The United States Professional Tennis Association named the members of the Tennis - for the health of it! advisory council for 2009-2010. The mission of the council is to ensure that all components of Tennis - for the health of it! are health-enhancing, developmentally appropriate, safe and fun. It will be chaired by Michael F. Bergeron, Ph.D., FACSM, USPTA, director of the National Institute for Athletic Health & Performance and Center for Youth Sports & Health, and Jack Groppel, Ph.D., FACSM, USPTA Master Professional and vice president, co-founder of Human Performance Institute.

The members of the advisory council for 2009 and 2010 are:

Leslie Allen

President and CEO of Game Plan Inc.

Founder of Allen Tennis Training Academy and Leslie Allen Foundation

David Bassett, Ph.D.

Professor at the University of Tennessee, director of the UT Applied Physiology Lab and co-director of the Obesity Research Center at UT

Sue Burke

Co-owner of F.I.T, which offers year-round tennis and fitness programs, in Boulder, Colo.

Nicholas DiNubile, M.D.

Orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine in private practice in Havertown, Pa.

Todd Ellenbecker, DPT

Physical therapist and clinic director of Physiotherapy Associates Scottsdale Sports Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Director of Sports Medicine for the ATP tour

Brian Hainline, M.D.

Chief Medical Officer of the United States Tennis Association (USTA)

Jim Loehr, Ed.D.

Co-founder of the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Fla.

David Robinson

Tennis director at Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and Spa in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Owner and founder of TenniStrength & Fitness

Thomas Rowland, M.D.

Pediatric cardiologist at the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.

Joseph Signorile, Ph.D.

Associate professor, University of Miami Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences

Kathleen Stroia, P.T., A.T.C.

Vice President, Sport Sciences & Medicine and PRO U™ for the WTA Tour

Stella Volpe, Ph.D., R.D.

Associate Professor of Nursing, and Miriam Stirl Term Associate Professor in Nutrition

University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

Sophie Woorons-Johnston, Ph. D.

Owner/director Brookstone Meadows Tennis Club

"This apolitical council plays an extremely important role in moving this initiative forward in the tennis industry and more broadly shining light on the role of tennis in regard to the wellness of the American public and ultimately those around the world," said Groppel. "The true strength of this council lies in the fact that it is apolitical and multidisciplinary in nature, representing various sciences, areas of medicine and coaches, and tennis is a common thread in the work of all the members."

"The advisory council has a tremendous opportunity to advance tennis and play an integral role in connecting the entire tennis industry and communities across America to the National Physical Activity Plan and other key health-related initiatives," said Bergeron.

The responsibilities of the Tennis - for the health of it! advisory council will include the following:

• Support Tennis - for the health of it! and all tennis industry programs under the Tennis - for the health of it! umbrella initiative, to further the growth and enrichment of the game.

• Work with the American College of Sports Medicine and its supporting partners through Exercise is MedicineTM to prompt the medical and fitness communities to

1.) Recognize the health-enhancing benefits of tennis

2.) Recommend tennis as a desirable pathway for increasing physical activity and developing a long-term healthy lifestyle.

• Collaborate with the National Physical Activity Plan leadership and supporting organizations to promote Tennis - for the health of it! to policymakers, health professionals, and the public as an integral part of the national strategy to enhance the health of America by meeting the new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

• Promote "healthy tennis." The council has a parallel responsibility to address the factors and challenges that lead to increased injury risk during training and competition and decreased interest and participation in the game.

• Publish consensus and position papers on the health benefits of tennis and recommendations for ensuring healthy tennis.

• Call for research and partner with others in research and education initiatives that support the council's mission and objectives.

Tennis - for the health of it! is an initiative started by the USPTA in 2008 to make the general public aware of the tremendous health, fitness and psychological benefits of tennis and encourage people to get out and play the sport as a part of their regular fitness regimens. The sport of tennis is also social and fun, and can be a welcome change to routine gym workouts or as an additional activity in a fitness routine as part of a healthy lifestyle. The USPTA and its members are the front-line delivery force through which the public can receive these benefits through lessons and other tennis activities.

Biographies of the advisory council members follow.

- Tennis - for the health of it! Advisory Council members biographies -

Michael F. Bergeron, Ph.D., FACSM, is director of the National Institute for Athletic Health & Performance and professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota at the Sanford USD Medical Center. He is a Fellow and Trustee of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and past chair of the ACSM Strategic Health Initiative - Youth Sports and Health Committee.

