David Yackoff
David Yackoff moved to Jacksonville 3 years ago from Rochester New York. He worked at the Rochester Institute of Technology for 20 years in the college of engineering for the semiconductor manufacturing program. He played tennis in high school lettering 3 times. After serving in the Marines Corps he played baseball in the NABA and the MSBL. He has played on the Golf Channel Armature Tour and also played in the National Championship twice. He loves playing tennis and golf regularly. Helping and teaching children and young adults has always been important to him. He volunteers with the JP Hall Children’s Foundation and at the Christmas party helps deliver toys and gifts to children from new born up to 14 years old.
Coach Ravin Mahesh
Hello, my name is Ravin Mahesh and I am a sophomore at the University of Florida studying Applied Physiology and Kinesiology on the pre-medical track. My goals is to be a sports medicine doctor or an athletic trainer. My passion for tennis arose around the age of 12 when I first started going to tennis lessons. Soon after I enrolled in sectional and regional tournaments around Florida. As a part of a team, we won sectionals twice and got 4th place at the regional, state, level in USTA team tennis. Later on to further my coaching I went to the St. John's tennis academy in St. John's county. I played varsity tennis for my high school, Stanton, all four years and senior year I played the 5th position for my team. That year, I won district and regional and we moved on to states. At states, as a team, we placed 3rd. As a coach, I have been coaching little kids ranging from the age of 6 to 12 since I was a junior in high school and I have continued teaching as way for me to stay close to the game. I love working with kids and seeing them develop their tennis playing skills each class session.
Coach William Bartig
William Bartig is a Minnesota native who graduated from Flagler College in Saint Augustine, Florida in the Spring of 2017 with a B.A. in Business Administration and minors in both Marketing and Economics. He played varsity tennis from ninth to twelfth grade and was an All-Conference doubles champion during his Junior year. Aside from playing tennis throughout his life, he has been active in the golf community. He spent this past summer as a Tournament Operations Intern for the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour (HJGT) and has also volunteered for The First Tee at numerous events. He played junior golf throughout his childhood, but chose tennis when it came time to deciding on a spring sport. Will loves working with kids of all ages, and encourages them to stay involved with tennis and golf, as he sees the value of playing these two lifelong sports.
Coach Ben Brueck
Ben Brueck grew up in Jacksonville and played multiple sports at Paxon SAS and Mandarin high. He has been coaching for 8 years in multiple sports including soccer, tennis and swimming. He has worked with many reputable sports companies such as Soccer Shots, Liberty Pines Academy and Jacksonville Armada FC Youth Academy. He has his USSF National "D" license and NSCAA Advance National Diploma. He coached for a year with the Stuttgart Academy in Germany and gained a lot of his knowledge and skills from there. He is currently finishing his education degree at UNF.
Our Staff/Management
Ashley Habat – Operations Manager
Ashley is a single mom to a seven-year-old boy who loves golf and Spider-Man, she’s a typical family woman and is all about the Mom Hustle! With her strong background in administration and photography and the fact that she is a genuine people person she was very excited to join the Kiddie Sportz team as the part-time Operations Manager. She works full time for a commercial construction company, is a part of the Praise-Team/Choir at her church as well as the Youth and Hospitality ministries, and spends the majority of her free time traveling and finding little adventures to go on with her son whether it’s a weekend trip to hike in the mountains, or a day trip to the springs! She is a firm believer that children should be constantly engaged and learning through activities that are fun and age appropriate that not only teach them a physical skill, but provide them with life skills and development that will last them a lifetime, which is what struck her interest so much with the Kiddie Sportz program and she is here with a constantly smiling face to help make sure your experience with Kiddie Sportz is nothing but top-notch!
Coach Diana – Business Manager
After working over 13 years with Fortune 100 investment companies, Coach Diana chose to turn her passion for children and sports into a career that allows her flexibility to spend more time with her toddler and newborn. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Juris Doctorate, is FINRA licensed and admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. It was by fate she was given the opportunity to partner with Coach Greg of Atlanta who has been in the Kid’s Sports business for over 7 years. With her sweet, patient and outgoing personality, it’s no surprise that she serves in Nursery/Children’s Ministry at New Life Fellowship, is a volunteer attorney at the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA), and uses her spare time to spend time with her children and travel the world. As a member of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) she is more than qualified to coach children’s tennis and uses skills she learned from private tennis lessons that she was fortunate to have as a child. She strongly believes in helping children develop their God-given talents and self-esteem and is a firm believer that learning sports through a fun and educational program is one of the very best ways to do so!