Private lessons
Focused work on strokes, footwork and match play, built around your level and schedule.
- Stroke rebuilds and technique
- Live-ball drilling and point play
- All ages and levels
Private tennis lessons · Collins & 54th, Miami Beach
Coach Mitchel Gelina has spent over 20 years on court. He won a state title with a 33–0 season, and played four years of college tennis, competing in pro events along the way. Then he went to work as a coach, starting at Hawaii's top resorts. Now he coaches juniors and adults across Miami Beach.
Lessons
Every session starts with what you want out of your game. Beginners get clean fundamentals; competitors get a plan for their next tournament. Either way, we open with a dynamic warm-up and stretch, and I read how you're moving before we play a ball.
Focused work on strokes, footwork and match play, built around your level and schedule.
The pathway Mitchel has taken players down to college tennis and the ITF circuit.
Match strategy and sharp practice in the weeks before you compete.
Train with a friend or a small group. Good value and good competition.
Where and how much: Lessons are at Collins Ave & 54th St in Miami Beach and at satellite locations around Miami. Message for rates and packages.
Also offering pickleball lessons. Mitchel is PTR certified in both tennis and pickleball, and co-founder of Outlaw Pickle, an indoor pickleball club in San Antonio, Texas.
The coach
From junior courts to pro events to coaching.
Mitchel grew up competing. He was ranked in the Missouri Valley top ten as a junior, won the Kansas state singles title with an undefeated 33–0 season, and played four years of varsity tennis at the University of Hawaii. While still in college he played a handful of pro events and did well. He qualified for the 2006 Waikoloa Futures and reached the final round of qualifying at a Challenger, losing a close match one win from the main draw. His father coached Aaron Krickstein, a former world No. 6, so Mitchel knew what the tour really takes, including the money it costs to chase it. He went to work instead, and coaching became his career.
He has coached ever since. He ran programs at some of Hawaii's best-known tennis resorts, directed tennis at Grove Isle with Cliff Drysdale Tennis, and led Flamingo Park, Miami Beach's public tennis center.
For years he has coached Martina Navratilova's children and been her hitting partner for more than 15 years. They train together in Miami before her legends exhibitions and play doubles matches, and he traveled with her to Wimbledon. Today he runs a boutique coaching business in Miami Beach for juniors, adults and competitive players.
Career
Wichita, KS. Through high school and on breaks home from college, he taught private and group lessons, traveled with the club's top juniors as their tournament coach, and helped his father run camps and academies.
Coached at the island's premier resorts under the Kohala Tennis umbrella, moving up from assistant pro to head pro.
Alongside his resort work, he also coached at Kukio, working exclusively with Tim DiDonato, owner and director of Kohala Tennis. Kukio is Discovery Land Company's private oceanfront golf and beach club on the Kona-Kohala coast. Discovery Land builds some of the world's most exclusive private club communities, and its members expect the best.
Coconut Grove, Miami. Ran all programming, instruction and events, mentored by industry leaders.
Left Grove Isle to work exclusively for Martina. Coached her children, and was her hitting partner in Miami before legends exhibitions and her doubles partner in practice matches. He also worked alongside her when she trained promising juniors.
Went out on his own with a boutique coaching business for high-performance juniors, families and adults. Still Martina's hitting partner today.
Miami Beach. Junior and adult programs, summer camps, events and staff, right up until COVID shut the program down in 2020.
Boutique two-court club programs, run with a small team of associate pros.
Book
Tell Mitchel what you are looking for and when you can play. He'll reply to set up your first session.