Bergeron is also a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Executive Committee for the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness and currently serves as an Editorial Board member for the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and Journal of Athletic Training. He serves as a clinical and scientific consultant to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Medical Services.

Bergeron has worked with a number of junior, collegiate, and professional athletes on training and nutrition related to preparation, competition, and recovery strategies in the heat, with a particular emphasis on helping athletes to avoid muscle cramping.

Jack Groppel, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized authority and pioneer in the science of human performance, and an expert in fitness and nutrition. Groppel is an adjunct professor of management at the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Groppel authored "The Corporate Athlete" book on achieving the pinnacle of corporate performance and co-authored "The Corporate Athlete Advantage. "He developed the Corporate Athlete® concept for his training program while serving as an associate professor of kinesiology and bioengineering at the University of Illinois helping both business executives and athletes increase performance levels. In 1992, he combined his program with Jim Loehr, Ed.D., to form the Human Performance Institute, formerly LGE Performance Systems Inc.

A Fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine, Groppel is also a board certified nutritionist in the American College of Nutrition and a former Research Associate to the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He currently serves as vice president on the national board of directors of the United States Professional Tennis Association. Groppel served as the chairman of the National Sport Science Committee of the United States Tennis Association for 16 years.

Leslie Allen, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, was a 10-year veteran on the Women's Tennis Association Tour, and is the president and CEO of Game Plan Inc. She achieved a world ranking of No. 17, competed at Wimbledon, and the U.S., French, and Australian Open. In 1981 at the Avon Championships of Detroit, Allen established her place in tennis history as the first African- American woman to win a major tennis event since Althea Gibson's 1958 U.S. Open victory.

She was a member of the University of Southern California's No. 1-ranked national championship tennis team and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in speech communications. Allen wears many hats that include TV broadcaster, corporate spokesperson and journalist. Allen was elected to the WTA board of directors and was a two-time vice president. She was instrumental in drafting rules and regulations for the women's tour, was the WTA spokesperson and liaison between players, corporate sponsors, governing bodies and the media.

At Game Plan Inc., an event marketing, promotions and public relations firm, Allen is the president and CEO. Clients have included: The Arthur Ashe Endowment, Chase Manhattan Bank, Maxim Magazine, Mickey Mantle's Restaurant, National Marrow Donor Program, NYC Parks Foundation, Pyramid Tennis Association, Sehorn's Corner, and the Women's Sports Foundation. In the late 1980s Allen operated Allen Tennis Training Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., a summer residential camp, as well as co-owned and managed Allen's Restaurant in Amelia Island, Fla. She also established the Leslie Allen Foundation, whose mission is to help inner-city youth through tennis develop life skills so they can be productive citizens of the world.

Allen currently resides in New York City with husband Kenneth L. Selmore, president of KLS Financial, and their 6-year-old daughter, Rachel "Hurricane" Selmore.

Sue Burke is a co-owner of F.I.T, which offers year-round tennis and fitness programs. She is the co-founder of the Denver Reebok Urban Youth Academy, the former Tennis Service Rep for the Intermountain Section, and a former USTA Coach for Player Development. Burke designed the tennis kit that is used to promote the health benefits of tennis at the 9 News Health Fairs in the community and classroom and as a board member of the Colorado Governor's Council for Fitness regularly promotes tennis and fitness at events across the state. She is a USTA High Performance Certified Coach and QuickStart Tennis Play Format trainer and is currently developing an after-school tennis program for the local school district. In 2007, Burke received the USPTA Industry Excellence Award and the Sportswomen of Colorado Contribution to Sports Award. She lives in Boulder, Colo.

Dr. Nicholas DiNubile is an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine in private practice in Havertown, Pa. He is the author of the bestselling book, "FrameWork - Your 7 Step Program for Healthy Muscles, Bones & Joints" and is executive producer and host of the award winning national PBS television special, "Your Body's FrameWork." He has served as special adviser to The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and orthopaedic consultant to the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team and Pennsylvania Ballet. He is editor-in-chief of The Physician and Sportsmedicine Journal, chief medical officer of the American Council on Exercise and vice president of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. Dr. DiNubile is a clinical assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and is a national spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. He has been chosen in "Best Doctors in America" and featured on Good Morning America, CNN, HBO Real Sports, National Public Radio, and in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Newsweek, and numerous other publications. He is one of the most quoted doctors in America.

