College Park, MD — The Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC), the first high performance Regional Training Center certified by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), has announced that former WTA top 30 player Patricia Hy-Boulais and her husband Yves Boulais, will join the staff as Senior Coaches effective May 1.
In addition, JTCC Director of Coaching Vesa Ponkka announced that former Clemson coach and ITA Hall of Famer, Chuck Kriese, will transition to the position of Senior Adviser, also effective May 1.
Hy-Boulais and her husband operated a successful junior tennis academy for more than a decade in South Carolina and recently in Atlanta, GA. Hy, who is a native of Hong Kong, and Boulais, who is Canadian, bring strong international playing and coaching credentials to JTCC.
“Patricia and Yves’ international expertise and knowledge are a perfect fit to the program and will fulfill the needs to take our players to the highest level,” said Ponkka.
Hy-Boulais, the former No.1 Canadian player, is a three-time Olympian, representing Hong Kong in the 1984 Olympics and Canada in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics following her marriage to Boulais.
Boulais was the Canadian Olympic team coach in Barcelona and Atlanta and also served as Fed Cup coach. He most recently traveled on the WTA Tour as the full-time coach for a Canadian player.
“We are thrilled to add Patricia and Yves to our team,” said JTCC CEO Ray Benton. “Two of our coaches, Vesa Ponkka and Frank Salazar, have been named National Development Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee, and we place Patricia and Yves in their league in terms of coaching excellence.”
Hy-Boulais becomes the second female coach on the coaching team. Susie Babos, a two-time NCAA Champion at University of California-Berkeley, also coaches the top female players at JTCC. Among the top JTCC girls’ players are 14-year-old Usue Arconada, who is ranked #2 in the nation in G14s and #95 in the world in 18-and-Under Girls, and Elizabeth Scotty, who is considered the top 10-and-Under girl in the nation.
“Yves and I are excited to join JTCC’s team, “ said Hy-Boulais. “We can now focus our energies 100% on player development.”
