Alison Scott - Managing Director
Alison is a former WTA professional tennis player, accredited Professional PTR coach, ATPCA Level 3 Master Pro and a highly experienced Training Development and Corporate Skills Coach.
Her sporting background began at age 8 when she was coached by the legend Charlie Hollis (Rod Laver's coach) and at 15 was awarded a tennis scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. (coached by Helen Gourlay & Ray Ruffles). As a junior she was ranked top 5 in 1986 and top 10 in Australian women.
Alison went on to compete on the world tour from 1987 to 1992 in all the Grand Slam events Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open and many more across Europe, Asia and South America. Alison played luminaries including Martina Navratilova, Zina Garrison, Jana Novotna, Pam Shriver, Gabriela Sabatini and Aranxa Sanchez Vicario. She played against China in Beijing in 1987 along with Paul McNamee and in the BP Australian Achievers Team.
1986-1987 - Member of the Australian BP achievers team
1988 awarded the karen Krantzcke award given by the women's sports foundation in the USA and founded by Billie-Jean King selected as the player who most demonstrated the qualities of sportsmanship and fair play.
1988 Selected to represent Australia in the Annie Soisbault Cup team.
In 1988 she reached the Australian Open doubles Quarter Finals. Along the way Alison played mixed doubles with Goran Ivanisivic and trained with both Todd Woodbridge and Jason Stoltenberg.
At the age of 23 and ranked inside the top 100 in the world, Alison had earned the respect of her peers for her dedication, integrity, commitment and ethical manner. It was then she became interested in sharing her life experiences to bring out the potential in others. And so for the next ten years, she ran her own business using Energy Conversion meditation and highly effective communication training through Kenja Communication an Australian organisation co-founded by Ken Dyers and Jan Hamilton, which today operates across four centres (for more info visit www.kenja.com.au)
As a personal communication coach, Alison worked with people from all walks of life, giving public presentations, organising large events and on a one-to-one basis, training clients to improve their effectiveness through a greater understanding of communication.
She brings a genuine love of people and the joy of sport to her business (Hotshots Action Events), believing people work better together when they're in good communication with each other and there¹s no better way to foster healthy working relationships than via a fun, constructive and active day away from the office!
Marita Knight-Smith - Marketing Manager
Marita was educated at UNSW, where she completed a BA.DipEd, majoring in history and drama.
She went on to work in personal communication training and at just 22 years of age, was appointed Director of a communication company in Melbourne. Her own communication skills were expanded through frequent public lecturing and conference organising, as she worked with a team to promote the concept of improving personal communication skills to enhance and maximize personal and professional success.
Marita later moved back to Sydney where she continued her role for the next seven years. Additionally, she often travelled to Melbourne and Canberra to produce theatrical shows involving up to 80 cast and crew.
In 1996, Marita was invited to act as Director in a Communication training business in Canberra. Here, she had the opportunity to co-host national conferences featuring sporting, communication and cultural events staged at venues including the AIS, National Convention Centre and the Albert Hall for audiences of around 1,500 people.
Over the past few years Marita has run a successful sales business and revels in her role as a key assistant to Alison in organising HOTSHOTS events.