The tennis industry has formed a national Tennis Health & Wellness Task Force, comprised of doctors and sports medicine experts, to help reach and engage mainstream Americans with messaging on the health, fitness, wellness and life benefits of tennis.

The Task Force is chaired by Dr. Jack Groppel, who is the health and wellness advisor for the tennis industry and the co-founder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. Dr. Groppel is an authority and pioneer in the science of human performance and has a long history in the sport of tennis, including 16 years as chair of the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) National Sport Science Committee.

In addition to Dr. Groppel, the Tennis Health & Wellness Task Force will include:

  • Dr. Laura DeFina, President and CEO of the Cooper Institute
  • Dr. Brian Hainline, Chief Medical Officer for the NCAA and former longtime Chief Medical Officer for the US Open.
  • Dr. Babette Pluim, Chief Medical Advisor for the Royal Netherlands Lawn Tennis Association.
  • Dr. Paul Roetert, CEO of SHAPE America (Society of Health and Physical Educators) and former Managing Director of USTA Player Development.
  • James Whitehead, the Executive Vice President and CEO of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

“We have an all-star lineup for the Tennis Health & Wellness Task Force,” Dr. Groppel said. “I’m pleased to be working with some incredible people both in and beyond the health and wellness industries to spread these positive messages and benefits to people of all ages.”

In helping to guide the sport in connecting tennis with mainstream thinking about health, wellness and wellbeing practices, the Tennis Health & Wellness Task Force will work with the Tennis Industry Association (TIA), USTA and other tennis industry partners. In addition, Drs. Groppel, Hainline and Roetert will take part in a Health & Wellness panel at the 2017 Tennis Owners & Managers Conference in Orlando on March 27.

Along with his position with the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, Dr. Groppel is the co-chair of the Global Alliance for Health & Performance and is professor of Kinesiology & Community Health at the University of Illinois. He’s addressed the issue of worksite wellness and performance at United Nations and U.S. Congress policy events, and has represented the worksite wellness industry at the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Walking and Walkable Communities. He also is the Co-Chair of the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO) Health, Performance & Productivity Study Committee.

Last April, Dr. Groppel was instrumental in having the tennis industry become the first sports industry to endorse the new National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) when the plan was unveiled in Washington, D.C. He also encouraged top U.S. and international tennis officials to sign the CEO Pledge for Physical Activity (part of the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity), for which he is the national spokesperson.

Dr. Groppel wrote the book “The Corporate Athlete” on achieving the pinnacle of corporate performance.