ATLANTA – INTENNSE, a pro tennis league featuring a fast-paced, co-ed team-based format that elevates player performance and fan engagement, has invited FGCU women's tennis head coach Courtney Vernon to compete in its College Coaches Cup on Wednesday in Atlanta.

In addition to the competition at 5 p.m. live on the INTENNSE YouTube Channel, Vernon will be part of the College Coach Education Sessions, teaching aspects of the game to younger tennis players.

Vernon joins 10 other collegiate coaches in the competition, along with coaches from Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgetown, Indiana, Southern Cal, Virginia Commonwealth (VCU), Drake, Morgan State, North Alabama, Tarleton and Lynn.

The College Coaches Cup, in its inaugural year, begins at 5 p.m. and is part of a full day of tennis programming that wraps up with the evening's Fortune vs. Inferno match at the INTENNSE Arena in Atlanta. The match will be broadcast live on the INTENNSE YouTube Channel.

This won't be your grandparents' tennis match. The INTENNSE format involves BOLTs and ARCs. A BOLT is 10 minutes of continuous play and the clock is ticking from the first point. An ARC is a full team matchup of seven BOLTs: two men's singles, two women's singles, one men's doubles, one women's doubles and one mixed doubles. Each point won equals one point for the team. A clean winner (untouched shot) garners two points. Points stack continuously – no resets, no games, no sets. The highest total score across all seven BOLTs wins the ARC. If the scores are tied at the end, one deciding point determines the winning team.

Vernon will be competing for Team Lucero, coached by Marc Lucero, associate men's tennis head coach at Southern California. Her teammates include Freddy Mesmer, head men's and women's coach at Georgetown; Calvin Song, head women's coach at Drake; Olaya Garrido Rivas, Director of Tennis at North Alabama; and Hind Semliali, assistant coach at Morgan State.

Team Lucero will compete against Team Fish, a group coached by Dave Fish, the former head men's coach for Harvard. That team includes Bruno Tiberti, assistant men's coach at Georgia; Austin Roebuck, associate head women's coach at Georgia Tech; Chase aColton, assistant women's coach at Indiana; Rifanty Kahfiani, head women's coach at VCU; Ana Pain, assistant coach at Lynn; and Elianne Douglas-Miron, head women's coach at Tarleton.

INTENNSE previously welcomed college coaches into the arena through the 2025 College Coaches Duel, an event designed to give coaches firsthand exposure to the league's fast-paced, team-based format and athlete-first mode and position them as key stakeholders in identifying and supporting the next generation of talent.
 
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