Kathy Martin is a mental health counselor and sports physiotherapist with twenty-five years experience in sports and tennis. She joined the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1991 as a sport physiotherapist. She is currently the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Player Welfare Officer and Senior Director of Athlete Assistance for the WTA. In her current roles Martin is responsible for overseeing the ITF’s and WTA’s strategies regarding the safety, security and well-being of players. Martin develops and administers ITF and WTA player, player support team and staff education programs relevant to safety, security and abuse.
SZ: What sports did you participate in growing up? What was your highest level of competitive involvement?
KM: That question really interests me because I am not an athlete. It makes me laugh. I am Australian and played field hockey during secondary school and I did play tennis but I wasn’t on the tennis team at school. I pursued tennis for awhile but unfortunately didn’t have the talent and also had a short sightedness problem that was impacting my ability to play. But I did play field hockey right through school and was on school teams although I never progressed further than that. At University I took up running and I continue to run to this day. I’ve kept active all my life but I was never going to be a world beating athlete. I love playing tennis. I still dip in and out of it. I also like playing golf but I very rarely get to do either of these things (tennis or golf) so it’s an ambition of mine for when I retire to take them both up properly. It’s a time thing and when I am not at home it’s very difficult to engage in a sport on a regular basis which is why I’ve stuck to things like running and yoga because I can fit them into my traveling lifestyle.
SZ: How did you become involved with the WTA?
KM: In 1988 the new facility where the Australian Open is played, in Melbourne Park opened. Prior to that the Australian Open was played at the lovely Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. In the days the Australian Open was played at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club the women’s draw was made up of sixty-four players. In 1988 when the tournament moved to Melbourne Park the women’s main draw was extended to one hundred and twenty-eight players, same as the men’s draw. The WTA at that time provided a certified athletic trainer to attend the Australian Open, but as the draw size doubled they needed another physiotherapist to work during the tournament. The physiotherapist who worked the tournament knew me and at that time I was working as the physiotherapist for the Australian Ballet Company, the Australian Ballet School and the Victorian College of the Arts, which was another main dance school in Melbourne.
During January when the Australian Open is held is a time when the dance companies are on holiday and he knew I was probably taking time off from my work with the ballet and he rang me to find out if I would be interested in working at the Australian Open. I jumped at the chance. I’ve always been an avid tennis fan and have memories as a child of watching Evonne Goolagong and the other great Australian players.
So I began working the Australian Open in 1988 and was asked back twice more and in 1991 I presume the players and WTA were happy with my work because they asked me to start traveling to events and it grew from there. When the WTA offered me a full time position in 1996 I took it and and haven’t left since. It’s been an interesting journey.
SZ: You’ve seen so much expansion in the WTA in every dimension of the organization. In 2009 the ITF announced your appointment as ITF Player Welfare Officer. The supportive tips and articles found on the ITF Player Welfare page is an excellent resource for players. What is your role and the goal of being involved with the ITF?
KM: The ITF position is a part of my overall position. It’s not a full time job on its own. When the WTA formalized the Athlete Assistance Program in 2007 I began solely working in Athlete’s Assistance. That position was developed after we began a working group in 2006 that included the ITF to look at if we were providing enough structure around player safety and well being. We discovered that the structure that we had in place at the WTA was solid but we wanted to expand on that base. Subsequent to my physiotherapy training I had gone back to school and completed a graduate diploma in Adolescent Health and Welfare, also a Master’s Degree in Counseling.
SZ: Which is very important insight for the work you do.
KM: It’s important and I am qualified to do it. The ITF began looking at a similar kind of role (Athlete Assistance) and they searched for awhile to find someone suitable to fill their position but they came back to me because in the tennis universe I was probably one of the few people with this kind of expertise and understanding of the environment and structure of the organizations involved. My work with the ITF is to help them provide policies and procedures around Athlete Welfare and Player Well-Being. Also guidance for best practices that have been researched world wide and to put into place appropriate programs at the ITF level.
SZ: Does this include parental seminars and coach seminars?
KM: The ITF has a number of different departments which you can see if you go to their website. The main difference between the job I perform with the WTA and ITF is I don’t have direct player contact with the ITF because it’s a much larger universe of people. My job with the ITF is to put some structure around providing information for players and their support teams through things we’ve made available. For example, having some Player Welfare input in coaching education which is something we are just beginning to do now. Some of the resources are made available publicly and other resources are available for players only. The aim is to get information filtering all the way down to the juniors. The ITF junior department is very robust in it’s educational program and we have education through the ITF junior school which is an on-line resource. I also do in person education at ITF junior symposiums. The materials we create for the symposiums are a bit like train the trainer. Other people will take that material and deliver it to other parts of the world. My main purpose at these symposiums is to create the materials and educate people I know who are out in the field on the ITF level. They make sure that players and their teams are aware of the information and can access the material.
SZ: So your role is to contact the providers and create structure to disseminate the materials that are of value to players, parents, coaches, support teams.
