"What a shocking season at UWF tennis. The women's team is in utter shambles. Bitter internal fighting amongst the team, dislike for the assistant coach Irene and as a result UWF women's tennis had terrible results. Unfortunately, Derrick has no idea of what is going on and chooses not to know. There is no leadership at all. Stay well clear at the moment, this has been an appalling experience. "

"Interesting to read these comments. As a parent from an athlete who also left this team last year, I echo these sentiments. Derrick the coach should not be in this role anymore. What coach does not come and watch trainings and take an active interest in the development of his players, he leaves it all up to his assistant coaches who are young ex-players from the team, not professional coaches. He is now more interested in running pickleball events than run a women's and men's tennis team. However, Didi the assistant coach at that time was very good and helped certainly with the team culture. I have heard that the current assistant coach Irene is a nightmare to deal with and has totally destroyed the team. There was a lack of professionalism, a lack of interest from coach. Imagine being on the team and your coach provides extra lessons to his top two players and ignores the rest. Imagine if you are from the US and you are on court and the team all speak Spanish to one another and you cannot understand a word and coach does nothing to step in and correct this. Imagine a coach stands right behind you on court whilst in a match and abuses you and says the most atrocious things. Imagine a team where they backstab each other and imagine other athletic teams within UWF think this team are awful. Even the UWF men's team see there are some serious problems within the women's team. The men's team suffer too, many quit tennis after the experience they encountered and still many suffer today. If you suck up to coach then you get privileges, is this the way a team should be run? Something needs to change, and that is, have a more balanced roster of players, become more diverse. Have an inspiring interested coach who is going to get results from their players by offering better trainings and better leadership and recruit better assistant coaches. The head of athletics at UWF needs to conduct an audit into the running of this team. "

"Wonderful university in a great location. Tennis team suffer under a lack of leadership. How unfortunate the coach rarely is there during trainings but is more interested in his pickleball. If a player is struggling with anything tennis wise, there is no one to one to help you improve your technique. No investment in the tennis during the off season travelling to play other universities and hardly any warm up matches during the season. It is a heavily based S American team so if you come from Europe you are warned, they like to stick to themselves and are very exclusive to anyone who does not speak their language, even on court the language spoken is Spanish. The current assistant coach Irene has ruined the team culture, she is verbally abusive to team players, is not professional, has her favourites and is disrespectful, has a temper and if you are injured you have to fight to get clearance. Both her and coach are under pressure to perform and they take their stress and frustrations out on the team. Team is renowned in the athletic domain at UWF to be toxic and divisive. If there is a better mix of Europeans and S Americans with new leadership in place, this could be an amazing place to start a tennis journey. When you see a womens tennis team suffering from eating disorders and on anxiety medication and there is deep unhappiness with numerous players you know that this is rotten to the core. As a parent I urge you to find a coach who at the very least would pick you up from the airport, help you find accommodation and take an active interest in your tennis . It is with regret that i write this but as a parent I would not wish any young woman to have to experience this level of bullying. Its all smoke and mirrors in this place. "

"Would not rate this coach even one star! He has been too long in the job! Not interested in helping his womens team improve! Doesn’t come to any practice hits. His assistant coach Irene is a bully and is a very devisive character. Visitors to the uni and different unis have been shocked to see the toxicity of the team. Clear pecking order amongst the girls and a very toxic bitchy environment to be in. Most are struggling with injury and Derrick couldn’t care if you’re injured you have to play. Mental state of many is at breaking point resorting in medical assistance. This is not a place you would want your daughter to thrive and enjoy tennis. "

"Stay well clear of this coach! He doesn’t rock up to any trainings. More interested in pickleball. He has his favorites and abandons the rest. Not interested in helping players improve. Most of the women’s team suffer from eating disorders caused by his toxic behavior and bullying tactics from his assistant coach. More players have quit the game than remained. Great uni otherwise but he should be fired what he is doing to young women players. "

"Breaks you down mentally and ruins your confidence, then will blame you for not performing. Has obvious favourites and if you’re not one, you will be the blame for everything. Only cares about results. Doesn’t coach, doesn’t give advice and doesn’t have the players best interest at heart. Doesn’t care if they are struggling. Doesn’t care about toxic team environment either, just results."

"He only cares about the results, will force you to play through injuries, does not listen to the athletic trainers, rarely shows up at practice, will threat to reduce your scholarship if you are hurt and cannot play, does not care about your mental health, and the list could go on. Worst experience with a coach in over 18 years of playing. "

""

"I enjoyed being on Coach Derrick's team. He made the atmosphere during practice fun and exciting, and he inspired us to do our best day in and day out. He made us want to perform well without putting so much pressure on the team. "