Platform Tennis Lessons with Paddle Professionals

Annette Wagner-Knott is a PE teacher at Montessori School. She is also a USPTA Certified Platform Tennis Coach who has worked as Assistant to Platform Tennis Coach for 5 years, coaching children and youth, as well as Division 8-6 adults. She has played paddle for 11 years and 4 years of those years as a division 1 player. She has many accomplishments including being the winner of the Three Rivers Tournament ( Division 2-8) together with her paddle teammate Melanie Richman and has repeatedly played in West Penn and Cleveland National ranking tournaments. Annette is currently the Quaker Valley JV tennis coach for boys and girls for the last 5 years. Along with her paddle and tennis background she is also a BWF Certified Badminton Coach in which she is a member of a coaching team that coached a US Badminton player to Silver in Doubles, and bronze medals in Singles in the 2019 World Championships in Switzerland. ​

Christi Hays has been teaching at the Sewickley Valley YMCA since 2012 and has traveled locally and nationally teaching platform tennis for 42 years. She is certified as an Elite Professional in both platform tennis (PPTA & PPTR) and tennis (USPTA & PTR) and certified racket stringer (USRSA) and a Master Racquet Technician. She joined the American Platform Tennis Association Live Streaming team in 2017 as a roving reporter, post-match interviewer and commentator at the Nationals. Accomplishments include APTA Hall of Fame Curator from 2018-2020, awarded with the first ever “WPPTA Lifetime Achievement Award” in May 2007, highest national ranking was #4 in APTA Women’s Open in 1981-reaching the quarterfinals of Nationals that year, has won Paddle titles in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, Toledo, Indianapolis, Toronto, Baltimore, Rochester and Ross, CA, 2000 Canadian Open Champion and the West Penn 45+ Champion in 1998 and 2001, West Penn Women’s Championships 7 years in a row and was also in the West Penn Mixed Championship 10 years in a row while winning the title 5 times, 2002, reached the semi-finals of the 50+ APTA National Championships, obtaining the #3 National Ranking, 2007 along with team mate Chris Ford they won the gold medal at the 50+ APTA Nationals in Scarsdale, NY to finish with a #1 National Ranking in our age group that year.

Kelly Fischer brings nearly 30 years of experience teaching tennis and paddle tennis in the Pittsburgh area.  She is a PPTA Certified platform tennis instructor, who has been ranked as high as number 10 in the nation. Kelly has been in the finals of the West Penn Open in 14 out of the past 16 years, winning it a record 12 times. She is also a 6-time winner of the Cleveland Masters and winner of the Rochester Open. Kelly played both basketball and tennis at Robert Morris University where she was a three-time All-Conference point guard and was the recipient of the President’s Award as the most outstanding female athlete at RMU. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in teaching men, women and children of all ages and abilities.