In 1978, Nick
Bollettieri founded
the Nick Bollettieri
Tennis Academy, a
full-time tennis
boarding school
dedicated to
preparing students
for college within
an environment that
combines intense
tennis training with
a specially designed
academic curriculum.
Over the next two
decades, the NBTA
became world famous
as players like
Agassi, Courier,
Seles, Becker,
Kournikova, Haas,
The Williams
sisters, and
countless more
trained with Nick at
the NBTA...Book Nick
Bollettieri for Your
Even
In addition to
becoming the best
known and most
successful tennis
coach in the world,
Bollettieri created
the "business model"
for the camp/academy
training experience.
Short Time weeks and
Holiday/Summer camp
sessions make the
"Academy"
environment
available to
students of all ages
and abilities. By
combining
specialized
performance
(fitness) training
and mental
conditioning
programming with the
technical training
on court, the
Bollettieri team
builds athletes who
thrive in the
competitive arena.
In other words, the
NBTA produces
players who could
play, rather than
just players who
look great hitting a
ball. As a result,
Nick and the NBTA
dominates tennis
training.
In
the mid-1980's, Nick
Bollettieri and his
long-time management
team of Ted Meekma
and Greg Breunich
decided that to
continue to develop
and expand, a
strategic
affiliation was
required. A sports
management/marketing
company with
international
connections and
internal financial
expertise was the
missing piece of the
puzzle. In September
1987, Bob Kain and
IMG entered the
picture and acquired
the NBTA. And, the
Bollettieri, NBTA
and IMG
"partnership" has
not looked back
since...
Throughout the late
80's and early 90's,
the NBTA cemented
its international
position at the top
of the
tennis-training
world. Despite this
domination, the
gradual decline in
tennis participation
worldwide was
eventually felt at
the NBTA as well. So
in 1994, Nick, Ted
and Greg presented
IMG with a plan to
expand the NBTA into
a multi-sport
training environment
featuring golf (with
David Leadbetter and
the David Leadbetter
Golf Academy),
soccer, baseball and
sport-specific
performance training
(The International
Performance
Institute). Thus,
the second phase of
the "Bollettieri
Evolution" was born
- The Bollettieri
Sports Academy (BSA).
