At CCS, players learn the skills that allow them to play this lifelong sport in a fun and challenging environment. Our well-established program has experienced a lot of success. CCS has six outdoor tennis courts on campus where they hold practices and matches along with indoor courts in the NEW 30,000-square-foot Maclellan Tennis Center.
Jason is a USPTR certified tennis professional, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Health and Human Performance from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Jason has taught tennis to a variety of ages and skill levels from beginner to Division 1 college players. He spent five years at Champions Tennis Club, a 20-court facility. Jason spent the last 12 years coaching at Baylor School, where he was the Boys Head Coach and Girls Assistant. In that time, Baylor won 10 state titles and multiple singles and doubles state titles. Jason’s boys team most recently became a top 20 high school team in the country.
Coach Tipton has a heart for students and an excitement to interweave his faith in Jesus Christ into the Maclellan Tennis Center and the CCS program. Coach Tipton and his wife, Beth, have two children, Knox and Hollis. They attend Trenton First Baptist.
Coach Reynolds graduated from the University of Georgia, where she played for the Lady Dawgs tennis for 3 years. Prior to that, she played tennis competitively around the country and was captain of her GPS tennis team in 1984. The mother of four children (all of whom have or are currently attending CCS) has remained active in tennis throughout the years playing in the Chattanooga Tennis Association League. She became full time Tennis program director at CCS in 2017, coaching the girls team while Tony Garrison-Palacios coaches the boys team. In 2017, Melanie was named the Chattanooga Times Free Press Tennis Coach of the Year.
Under her leadership, the girls have been District and Region Champions along with State Runners-Up in 2017; District, Region, and State Runners-Up in 2018; and District Champions and Region Runners-Up in 2019. The boys were most recently Runners-Up in the District in 2019.
Tennis Director
Tennis Director Derek Markey has more than 28 years of experience that began in East Lansing, Michigan when, at age 24, he became the Head Tennis Professional at the Michigan Athletic Club. He served as the Head Tennis Professional for the Crozer Keystone - Sisters of Mercy Healthplex, a 200,000-square-foot multipurpose athletic club facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to this club’s grand opening, Derek was named the youngest Director of Tennis of all multipurpose athletic clubs over 150,000 square feet in the United States in 1997. In 2002, Derek was hired as the Senior Vice President/General Manager of a tennis club in South Florida where he grew the membership base 500% in less than two years. In addition, Derek has developed both junior and adult tennis players in five different United States Tennis Association (USTA) sections.
Derek has been married to his wife, Rebekah (Henry), for 19 years, and together they have four children, Madison, Abigail, Remington, and Eleanora. The Markey family attends First Presbyterian Church in downtown Chattanooga.