Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mark Kovacs. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mark , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

We first established the International Tennis Performance Association (iTPA) over a decade ago now and it was a major undertaking developing evidence-based information, education and certification for the healthcare, performance, medical, coaching and wellness industries who work with tennis athletes. This took more than two years of development from putting together the structure, the education, the levels of certification and the experts to help guide us to deliver the highest quality education and service for strength and conditioning coaches, athletic trainers, physical therapists, chiropractors, tennis coaches, medical doctors, wellness professionals and other individuals who test, train or treat tennis athletes. We started on a shoe-string budget and had no investor money, did not borrow anything and built it organically through hard work, passion and the great contributions from many experts who believed in the mission and the need for higher quality education for the tennis industry. We now have members in more than 45 countries, have educated thousands of individuals who have trained, treated or coached over a million tennis players and have hosted the most well recognized tennis and fitness conference globally for many years in Atlanta, Georgia (The World Tennis Fitness Conference hosted by the International Tennis Performance Association).

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Dr. Mark Kovacs Dr. Kovacs is a sports executive, performance scientist, researcher, professor, author, speaker and coach with an extensive background training and researching elite athletes and high performing executives. He was formerly the senior director of sport science & health with the Cleveland Cavaliers (in the NBA) overseeing sport science, medical, training and performance. His unique skillset has made him one of the worldwide leading experts in the area of optimizing human performance through the application of cutting edge, evidence-based information. He directed the Sport Science, Strength & Conditioning and Coaching Education departments for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and was a Fortune 50 executive with Pepsico in the area of Research and Innovation. He developed (and taught) one the first graduate classes on the topic of Sport Technology in the United States and has been a professor teaching graduate classes in sport science, human performance and technology for more than a decade. In addition he has been the Director of the Gatorade Sport Science Institute which is committed to helping athletes optimize their health and performance through research and education in hydration and nutrition science. He is also the co-founder of the International Tennis Performance Association (iTPA), which is the worldwide leader in tennis-specific performance enhancement and injury prevention education and certification (www.itpa-tennis.org). The iTPA has educated and certified individuals in over 45 countries. Dr. Kovacs has also served on the investment and finance committees for the National Strength & Conditioning Association and gone through a Finance program for executives through the Emory University Goizueta Business School. He has been an advisor and shareholder in numerous startups and early stage technology companies in various areas of health, fitness, medical and sports.
Dr. Kovacs established the Kovacs Institute (www.kovacsinstitute.com) in Atlanta which is focused on optimizing human performance by the practical application of cutting-edge science to elite athletes, high performing executives and companies in the sport, technology, wellness, fitness and health space. Within the Kovacs Institute is the international consulting firm (Metis Performance, LLC) focused on advisory and consulting services to national federations, major professional sports leagues and leading universities. He has been a keynote speaker and presenter on 5 continents and performed well over 200 workshops and presentations. He has presented and/or consulted for Harvard University, NYU Medical School, Princeton University, University of North Carolina, University of Southern California, Northwestern University, Arizona State University, South Korean Olympic Committee, Chinese Olympic Committee, United States Olympic Committee, Seattle Mariners, International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), IMG and IMGAcademy, UroGPO, ATP, WTA, Major League Baseball (MLB), among dozens of other leading institutions. Dr. Kovacs is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and has published over 50 research articles and abstracts in some of the top scientific journals in the field of sport and exercise science. He was the Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Strength & Conditioning Journal and is on the editorial board and a reviewer for many top tier journals.

Mark grew up in Melbourne, Australia playing national and international level junior tennis. He was a top 5 Australian junior and competed at the Australian and US Open junior championships. He was an All-American and NCAA doubles champion in tennis at Auburn University and competed professionally after University. He earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in the Department of Kinesiology at Auburn University. Dr. Kovacs earned his doctorate in exercise physiology from the University of Alabama. He was the youngest ever recipient of the International Tennis Hall of Fame Educational Merit Award and the 2014 US Olympic Committee “Doc Counsilman” Science Award for his innovative use of sport science application to Olympic athletes. He was an invited Keynote speaker at the 2017 Internal Olympic Committee World Conference on the Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport hosted by Prince Albert in Monte, Carlo, Monaco. He has personally worked with dozens of top professional athletes and leading executives on multiple areas of improving human performance. He has been involved with two NFL Superbowls, the Brazilian National Football team for the 2014 World Cup, the US Fed Cup team and dozens of other major sporting events applying sport science principles to optimizing athletic performance. He has published six books on different aspects of sport science and human performance and currently volunteers on numerous committees and boards in professional organizations along with many community outreach programs. He has personally worked with of dozens of top professional athletes including: John Isner, Robby Ginepri, Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Frances Tiafoe, Reilly Opelka, Dansby Swanson, Mallory Pugh, Jane Campbell, Emily Sonnett among many others. For more information check out www.mark-kovacs.com and follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @mkovacsphd

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

The two biggest things that allowed us to succeed was 1) the focus on our mission of providing the highest quality, evidence-based information on how to best test, treat and train tennis athletes at all levels of the game. 2) The passion and dedication of our leadership team and also the hundreds of individuals that have helped us along the way. These individuals believed in the goals and helped whenever asked to provide education, mentor young individuals in the field, provide learning opportunities and just being available to help in anyway.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like everyone during Covid, we had to pivot significantly. We usually do a number of in-person training and coaching workshops as well as small and large conferences all over the world. Our model of education is a combination of in-person and online education. So during Covid time period we have not be able to offer in-person workshops and conferences. As a result we pivoted to all online education and needed to create a number of new offerings for our membership. This included coffee hours, mentoring calls with experts, small group discussions on various topics as well as broader webinars. We are excited to start back up with in-person offerings and hosting the World Tennis Fitness Conference again.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.itpa-tennis.org
• Facebook: itpatennis
• Linkedin: itpatennis
• Twitter: itpatennis
• Youtube: itpatennis