Meet The Team

Meet Our Team

The members of the Serve First team are all dedicated, passionate and experienced individuals with one goal - to help people enjoy the community in which we live.

Caroline Downs

Co-Founder

Tennis has occupied such a major part of Caroline’s life she can’t even remember when she first picked up a racquet...

Tiffany Noel

Co-Founder

Tiffany is a Winston-Salem native and began her love of tennis at age nine when the famed Coach David Lash picked...

Jim Broome

Teaching Professional

Tennis found Jim in his grandmother’s attic where he found a wooden Dunlop at just eight years old...

Robin Lindner

Communication and Community Outreach
With 25 years in media and public relations, Robin brings a wealth of knowledge, expertise, and business acumen to this partnership...

Perry Smith

Tennis Professional

Perry Smith is approaching his 40th year of competitive tennis...

Denard McLendon

Director of Tennis

Denard McLendon, originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, brings a wealth of experience and passion to our team...

Ready to start playing?

Anyone can pick up a racquet. Anyone can play.

Anyone can pick up a racquet.
Anyone can play.

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Hours of Operation

Mon. – Thurs.: 9 am – 8 pm
Fri.: 9 am – 7 pm
Sat.: 9 am – 3 pm
Sunday: 1 pm – 6 pm

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Caroline Downs

Co-Founder

Tennis has occupied such a major part of Caroline’s life she can’t even remember when she first picked up a racquet.

“It was pink, though. I remember that. My sister had a purple racquet. It was a thing.”

Her father taught himself to play – and play so well he put himself through college with a racquet in his hand.

“My dad never had a coach or anything, so he wanted my sister and I to have the chance to learn properly. He provided that. I remember playing in tournaments when I was 11.”

By the time she was in high school, Caroline had a top-10 state ranking in the Girls 16s in Virginia and a top-50 ranking in the Mid-Atlantic region. She won four team, three doubles, and two “triple crown” state championships – meaning she took home titles in singles, doubles, and the team championships all in the same year. She also lettered in six other sports: cross country, golf, swimming, track, and volleyball. The Roanoke Times named her as “All Timesland Athlete of the Year,” and with a total of 19 letters in seven varsity sports, Caroline was inducted into Radford High School’s Hall of Fame.

But, it was tennis Caroline chose to play at the collegiate level – at Radford University, an NCAA Division I school. Her teammates elected her captain as just a sophomore. She spent most of her college career playing as the 2 or 3 seed, and she graduated Cum Laude in 2006.

Tennis would continue to be Caroline’s focus as she began a career at the United States Tennis Association in its Virginia headquarters. She moved to North Carolina in 2011 and took a position with NC Tennis as a college and junior coordinator. In time, she worked her way up to the associate executive director position, helping to create programming that would bring new people to the sport she so loves.

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Caroline decided it was time to refocus on her roots – community tennis. She took up a teaching position at Old Town Country Club with a renewed vigor for coaching and mentoring.

When the opportunity to get involved in public tennis in Winston-Salem presented itself, she and her family decided it was the next big step.

“This makes my heart so happy. Seeing all these people come together to play and make fast friends is worth all the work. Especially with kids – if we can put a racquet in their hands between 7 and 10, it can change their life. When existing players come to the park, though, I want them to feel part of something, part of a community. Our hope is that their experience will be about more than just a match.”

Caroline is Safe Play, Pickle Ball (PPR) and Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) certified.

Tiffany Noel

Co-Founder

Tiffany is a Winston-Salem native and began her love of tennis at age 9 when the famed Coach David Lash picked her out of a crowded auditorium at the Winston Lake YMCA to participate in a tennis demonstration.

Coach Lash was an advocate of bringing athletes of color into tennis, and the time he invested in Tiffany changed her life.

“I remember it was an after-school program, and he sat there and waited for my mom to get off work and pick me up. He asked her if she would let me try tennis at 6:30 in the morning at Wake Forest Indoor on a Saturday. The rest is history.”

Tiffany went on to play at East Forsyth High School where she lettered in both tennis and basketball. She was the top seed for the duration of her high school career, dropping only one conference match in singles and making the All-Conference team each season. She was conference player of the year from 1993-1996 and was voted MVP each of those years. During her senior year she finished third in the 4A Metro State tournament and was inducted into the EFHS Hall of Fame in 2015.

Tiffany also won the American Tennis Association Girls 18s National Title in 1996 and qualified for USTA Zonals in 1995 and 1996. She took home the 1995 title in the North Carolina State Closed Doubles championships and finished third in the North Carolina Closed Singles in 1996. Her 1997 ranking topped at number 8 in North Carolina and number 30 in the Southern region.

Howard University in Washington, D.C. awarded Tiffany an athletic scholarship, where she played within the top 3 in both singles and doubles for each of her four years. In 1998 she won her conference’s Freshman of the Year award and is a two-time Division I ITA scholar-athlete.

In 2001, Tiffany received her bachelor’s degree and completed the physician assistant program, also at Howard. When she is not busy with Serve First Racquet Sports, you can find Tiffany working at Novant Health as a PA in cardiology. She also serves on the board of the Kimberley Park Tennis Association and has been an assistant coach in Winston-Salem at Tennis for Life for the last 10 years.

“Tennis opened a lot of doors for me, and I’m hoping to give that back to others. I want to give back to the community which gave so much to me and to my family. We are really excited about this partnership and engaging the people of Winston-Salem.”

Tiffany and her husband Mike live in Winston-Salem and have two daughters, Kyndall and Mikalya.

Tiffany is certified through the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR). She is also Safe Play and CPR certified and serves on the board of Winston-Salem Professional Tennis, the governing body responsible for the Winston-Salem Open.