Todd Ellenbecker, DPT, MS, SCS, OCS, CSCS is a physical therapist and clinic director of Physiotherapy Associates Scottsdale Sports Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is the director of sports medicine for the ATP tour. He received his degree in physical therapy from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in 1985 and a master's degree in exercise physiology from Arizona State University in 1989. He completed his doctorate in physical therapy from Massachusetts General Hospital -Institute of Health Professions in 2006. In addition, he is a certified sports clinical specialist, and orthopaedic clinical specialist by the American Physical Therapy Association. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and was awarded the Sports Medicine Professional of the Year in 2003 by the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He is a certified USPTA tennis-teaching professional, and is chairman of the USTA National Sport Science Committee. Ellenbecker is also the national director of clinical research for Physiotherapy Associates. In 2007 he received the Ron Peyton award by the Sports Physical Therapy Section and in 2008 was the recipient of the Samuel Hardy Educational Merit Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Ellenbecker served as the chairman of the APTA's Shoulder Special Interest Group from 1996 to 2002 and is a manuscript reviewer for the American Journal of Sports Medicine and serves on the editorial board of the North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy and Sports Health. He has conducted and published research primarily on upper extremity athletes, as well as shoulder and elbow rehabilitation. He has conducted research on shoulder and elbow rehabilitation, isokinetic exercise application, and musculoskeletal adaptations in elite-level tennis players and overhead athletes, and he has lectured internationally on these topics. He is the author of several books, "The Elbow in Sport," "Complete Conditioning for Tennis," "Closed Kinetic Chain Exercise," "Strength Band Training" and "Clinical Examination of the Shoulder." Ellenbecker lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., with his wife, Gail.

Dr. Brian Hainline is Chief Medical Officer of the United States Tennis Association. In this position, Dr. Hainline develops and oversees medical policies affecting all aspects of the sport, from recreational programs to professional tournaments, with an eye toward promoting and developing the healthy growth of tennis. He also develops and coordinates comprehensive medical practices for the U.S. Open, Davis and Fed Cup competitions, USTA Pro Circuit events, and USTA Elite Player Development athletes. Dr. Hainline was Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships for 16 years. He is chair of the International Tennis Federation Sport Science and Medicine Commission, and serves on the ITF Wheelchair Tennis Medical Commission. Dr. Hainline is Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine, and Chief of Neurology and Integrative Pain Medicine at ProHEALTH Care Associates in Lake Success, N.Y. Dr. Hainline is a lifelong, avid tennis player.

Jim Loehr, Ed.D., is co-founder of the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Fla. He has worked with over 80 world-class tennis players including Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Monica Seles, Gabriela Sabatini, Jim Courier and Sergi Bruguera, as well as with numerous professional golfers from the U.S. and European PGA Tours, including Mark O'Meara and Ernie Els. He has also worked with such hockey greats as Eric Lindros and Mike Richter, basketball stars Nick Anderson and Grant Hill, WBA champion Ray Mancini and Gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen. He is the founding director of Sport Science for the United States Tennis Association. Loehr is also a USPTA Master Professional.

In addition to serving as a monthly contributing editor for World Tennis and Tennis magazines for 10 consecutive years, he has also published a wide variety of training materials, videotapes and audiotapes in the area of mental toughness training and has authored 14 books, which include "The Power of Story" and "The Power of Full Engagement." He is a consistent contributor to a wide variety of sports and business publications. His work has been chronicled in leading national publications including the Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Success, Entrepreneur, Shape, Self and Omni.

Loehr possesses a doctorate and master's degrees in counseling psychology and is listed on the official United States Olympic Committee Registry of Sports Psychologists (approved in both Educational and Clinical). He is a full member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

For his contributions to the game of tennis, Loehr received the International Tennis Hall of Fame's Educational Merit Award. He was inducted into the Colorado Tennis Hall of Fame in 2003, received the Alex Gordon USPTA Pro of the Year award in 2003 and the Plagenhoff Award for contributions in sport science in 1996.

David Robinson, USPTA, ACSM, NSPA, ACE, is an internationally recognized expert in tennis-specific fitness and conditioning. He is on the Tennis Industry Association Cardio Tennis Executive Committee as the fitness and research adviser, and a member of the national Cardio Tennis Speakers Team. Cardio Tennis is offered in over 30 countries and has nearly 2,000 sites in the United States. His articles have been published in ADDvantage magazine, Baselines, Tennis magazine, IDEA Fitness Journal, the Washington Post, and Pro Tennis Magazine with reprints in the Spanish and Japanese editions.

