CourtSense Tennis Training Center

A New Jersey engine for player development

CourtSense is one of those rare programs that feels both local and big league. Founded in 2002 by former professional player Gordon Uehling, the academy began with a straightforward promise he brought home to Alpine, New Jersey: pair rigorous, repeatable coaching with sports science, then make the system accessible for families who are not relocating or boarding. Today CourtSense operates out of two sister facilities in Bergen County, Tenafly Racquet Club and Bogota Racquet Club, and has become a staple for ambitious juniors across the New York metropolitan area. The tone is serious but warm. Coaches know players by name, parents can review sessions on video, and the pathway from red ball to college tennis or pro tour is mapped in plain language.

The founding idea

Uehling’s original thesis was that American juniors could benefit from the repetition and data feedback common at top European academies without leaving home. The key would be consistency in language, small groups, and a feedback loop that players actually used. CourtSense grew around that idea. Every season, the coaching staff refines shared progressions for the serve, return, and first two shots, so athletes hear a stable message whether they are 8 and learning spacing or 18 and preparing for ITF travel.

Setting and why it matters

Both club sites sit minutes from the George Washington Bridge, in suburban neighborhoods that feel safe and easy to navigate. Winters are cold and summers are humid, which is why the program is built on indoor volume first. The two sites provide fifteen indoor hard courts with full SmartCourt coverage, so reps continue regardless of weather or daylight. In spring and summer the academy layers in outdoor training blocks on hard and clay at partner locations, which helps players translate their indoor precision to different bounces and footwork patterns. For families within driving distance of Manhattan, the practical advantage is clear: heavy, year round training without a relocation.

CourtSense also fills a useful niche in the regional landscape. For New York metro families comparing options, it often sits alongside Gotham Tennis Academy and SPORTIME Port Washington JMTA as a credible path for serious development that does not require boarding.

Facilities that support the work

Across Tenafly and Bogota you get a uniform training environment. All indoor courts are SmartCourts, providing instant replay, tagged highlights, and a robust library of sessions for later review. Bogota was among the earliest SmartClub installations, and that heritage shows in how the staff uses video and numbers in daily feedback. Court surfaces use a polyurethane and rubber composite base with an acrylic top for consistent bounce and added cushioning, helpful when players rack up hours during growth spurts.

Strength and conditioning is delivered on site by the Magnus team, an integrated performance group housed at the Tenafly address. Movement screens, progressive strength blocks, and recovery staples like mobility and soft tissue work are standard. Mental performance is part of the package, not a bolt on. Players meet a dedicated mental skills coach for goal setting, focus routines, and match debriefs that keep development coherent across tennis, fitness, and psychology.

Both clubs have player lounges, a pro shop with stringing, and air systems upgraded with ultraviolet germicidal irradiation for indoor air quality. Parents who spend long afternoons at the club will appreciate practical comforts like ample seating, reliable Wi Fi, and predictable parking.

Who is coaching your child

CourtSense is coach centric. Founder Gordon Uehling sets the standard for how details are taught and measured. The day to day is led by an experienced staff that includes leaders like Ognen Nikolovski, Geoff Grant, Carlos Cano, Rohan Goetzke, Saul Salazar, and Ray Josephs, supported by a deep bench of high performance and development coaches. The staff is international in background but aligned around one house style: clear technical language, deliberate progressions, and session plans that mix live ball with constraint led drills and competitive games.

A typical practice is tight on ratios and purposeful. High performance groups run at a three to one player to coach ratio, junior clinics rarely exceed four to one for core drilling, and there is always a defined theme, whether it is serve plus one, return depth through the middle, or first volley quality. Fitness coaches and the mental performance coach are embedded, so work in the gym and on court connects week to week.

Programs and pathways

CourtSense serves a wide range of players, but the structure is consistent.

• Junior Development at Tenafly covers the full pathway from red, orange, and green ball to yellow ball pre tournament groups. Emphasis sits on fundamentals that scale: contact point discipline, footwork patterns appropriate to each surface, serve repetitions that build a reliable toss and shoulder rhythm, and rally skills that translate to points.

• High Performance at Bogota is by evaluation and invitation. The program runs as a 39 week season, built into macro cycles with specific, pre competitive, and competitive meso cycles. Players combine two hour tennis blocks with fitness, add dedicated point play, and finish the week with match play that is recorded for video review. The expectation is daily intent and leadership inside the group.

• A home school training option allows daytime court and gym work while academics are handled through flexible online or partner schools. For families targeting national and ITF schedules, this is an efficient way to build volume without burning out.

• Adults are not an afterthought. CourtSense uses its own placement scale rather than relying only on NTRP numbers, since the goal is to identify what a player needs to train, not just how they compete today. There are clinics, leagues, match play options, and fitness crossovers.

• Summer is split. Tenafly hosts an indoor day camp for development players, while the high performance summer blocks run with a tournament first mindset, including access to outdoor hard and clay and a tight three to one ratio.

A sample week

A high performance week might include three technical themed practices, two point play sessions, three strength sessions that progress from acceleration to rotational power, one mobility and recovery block, and a Friday match day filmed on SmartCourts. Juniors in development groups follow a similar cadence scaled to age and growth, with more coordination games and a higher dose of feeding to build clean patterns before live ball stress.

How they train, in practice

The first pillar is technical clarity. Coaches rely on video and slow motion to calibrate grip, swing shape, and spacing, then move quickly to live ball transfer so new mechanics hold up under speed. On the serve, you will see progressions that standardize the toss and encourage a smooth loading pattern rather than a muscled arm action. For groundstrokes, players learn to build height and margin before flattening out patterns, and most sessions touch return skills since that stroke is under trained in many clubs.

