Women's Tennis Coaches

A two-time Pratt alumna with a bachelor's and master's degree from the Institute, Shishaldin Hanlen carried over her success as a Cannoneers student-athlete to Pratt's men's and women's tennis programs as head coach.

Most recently, Hanlen's women's teams have gained dominance of the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference (HVWAC) with consecutive league championships in 2011 and 2012, including an 8-1 title match victory in 2012.

Hanlen joined the staff as an assistant coach in 2003, a year after her graduation, coaching under former coach of the year George Brome. Four years later, in 2007, Hanlen was named women's tennis head coach and took over the men's program the following spring for the 2008 season.

She guided the men's program to a 2009 regular season title, the program's first as members of the Hudson Valley Men's Athletic Conference, before winning two women's championships in 2011 and 2012.

As a Pratt student-athlete, she helped lead the Cannoneers to three consecutive HVWAC championships from 2000-2002, culminating in an undefeated season in 2002 playing under league Coach of the Year and current Pratt assistant coach George Brome.

Hanlen coaches at a Manhattan tennis club caters to private clients. An avid runner, Hanlen has run marathons in 44 states. She just completed her Kundalini Yoga teacher training.

An accomplished former men’s and women’s head coach of the Cannoneers who brought both programs their first championships, George Brome has been coaching tennis at Pratt Institute since 1990. 

As head coach, he led the men's teams to five conference championships and the women’s program to three. As an assistant coach, he has helped mold three more championship women's teams. 

Brome is a lifetime member of the USTA and keeps his coaching skills sharp by being an active player himself, and as such, has been continually ranked in the ETA senior categories over the last 30 years.  George uses his playing experiences stay current in the understanding of players’ challenges on court while competing. His popular style of one-on-one analysis and synthesis has been helpful in fostering and speeding the growth the players under his tutelage. 

Even before being certified as a USPTA instructor Coach Brome had personally coached a winner of the NYJTL girls 16s championship.  He has used his organizational and administrative skills to build the once flourishing Fort Greene Tennis Association by building membership, scheduling tournaments, competitive ladders and social events

He helped mentor Cannoneers head coach Shishaldin Hanlen, who was the standout player on Pratt’s Hudson Valley Women’s Athletic Conference championship teams of  1999, 2000 and 2001. Together, he and Hanlen coached Pratt to two straight league titles in 2011 and 2012.

Brome is a Pratt alumnus, having earned a master’s degree in computer science - decision science. He also has an MBA in management from Adelphi University and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Penn State University. 

Brome served in the USAR Corps of Engineers in Vietnam as a lieutenant and has retired as a captain.