Susan Wadsworth
Director of Admissions and Public Relations

Susan Wadsworth is the Admissions and Public Relations Director for the Weil Tennis Academy. She was born and raised in Massachusetts and moved to California in December of 1997. Susan graduated from the University of Maine with her Bachelor's of Science Degree in Child Development/Family Relations with a concentration in Social Services and is currently pursuing her Master's Degree in Business Administration.

Susan has been a Preschool Teacher, a Director of Child Care Centers and before moving to CA, she opened a Child Care Center in Tewksbury, MA and took it from it's inception to a successful profitable center which is still in operation today. In CA, Susan directed a child care center and then moved on to directing various programs in two local school districts before relocating and beginning her employment at Weil in 2005. Susan resides in Oak View with her husband and two children.

Susan can be contacted at: enrollment@weiltennis.com

Jeanette Espinoza
Executive Assistant

Jeanette Espinoza is the Executive Assistant for the Weil Tennis Academy. She was born and raised in Ojai, California, graduated from Nordhoff High School, and went on to study psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She recently graduated from UCLA with her bachelor's degree in psychology. During her time at UCLA she also minored in Applied Developmental Psychology and interned with one of her professors where she practiced behavior modification with autistic children. She hopes to return to Los Angeles to continue working with her professor until she is ready to apply for graduate school.

Jeanette can be contacted at: academy@weiltennis.com

Veselina Katsarova                
Girl's Dorm Parent

Veselina Katsarov is originally from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She came to the United States in 2004. She is the wife of our Head Coach, Ogi Katsarov, and their son Bozhidar graduated from Weil and then went on to play and study at UC Berkeley on Scholarship. Bozhidar recently graduated from UC Berkeley and will begin work with Citigroup in New York this summer.

Veselina graduated from Plovdiv University with a degree in Pedagogy. After graduation she worked in Plovdiv as an elementary school teacher for children in grades 1^st through 4^th.

Veselina has worked at Weil in our Residential program since 2004 and she can be reached at veselina_ka@abv.bg.

Etienne Emanuel
Boy's Dorm Parent

Etienne is the head of Resident life at the Weil Tennis Academy. This is currently his first year with the academy after spending three years with Ojai Valley School, where he worked in resident life, athletics, and outdoor education. Before that Etienne worked at a wilderness therapy school in Oregon and went on to become a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine where he taught English as a second language, environmental awareness, health and P.E. to students in elementary through high school. Etienne is a certified yoga instructor, who teaches locally and internationally in Nicaragua and Puerto Rico. He speaks fluent Russian, Ukrainian, and is proficient in Spanish. He also enjoys surfing, surf travel, Frisbee golf, nutrition, health awareness and the outdoors.

Etienne graduated from California Lutheran University where he played basketball, volleyball and participated on the school's first water-polo team. His senior year, Etienne was president of the school's environmental club and interned with psychologist and author Kirkland Gable. He majored in communication, and studied psychology, philosophy, interpersonal communication and conflict resolution. Etienne also served as a student body spokesman, addressing the board of regents regarding social issues on campus.

Etienne is a local product of Ojai, CA. He attended Nordhoff High School, where he was All-Ventura County in football, basketball and volleyball and All-California Interscholastic Federation in football and basketball.

Etienne can be reached at Etienne@weiltennis.com

Byron Mellon
Executive Chef

Byron was born in Los Angeles, California to a Russian father who left his homeland after the Bolshevik Revolution and a Mexican mother who left her country when her family was ousted by Pancho Villa. At an early age, Byron began educating his palette with a varied international cuisine.

Byron Mellon started his career in foodservice at the age of sixteen. He tested the waters in many different aspects of restaurant work, from cashier to waiter, but eventually found passion in the kitchens of the world. While working his way up from a cook for the Intercontinental Hotel Corporation to a full fledged Chef, Byron received a Hotel Operations and Food Service Certificate from the University of Hawaii.

Byron trained for nine years with international chefs from cultures such as Asia, Europe and South America. He then transferred to the Intercontinental Hotel Corporation's Latin American Division. He worked as a Sous Chef in South America, a Banquet Chef in Miami, Florida and as an Executive in Manzanillo, Mexico. After five and a half years of cooking around the globe, Byron returned to Maui, Hawaii as Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Manager at the Maui Sun Hotel.

But as we all know, everyone eventually returns to Ojai, even those inclined to travel the world. And so Byron moved back to Ojai. Byron, still taking a break from the stress of running international kitchens, delighted the students and staff at Thacher School as their Sous Chef. Next, Byron operated his own restaurant and catering business in Ojai.

Byron joined the staff at the Weil Tennis Academy four years ago as the Executive Chef and Food & Beverage Director. "I enjoy doing what I do best - preparing and serving meals to an energetic and enthusiastic crowd."

Byron can be contacted at: byronhmellon@hotmail.com