KM: Yes, and I do that through the different ITF departments. Because the ITF is a member organization and its members are the Federations by providing information through a variety of ITF departments they can make sure that the information is dispersed. For example, if a coach is attending an ITF coach course there will be an element of Player Welfare in that course. Another example is a few years ago I spoke at a world wide coaches conference where there were seven hundred coaches present. They then can disseminate the information back to their Federation.
SZ: Main stream audiences follow the biggest names in tennis but there are many levels of players competing and working to have their chance of breaking into the top 200 in the world. What are some common stressors mental/physical you’ve seen through the years for players/coaches? Do you see a shift in the types of mental/physical stressors for players/coaches or do you consider it a natural result of tougher competition and more players competing for spots?
KM: In 1994 the WTA conducted a comprehensive review which formed the foundation for the WTA Age Eligibility Rule and complementary player development programs. The WTA then followed up that research again in 2004 to see if those programs had an impact and we found indeed they had. We found that there was a shift in the stressors that were originally identified in 1994. The stresses had shifted from more external factors such as media, family, and loneliness to things that were more directly sport related that you would expect to see in any professional sport such as injuries, competition, traveling, those kind of things. So the programs implemented were directly targeted at the stresses that were identified early on and we have continued to expand and grow those programs. Athlete Assistance actually grew out of the original player development programs. We do lots of behind the scenes work with our athletes and at the WTA level we have an orientation for players under 18, their parent(s) and coach. We have an on-line series of mandatory lessons for these players, parents and coaches which provide a grounding in what the WTA is, how the different departments operate, where to go to get help, and then we provide practical training around those lessons.
The rookie players meet with me so I get a feel of where they are coming from and what sort of things are going on for that young person at the time when she’s stepping into the WTA. The WTA programs are very specific to the environment and targeted specifically to the stresses identified based on research and we are constantly working to improve that. Thankfully the digital age has provided a new means of getting information out to athletes around the world and a way of directly meeting with people.
SZ: Let’s say if a young player starts on the WTA and they are playing international level or qualifying events do you follow-up with the players after they’ve completed the orientation and their parent and coach have taken the on-line courses? Do you check back to see how they are doing? Or is it up to them to to go forward from there?
KM: It’s a bit of both. We have a lot of players who may receive a wild card on the WTA but are still building their ranking up at the ITF level so we don’t see them for a period of time. I will still make an effort to check in with those athletes. The WTA has a sort of front of house department called Player Relations and they are pretty much at all the events no matter what level. One of their jobs is to just be the friendly person that the player can come and ask questions of and they will direct players and their support teams to appropriate resources.
All the WTA teams really do that in many ways because we communicate with each other and we are all concerned that we are having a positive impact on people’s personal, professional and tennis development. After I meet with a rookie player I will tell them to expect that I will probably approach them again. Obviously the ones that make it to the upper levels will be playing more regularly on the WTA and I will interact with them more. Over time as people grow up and become adults and make their own decisions, then it’s like any other service we provide, the athletes are at liberty to choose which parts of the various programs they want to interact with.
SZ: What basic advice/guidelines do you have for players/coaches/parents regarding a player’s mental/physical maturity before attempting a professional playing career?
KM: This is the focus of the Age Eligibility Rule. The Age Eligibility Rule mandates a certain amount of play at different ages as a maximum. It’s not a target to be hit. Rather, it eases people into the environment so they’re getting a graduated increase in play commiserate with their performance . Along the way they are obligated to participate in player development education programs in order to progress to the next stage. The rule reflects that it’s a very tough and very adult world. There’s a lot more money in the environment than there ever used to be and along with that there is a lot more media scrutiny. It’s a digital age and players are now exposed through social media not just print journalism. Attention might be coming at a player in many different ways and the WTA would advise any player, parent, coach to take their time. The rules we have are structured around performance based merited increases which we see is a much more sustainable way of participating in the game than giving a player who might be identified as being of incredible talent at a young age a whole lot of wild cards into tournaments. Winning at every level (qualifying tournaments, Pro Circuit tournaments etc.) is the preferred course. When I talk to the juniors at the ITF level I often ask them, “Who wants to play on the professional circuit?” Well a hundred out of a hundred will put their hand up. But the reality is that five out of that one hundred might get there. Providing a little bit of reality to that junior level is important as I encourage them that tennis is a great life sport and that they can participate in tennis in many ways.
Of course they want to play well and to participate at a younger age is fantastic for them when there is a healthy structure and environment around that and that’s what we are trying to facilitate. It’s important that players play through a draw and are able to win in the juniors. Then they get the experience of doing that again on the pro circuit.
SZ: If an agent has a young adult that is a hot prospect and wants the player out there is there some push-pull over WTA rules versus their wants? Or are the rules pretty clear?
