$100

RETAIL VALUE $400 2-1 Hour Tennis Lessons with Constandena Nicolaou Constandena (Dena) Nicolaou was born and raised in London, U.K. with Greek Cypriot roots. Her parents still live in London and her sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces live in Sydney, Australia. In 2017, she started her collegiate debut as an immediate starter on the tennis team at the University of Houston and by her sophomore year reached the Top 50 NCAA. Her senior year, she transferred to Sam Houston State University and after going 13-0, was awarded All-Conference Second Team Singles, and helped lead the team to the program’s first Division 1 Conference Championship. Unfortunately, she then had to retire for the rest of the season due to injury. After graduating in Kinesiology from Sam Houston State University, she stayed on as an Assistant Tennis Coach and a Graduate Assistant S&C Coach while completing her Master’s in Sports Management. Her main responsibilities included managing the tennis team’s health and wellness for practice and matches, strength & conditioning, gameday nutrition, and assisting the Head Coach with practice and match coaching, while also heavily involved with assisting strength & conditioning coaching with football, softball, volleyball, and soccer outside the tennis schedule. While a student-athlete at SHSU, she was plugged in with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) which played a huge role in being part of a community that encouraged student-athletes to use their athletic platform to honor God. As a coach at SHSU, she developed into a Huddle Leader and served within the local community and FCA Camps. Her life verse is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Her passion for coaching spans internationally as she invested in developing British juniors competing at the national and international level, collegiate tennis prospects and acting as a tournament travel coach to junior and professional tennis players. As of 2024, she had the competitive itch and picked up her racquets again to begin competing in professional tennis tournaments and desires to continue pursue her professional ranking outside of the academic and athletic schedule at Brook Hill. If she’s not on the tennis court or in the weight room, she can be found enjoying cooking (and eating!) Mediterranean food, finding a new trail with her dog, jet skiing in the summer, and watching classic rom-com movies in the winter. In her 2025 inaugural year as Head Coach, Coach Dena led the Brook Hill Tennis Program to unprecedented success, establishing a strong foundation for the future in the team’s first season competing in TAPPS Class 5A. The Guard and Lady Guard completed an undefeated spring season and concluded the season bringing home the Boys Team State Championship, Boys Doubles State Championship, and a Girls Doubles Third Place Finish. Coach Dena’s leadership, paired with the dedication of her athletes, has positioned Brook Hill Tennis as a rising powerhouse in TAPPS and laid the groundwork for continued success in the seasons to come.