Tennis Professionals
Here at the Polo Club, our professional teaching staff bring a variety of experiences to the tennis court and are dedicated to improving the tennis skills of players of all ages through quality instruction. Contact our Director of Tennis, Stephanie Stone at [email protected] to book a lesson tailored to your specific needs.
Stephanie Baker Stone
Tennis Director
Stephanie has been at SBPRC since 2000 but grew up playing tennis in Richmond, Virginia. She played division 1 tennis at James Madison University with a winning record in both singles and doubles. After college she traveled overseas and landed in Windhoek, Namibia then Cape Town, South Africa where she played competitively and coached at several clubs and local schools. When she returned to the States, she headed west, stopping briefly in Tucson, AZ, gaining more experience coaching and then finally arrived here in Carpinteria. Before joining us here at the Polo Club, Stephanie was director of tennis at the historic Miramar Hotel.
Stephanie is USPTA certified and is constantly gaining knowledge in the tennis industry. She continues to compete at a high level, holding national rankings in her age division in singles and doubles and in 2013 was selected by the USTA to represent team USA in the ITF Seniors World Team Championships in Turkey. Stephanie is also an SCTA Competitive Training Center coach for the Central Coast, an Advisory Staff member for Wilson Sports and USTA Regional Training Coach for USTA. She also enjoys coaching her 2 boys and loves sharing her enthusiasm for the game!
Bart Hillock
Tennis Ambassador
Bart grew up in Goleta, California and was a two-time Doubles All-American at Cal State Bakersfield. During his four college years, Bart played #2 & 3 singles and #1 doubles on a team that finished #2 NCAA Division 2 team in the nation in 1982. In 1983 Bart and his doubles partner won the independent doubles title at the Ojai Tennis Tournament, and he was runner-up in the NCAA Division II National Champions. After College he was hired as the Assistant Pro at Cathedral Oaks Tennis Club, and he was promoted to Interim Tennis Director for one year. Then in 1987 he was hired as Director at The Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club. Bart ran all the tennis activities and taught tennis to adults and kids of all levels from beginners to National Champions. After his 17 year stint at the SBPRC he took a sabbatical to pursue his dreams of traveling and fixing up and flipping homes. Bart has been back for over three years and is very happy to be back home with his friends and what he likes to call his extended family, the SBPRC Members.
Bart works with players throughout the years and has had many successful protégés: Junior National Champions: Lori Kimbell-1985, 14’s national champion and Derrick Pope-1993, 18’s clay court national doubles champion.
Sara Scott
Tennis Professional
Sara Walker Scott was destined to play tennis. She was not only influenced by her brother Scott who went on to play tennis in college at the University of Texas, but also by her family. Her grandfather played Tennis at the University of Texas and her father played for the University of Houston. It was inevitable that Sara would be walking down the same path as her family. In the beginning of Sara's career as a Tennis player she dominated the high school competition. For example, during her freshman and sophomore year, she never lost a high school match. By age 18, she reached Girl's National Clay Court Finals and won the El Paso's $10,000 satellite tournament. Sara went on to play in college at UCLA. All four years as a Bruin, she was the #1 player on the team and her coach was none other than Pete Sampra's sister, Stella Sampras. She ended her freshman year at UCLA ranked number two in the nation in singles. At the peak of her double's career in college, she was ranked number two in the nation with her partner Petya Marinova in 2002.
Lance Kronberg
Head Tennis Professional
A native of Santa Barbara, Lance has played on state championship teams at Santa Barbara High and Santa Barbara City College and earned All-American honors twice as a collegiate player. After college, he became head coach of Men’s Tennis at Santa Barbara City College where he worked for 5 years and was awarded Coach of the Year honors in 2001. With over 22 years on staff here at SBPRC, Lance has been a great ambassador to the game, helping create a fun and exciting tennis environment for players of all ages and abilities, as well as making it an important place to develop and improve one's game. Lance is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, and is available for private training sessions in addition to his scheduled group classes.
Byron Wu
Tennis Professional
Byron was born in Taiwan and moved to San Francisco when he was two years old. He graduated from UCSB with a degree in Music. Byron has been playing tennis since he was 5 years old. He played a bit of junior tennis and played for UCSB's club tennis team playing men's doubles and mixed doubles. When competing, Byron loves the battle for every point and appreciates that the sport is constantly evolving. He also loves that tennis can be enjoyed by so many people at every level.
Byron taught juniors at Nike Tennis Summer Camps at UCSB and coached both adults and juniors at the Brady Tennis Camps where he also taught private lessons to juniors and adults. Byron really enjoys watching a student leave his clinics or lessons with a smile on their face, knowing they had fun while improving their skills.
In addition to his tennis skills, Byron is also a certified spin instructor, a trained opera singer and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.