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Brent Zeller
 Brent
grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania and took up tennis at age 14. He
played number 2 on his high school team behind the top ranked player in
the state. He won over 90% of his high school matches. Brent played many
local and regional tournaments while in high school, receiving rankings
both in Central Pennsylvania and the Middle States. His tennis prowess
enabled him to get into the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg,
Virginia. He played varsity singles his freshman year and then started
working at the tennis courts at the world famous Williamsburg Inn. He
started teaching tennis there in 1974. In 1975 he took Dennis Van der
Meer’s teacher training course and passed the USPTA test. In 1976 he
graduated from William & Mary with a B.S. in Geology.
Brent stayed with tennis and got a job teaching at the Tides Inn in
Irvington, Virginia. In the fall of 1977 he moved to the Annapolis Racquet
Club in Annapolis, Maryland. Brent started playing tournaments again and
started teaching junior and adult players. This is when he first hooked up
with Bobby Bayliss, then coach of the Naval Academy tennis team, now head
coach at Notre Dame. Brent began his interest in psychology and philosophy
in 1978, an interest that led eventually to the formation of his
non-competitive learning system. In 1979, after playing many regional
tournaments, Brent went off to Europe to play tennis. He returned to the
Baltimore/Washington area and started teaching at a club outside of D.C.
He was there for 2 years before returning to Europe in 1981. He played 13
tournaments in 12 weeks, mostly in France, with the one exception of the
Czechoslovakian National Championships in Bratislava.
In January of 1982 Brent went to New Zealand to try his hand on the
satellite tour. At age 28 this was more as a chance to see what it took to
play at a world class level, and learn these things for his teaching.
Returning to the Baltimore/ Washington area he taught at another club and
continued playing regional tournaments, getting rankings in both Maryland
and the Mid-Atlantic region. In 1983 Brent worked with sports psychologist
Dr. Jim Loehr, taking his Mental Toughness Training Workshop. Brent
coached many ranked juniors during this time, as well as continuing with
playing tournaments. He did this until he moved to the Bay Area in
September of 1985.
Brent began teaching at Baywood Canyon Riding & Tennis Club in Fairfax, CA
and stayed there until 1992. In 1987 he founded Effortless Tennis. He
worked with the Drake High School Boys Tennis team from 1988 until 1991.
He helped the team go from 1-13 to 14-0 and county champions in 1991. In
1992 he moved his operation to Dominican College in San Rafael and removed
all competition from his program. With this non-competitive approach he
helped Tarrin Dougery win the county girls championship as a sophomore and
junior in 1997 and 1998. In 2001 Tarrin went undefeated as a freshman at
Santa Rosa Junior College, finished second in the Northern California
championships, lead her team to the Northern California team championship,
and won the state doubles championship for Junior Colleges. Although
Brent’s program is based on non-competitive education, he is aware that
for it to be accepted, it has to work in competition. He feels that over
the years he has proven this to be the case.
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