ranked 76 ITF Junior which is a boost of over 100 ranking places in the last 3 months! Taiyo narrowly missed out on Wimbledon Juniors at 112 (June) but has Qualified for the Canadian and US Opens at ITF 76. Taiyo will be back August to prepare for the US Open juniors. Taiyo has finished the year 2019 in the 80s ITF Junior rankings and has just achieved his first ATP point at only his 2nd M15k Tournament. Checkout our instagram feeds for updated photos & results.. @activatennis @sanctuarycovetennis Taiyo will now focus on the ITF Mens tour for 2020-2022 accompanied by Academy Director Jeff Schneider.
    Olivia Gadecki returned to Activa mid 2018 after a very successful colaberation in 2016 leading to a National Singles title in 2016. Olivia had a whirlwind junior Fed Cup tour of Europe winning 2 ITF Tournaments (doubles) Holland & Italy along with reaching the semi final and final in singles too! Also great effort from Olivia playing #2 singles (junior Fed Cup) and helping the team get thru the group stage only to have to sit out the 1/4 final against USA (eventual winners) with a knee injury. Olivia made it back home in time to play the last Pro Circuit in Qld at Toowoomba - well done Olivia what a stella tour! Olivia also had a very Australian Open Junior campaign until injury stop her progress. During the 2 weeks in Traralgon and Melb Park she defeated 3 top 50 and numreous top 100 opponents along with winning the doubles title in Traralgon!
  • Olivia has decided to take a year off the junior circuit and focus on her studies for a successful year 12 we wish her the best of luck in her studies and hope to see her back on the tour in future! Congratulations to Olivia at the 2021 Summer of tennis with some outstanding results. Winning a round of qualifying in the Womens draw and winning her first WTA maindraw doubles match at the Australian Open. Followed by the biggest win of her career so far defeating Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin (WTA #4) at the Philip Island Trophy event at Melb Park. Head coach Jeff Schneider who worked with Olivia in 2016 and 2018 is extremely pleased to see Olivia's passion for tennis returning after a few set backs over the last couple of years.


    ATP Asia Circuit HK

    Yoko & Jeff with Kei Nishikori

    Yoko Schneider

    Yoko Schneider Director
    Junior Coach / Japanese Liason

    Yoko hails from Kobe (Hyogo Prefecture) which is one of the strongest tennis areas in Japan, Kimiko Date and Kei Nishikori both grew up in and around this tennis engine of Japan. Yoko has been a teaching pro for over 20 years and has great skill teaching young children. She has a real love for the game which helped drive her to become one of the top players in her area. In 2006 she started bring Japanese tennis players to Australia so they could be exposed to our training and tournament system to gain valuable overseas experience. She soon became well known on the Gold Coast & Qld as a coach and agent for Japanese players wanting an Australian tennis experience.

    Steve Eckstein

    #1 World ITF Mixed Doubles #6 Singles

    Steve & Ding Eckstein

    Steve Eckstein ranked #1 in the World Vets ITF Mixed Doubles with the help of his wife and former WTA player Ding Ding. Steve is currently ranked #6 ITF Seniors 40s age group, Steve has been training hard with Head Coach Jeff for even big things in 2019!! Ding & Steve have been big supports of Activa over the past 3 years and it has been a real treat for kids to meet the ex #1 player from China Ding Eckstein who has often come and hit with our top players.

    Head Coach

    Commenced Jan 2016

    Head Coach

    Jeff Schneider - Director Head Coach

    Director & Founder of Activa Tennis / Sanctuary Cove Tennis. A truly well rounded coach with rare experience playing & coaching all over the world. Ex ATP touring pro and coach to many highly ranked ATP players. Previously State Coach of WA & Nth Germany. Jeff has been a fulltime teaching pro for over 30 years at both development and elite level. After a successful playing career he became Head Coach of Schleswig Holstein (Nth Germany) in charge of post junior development. On his return to Australia he was installed by Tennis Australia as State Coach of Western Australia and was put in charge of many Australian Junior Tour teams managing some of Australia's top juniors (Mark Philippoussis, Andrew Illie & current Australian Davis Cup coach Jaymon Crabb to mention a few). Jeff also held Head Coaching positions in Hong Kong 6 years, Melbourne 4 years, Brisbane 11 years and the Gold Coast 8 years.

    Activa Tennis & Sanctuary Cove Tennis Pty Ltd

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