Robinson founded TenniStrength & Fitness in 1990, a company specializing in conditioning elite players, and training other coaches. He has a 20-year background as a tennis-specific fitness specialist. He was certified by the National Sports Performance Association (NSPA) in 1990, where he was named to the faculty in 1993, and the American College of Sports Medicine as a personal trainer and is currently working on his accreditation as a Clinical Exercise Specialist for sports medicine and health condition applications. He is also a member of the American Council on Exercise.

Dr. Thomas Rowland is a pediatric cardiologist at the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., and Professor of Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, and he did his pediatric residency at the University of Colorado Medical Center and Children's Hospital in Denver. His pediatric cardiology fellowship was completed at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston.

Dr. Rowland is editor of Pediatric Exercise Science, a journal devoted to research in this area, and he is the author of several books, including Exercise and Children's Health and Developmental Exercise Physiology. His research interests focus on developmental exercise physiology and preventive cardiology in children. He is past president of the North American Society for Pediatric Exercise Medicine and is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Sports Medicine. He was president of the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine in 1987 and received the honor award from this organization in 1992.

Kathleen Stroia, M.S., P.T., A.T.C., who is a native of Merrillville, Ind., earned a B.A. in sport sciences with an emphasis in athletic training from Purdue University, a M.S. degree in Athletic Training from West Virginia University and a B.S. degree in physical therapy from Chicago Medical School.

In her position as vice president, Stroia is ultimately responsible for the supervision and direction of the Sport Sciences & Medicine and PRO U™ departments and staff (including departmental development, budgets, marketing efforts, setting policy and procedures). As such, she has been responsible for coordinating all health and medical services for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, and the International Tennis Federation Women's Circuit from 1995 through 2003. In her time with the tour, Stroia has developed and expanded the Sport Sciences & Medicine department's individual programs for the Tour, setting standards for tournament physicians, identifying and participating in research projects for tennis, injury prevention, women's health issues and new high performance/sports medicine products. She has also been responsible for the development and implementation of the initiatives of PRO U™. This department is in place to enhance the career performance, safety, fulfillment and longevity of professional women tennis players and is recognized as the leader of such programs in the professional sporting world.

Stroia has served on several committees, including Special Olympics Committee, ITF Medical Commission, Tennis Anti-Doping Committee, WTA Tour Insurance Committee, National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA), Women In Athletic Training Committee, the NATA Public Relations Committee and the USTA Sport Science Committee. Stroia has served on the PRO U™ Advisory Panel (formerly the Professional Development Advisory Panel) since 1994. Also, Stroia has published numerous health articles and gives professional presentations covering various sports medicine topics.

Stroia also enjoys serving as a volunteer for charity events and is on the advisory committee for the WIN4LIFE Foundation. Stroia was named in Tennis Industry magazine as one of the "40 under 40" exceptional talents who will bring tennis into the new century and is a 2007 recipient of the prestigious "Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award" presented by the NATA to those certified athletic trainers who make exceptional contributions to the field. In 2008 Stroia was awarded the International Tennis Hall of Fame Tennis Education Merit Award.

Stella Volpe, Ph. D., R.D., LDN, FACSM, is a nutritionist and exercise physiologist whose research on obesity prevention and related subjects represents more than a decade of consistent funding. Volpe recently began researching the effects of environmental changes to prevent obesity. Her interventions include changing portion sizes in cafeterias and promoting daily physical activity. Volpe is also studying the effect of a low-impact exercise program on weight loss in elderly African-American women. She has also conducted a number of studies on mineral metabolism and how it affects exercise, thyroid hormone function, bone mineral density, and body weight.

Volpe was on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts from 1994 to 2003 and joined the University of Pennsylvania in January 2004. She teaches nursing, issues of nutrition, exercise and fitness. Her many positions at "Penn" include: associate faculty member in the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine, a core member of the Biobehavioral Research Center, an associate scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and co-director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. She also is a faculty member at the Universita Degli Studi Di Roma "Tor Vergata" (in Rome, Italy). Volpe is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a member of the American Dietetic Association and other scientific organizations. She also has been inducted into Delta Omega (Rho Chapter) National Public Health Honor Society and Gamma Beta Phi Honor and Service Organization.

Sophie Woorons-Johnston earned her Ph.D. in sport pedagogy from the University of Georgia. She is a former world-ranked tennis player on the WTA Tour and Clemson University All-American. Woorons-Johnston now owns and manages the Brookstone Meadows Tennis Club in Anderson, S.C. She is a USTA Recreational Coach Workshop National Trainer and a member of the National Cardio Tennis Speakers Team. In 2008 she was named the USPTA South Carolina Female Player of the Year and her facility, Brookstone Meadows, was named South Carolina Club of the Year.