Meet Our Staff

A Memphis native, Jay Walpole has of USPTA certification of Elite Pro. Prior to joining St. George’s, Jay was the director of junior tennis at The University Club of Memphis from 2011-2023. While at Christian Brothers University, Coach Jay was the top ranked player in singles and doubles. He was named to the All Gulf South Conference in 1997.

As a junior player, Jay achieved a top ranking of number three in the state of Mississippi. In 1993, Jay was nominated for The Commercial Appeal Best of the Preps. In 2001, he was part of a 5.0 USTA team that won the Southern Sectionals.

He now spends most of his time on court teaching others how to fall in love with the game of tennis.

Daniel Shidler has been a certified USPTA coach since 2007. Prior to St. George’s, he was the director of the Tennessee Tennis Academy and partner of Vtennis Academy, where he was responsible for helping multiple junior players play at the collegiate level in D1, D2, and D3 universities, as well as having juniors ranked as high as top 100 nationally in USTA. In 2021, he was selected as the Southern Performance “Coach of the Year.”

As a junior player, he was a top player in Mississippi and represented the state in the Southern Cup. He was runner up in the Mississippi High School state singles and won the state doubles title with his brother, Matt Shidler. Daniel played at the collegiate level at the University of Memphis under Paul Goebel and at Letourneau University in Longview, TX. He was freshman of the year and chosen as First Team at Letourneau University. 

Daniel and his wife Laura have two young children, Olivia and Logan.

MC Blaizel has been a USPTR Teaching Professional since January 2015. She and her husband, Jean-François (“JF”), moved to Memphis in 2007 from Montreal, Canada. MC speaks fluent French.

MC has been an elementary and early childhood school teacher since she graduated from the University of Montreal in 1995. She has played tennis since she was 8 years old and loves that the sport brings so many lifelong benefits.

As a teenager, MC played in a competitive Interclub league in Montreal for six years, and won a few tournaments. She helped coach the St. Agnes tennis team for three seasons. She loves to share her passion of the sport with kids (and adults) and teach them how to love tennis too!

Cameron Seay started playing tennis at seven years old and did the majority of her junior development training at Lightman Tennis Center under Coach Mark Bran. She played her high school tennis at Houston High School, and won several matches at the state level. She went on to play on the club team at Belmont University.

After graduating from Belmont in 2020, Cameron returned to St. George's as Pro Shop manager, as well as assistant coach for the Varsity and Junior Varsity school teams. In addition to her duties as pro shop manager, she is currently the primary stringer for the facility, catering to players all over the city. 

St. George's tennis facility is Cameron's home away from home, and she looks forward to sharing her love of the game with players of all ages and skill levels. In her free time, Cameron loves being Auntie Cam Cam to nieces and nephews, as well as mom to her four legged furry child, Gambino.

Philippe Lauture is starting his fifth year as an RSPA certified teaching professional. This is his first year with the SGIS team and Collierville community. After graduating with a BS from Rhodes College, he spent three years as an assistant teaching professional at the University Club of Memphis and then two years as program assistant coach at his alma mater.

Philippe grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2014, he won the individual doubles and dual team NCHSAA 4A title for Wakefield High School. During the season he was ranked #1 in the boys 16 and under singles in USTA North Carolina. At Rhodes College he was a four-year varsity student athlete with a 99-50 combined record. In his junior year, he earned all-conference first team honors after a regular season conference sweep at #2 and #1 singles and doubles.

Philippe works with junior and adult players at all levels. He is also passionate about competing as he has a USTA 5.0 adult rating and is an active men’s open tournament player.

Elise Kruzan reigns from the great tennis capital of Somerville, TN, where she played varsity tennis at Fayette Academy from 8th-12th grade. She currently plays collegiate tennis for Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, TN.

She is working to obtain a B.S. in Exercise Science and a B.B.A in Sports Administration with plans to become a tennis graduate assistant while getting her master’s degree. Her passion for coaching stems from the great teachers she has worked with over the years at St. George’s Independent School.

Elise enjoys coaching players of all ages and levels and has dreams of becoming a college tennis coach one day. Outside of tennis, Elise loves to hunt, fish, and garden.