Walt Seemann has been overseeing the serve of Alisal’s tennis aficionados for more than 27 years. Arriving at Alisal in 1980, Seemann has expanded the tennis program to include a Pro Shop, which also facilitates tennis clubs for both men and women. Additionally, over the last twenty years Walt has participated in a variety of tennis related organizations, from coaching the Santa Ynez High School boys tennis league, to acting as commissioner for the Santa Barbara Senior Tennis League, acting as Captain for the Alisal USTA teams and being an active staff advisor for the Wilson Tennis line.

Seemann was born in Columbus, Ohio and moved to Santa Barbara when he was seven years old. He started playing tennis in High School at San Marcos High, in Goleta, CA. and continued playing while in college. Walt attended California Lutheran University and was captain of the tennis team during his senior year in 1976. After college, Walt taught tennis lessons in La Jolla for three summers before coming to the Alisal.

One of Walt’s fondest memories while at the Alisal has been hitting balls with Rod Laver, an Alisal tennis club member and former professional tennis player from Australia. Rod was the number one player in the world for seven consecutive years, and is the only player in tennis history to have won all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same year—TWICE! Rod was also an Alisal Tennis member for three years.

Seemann currently lives in Solvang with his son Miles.

Seasoned tennis professional Alexei Prilepine, has been instructing tennis players at Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort since 2005. Prior to his arrival at the Alisal, Prilepine worked as Head Pro for “Tennis Drill International” at the Santa Barbara Double Tree Hotel where he honed his teaching methods and later published instructional tips in Tennis Magazine.

Prilepine was born in Moscow, Russia and graduated from Moscow Technical University with an Engineering Degree in Computer Processing of Satellite Information. Prilepine worked in the Space Monitoring Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences for nine years before realizing that he preferred being outdoors. Prilepine began teaching skiing in the winter and tennis in the summer and was fortunate to work with great coaches and teachers to begin this path in his career.

In 1991 Prilepine moved to Santa Barbara where he continued teaching tennis, competed in local tournaments and advanced to the tennis finals in Los Angeles with a world team.

Prilepine loves the beauty of Alisal Guest Ranch and especially appreciates the wonderful people he has met as a result. When he’s not on the tennis court, Prilepine enjoys playing guitar, singing as a chorus member with the Opera Santa Barbara and traveling.