Tactics are taught in clean frames. Players learn to own the middle first, recognize neutral width, and work space with heavy crosscourt before changing direction. The staff emphasizes repeatable first two shots, then builds pattern variety around a player’s identity. Lefties leverage serve patterns into the ad court. Counterpunchers receive depth and height plans that create indecision and short balls. Aggressive baseliners practice finishing through the middle or into a corner instead of forcing low percentage lines.

Physical development is age appropriate. Younger players build coordination and elastic strength rather than chasing heavy loads. High performance athletes progress into strength phases that support sprint speed, rotational power, and injury resilience. Movement training is court biased: split step timing, first step acceleration, and recovery steps get the same attention as lunges and squats.

Mental skills are threaded through the week. Players script between point routines, learn to journal objective match notes, and practice arousal control strategies before key points. After action reviews are the norm. Video keeps everyone honest because it shows what really happened, not just what we remember.

Results that show up in real careers

CourtSense alumni and trainees include familiar names and strong college outcomes. Christina McHale trained here through her juniors and early professional stage before climbing inside the top 25 on the WTA tour and representing the United States at the Olympics. Bernarda Pera spent formative time with the staff before reaching the top tier of the WTA in singles and doubles. Matija Pecotic, a decorated Princeton standout, used the program as a training base during and after college while pushing his ATP ranking and producing headline wins as a pro. On the college pathway, the alumni page is long and varied, with placements at Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Duke, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, and more. Recent juniors like Stephanie Yakoff and Claire An underline that the pipeline remains active.

Families who value a proven college track will recognize parallels with programs like John McEnroe Tennis Academy, yet CourtSense keeps the feel of a commuter club that integrates school and training more tightly for New Jersey based players.

Culture parents actually notice

This is a commuter academy with a club heartbeat. Parents are welcome courtside without becoming sideline coaches. Younger players experience a steady, friendly environment where staff reinforce habits like punctuality, clean court etiquette, and taking care of equipment. High performance groups are competitive but not cutthroat. The staff talks openly about sleep, nutrition, and school responsibilities. That balance keeps enthusiasm high during the long Northeast indoor season.

CourtSense also treats communication as part of coaching. Weekly emails outline themes and competition plans, film is shared for review, and coaches meet families to align goals for the next cycle. The culture rewards reliability. Show up on time, bring your journal, track serves, learn to string a racquet, and help clean up courts after match play. Those simple habits compound into better training weeks and calmer tournament weekends.

Costs, accessibility, and scheduling

CourtSense runs on seasonal registrations for clinics and high performance groups, with private lessons and match play add ons. Program tuition varies by group and season and is shared directly with families. Memberships at the clubs provide meaningful savings if you expect regular court time. For the 2025 to 2026 season the clubs list Silver membership at 200 dollars per season, Gold at 350 dollars, Platinum at 550 dollars, and a Pro Client membership at 1,000 dollars for independent coaches. Families enrolled in junior or adult clinics receive complimentary Silver membership for immediate family members during the season. Court reservations, stringing, and value pack lessons are available on member pricing.

For families considering high performance, expect an evaluation, a defined weekly schedule, and attendance expectations that make sense if you are chasing sectional, national, or UTR gains. The academy does not offer boarding. Players commute or assemble their own housing if they relocate temporarily. There are no public scholarship listings at the time of writing, so if cost is a constraint, ask directly about any available assistance or flexible payment plans.

What sets CourtSense apart

• SmartCourt on every indoor court, used daily rather than occasionally.
• A true three to one or four to one training environment depending on group, so coaching is hands on.
• Fitness and mental skills are embedded, with the Magnus team and a mental performance coach in house.
• Year round volume on fifteen indoor hard courts, with seasonal outdoor blocks on hard and clay for surface fluency.
• A proven, transparent pathway from beginner to high performance without asking families to board.
• A commuter model that syncs with school calendars and Northeast tournament schedules.

Where it is headed

CourtSense has signaled it will keep deepening the integration between video, data, and daily coaching. The staff continues to recruit experienced coaches, grow partnerships that make academic flexibility easier, and host competitive play that keeps travel sensible for Eastern Section families. Expect more refined use of video libraries for scouting and self review, and continued investment in surfaces and lighting that make hours on court sustainable. The academy also continues to strengthen its network with college programs, a practical advantage for juniors targeting roster spots and scholarships.

Vision for the next five years

The likely trajectory is more specialization without losing the club feel. That means clearer tracks inside high performance for baseliners who need pace tolerance, all court players who must finish forward, and counterpunchers who build pressure through depth and height. On the technology side, the staff will keep expanding match tagging and trend dashboards so athletes diagnose patterns faster between tournaments. Expect incremental facility upgrades too, including recovery resources that make long weeks more manageable.

Is it for you

Choose CourtSense if you live within striking distance of Bergen County or can temporarily relocate, want year round indoor volume, and value a coaching culture that is structured, measurable, and personal. It suits families who want high performance standards without sending a teenager away to board, and juniors who thrive on clear goals, video feedback, and small group intensity. If you need on site housing, a warm weather outdoor grind, or a clay dominant curriculum, you will want to supplement with travel blocks or consider a seasonal stay at a warm weather academy.

For many Northeast families, CourtSense is a practical and ambitious way to build a real tennis foundation and keep school and home life intact. The mix of SmartCourt feedback, small ratios, and integrated fitness gives players a clear runway from early development to college tennis and beyond. If that combination resonates, schedule an evaluation, bring your journal, and come ready to work. The rest follows from repetition, honest feedback, and a team that cares about every rep you take.