KM: The rules are clear. That’s not to say that the rules are not sometimes discussed at length. But the rules are very clear and the good thing is the WTA can back up those rules with evidence gathered through the 2004 Age Eligibility Rule review. Pre-mature retirements of WTA players prior to the age of twenty-two dropped from 7% to less than 1%. It’s statistically significant. The review also showed that players after factoring in advances in racket technology and better training methods etc. are remaining 24% longer on the WTA than they were previously. A WTA player is 73% more likely to have a fifteen year career compared with when we first looked at the statistics.
Two recent Grand Slam winners have been either thirty years old or close to it. (Italian player, Francesca Schiavone, thirty years old at the time won the French Open Singles in 2010, and Li Na from China, twenty-nine years old at the time she won the French Open Singles in 2011). In the past people perhaps felt if their daughter hadn’t made it by the time she’s twenty years old she was all washed up. That’s no longer the case and the research can back that up with actual data. That’s a fantastic shift. We want these women to have a long and as fruitful a playing career as they deserve. Part of that longevity is through physical/mental health and I believe that the WTA has a very competent and highly skilled science and medicine team who travel to all the tournaments.
SZ: Do you travel with the WTA week to week? Describe a typical day of your professional duties during a Grand Slam event?
KM: No I don’t travel week to week on the WTA. I very much have to apply my own rules to myself. It’s all about balance, resilience and recovery. Being able to withstand the rigors of the traveling and traveling life is not easy. I normally work at bigger draw size events because there is a higher target number of athletes who are around. For example prior to a Grand Slam event there is a qualifying event and often we may get a lot of younger players attending. Also Grand Slam events have junior Grand Slam events at the same location. There may be some juniors to whom we are reaching out to and those tournaments are good catchment areas to be at.
For example recently I was at BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA then traveled to Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open. Both of these tournaments are big draw sizes. So that means I am going to be more effective at being available for the players and their support teams at these events. I do travel to most continents where there are WTA tournaments so I’m not targeting one particular demographic.
In between when I’m home I’m available for players if they need to talk to me. I am available via e-mail, Skype and phone.
A typical day at a tournament is hard to define. It looks different every day. However, for example before I arrive at an event I’ve got a copy of the entry list. I know who is eighteen and under, and who is participating in the tournament. From those lists I can work out which players I know and which players I’ve not met with. If they are in the rookie program they have to meet with me. If they are not in the rookie program but I haven’t met them I still try to reach out to them even if they are twenty-five or twenty-six years old. These players may have been in college and are just beginning to play on the WTA. I sit down and meet them and make sure they know what resources my department can offer them, and where to get help should they need it.
My day will consist of players coming to find me because they want to talk to me about something. I try to remove any stigma associated with being a mental health counselor. I have an open door policy. If my door is open I don’t mind if a player just pops in to have coffee or just say hello. If at a tournament location my office is tucked away where coaches and others can’t get to me easily, I’ll spend time in the players lounge talking to players and their support team. My day at a tournament is really a mixed bag of activities.
SZ: If you assess that a player could benefit from talking with a mental health provider do you provide a referral for the player back in their own country? Obviously if there is a crisis you have crisis management protocols in place. But if it’s not a crisis do you then suggest referrals?
KM: Very good question. Yes, I make that very clear to players because from time to time they will come to see me about issues and I am qualified as a counselor but I cannot run a clinic on the road. In the process of talking with players if I detect that they are going to need more extensive or specialized help, absolutely I have a fairly good international network of health providers in most countries. Through the Athlete Assistance provider we use I can also access other referrals. So yes, that is part of my job and the good thing about having me in that position is that I can help a player identify the right fit for them. I can get quite specific about the type of therapist that I am looking for and as much as possible try to provide that contact. It’s challenging sometimes because we get players from an amazing collection of places. But I’ve got a very good network of people who assist me.
SZ: What are the most enjoyable aspects of your job?
KM: I like helping young women succeed in what they desire to do. Part of the challenge, as it can be for many people, is dealing with emotional stress and related issues such as the complex dynamics of the people around the athletes, then I like being able to help people with that. I enjoy learning from all the young women that I meet. They come from such eclectic, diverse educational, cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Their life stories are often fascinating and I’ve always enjoyed that. I love learning about people’s home countries. I enjoy traveling or I wouldn’t still be doing this job after all this time. I love seeing different places. I just think that people are amazing and I love working with the human condition. I look for similarities in people. At the end of the day we are all human beings and these young athletes are incredibly gifted young women. It’s a privilege to work with such gifted people who are often highly intelligent, highly articulate, often highly creative. It’s extraordinary to me what some of these young women are able to achieve and I find that stimulating and exciting. There are days when I go home and think, “Oh my goodness” but that’s why I need to keep my own balance. I try to exercise when I am on the road and I have fun. I have good friends that I work with and that’s another bonus of the job.
SZ: You’ve been with the WTA quite awhile and seen a lot. Do you have any favorite quotes, stories or tips that help influence your professional prospective?
KM: I have always been on the balance and recovery bus. People who become injured need to take time to re-evaluate and even if that means time out I think we can all pay attention to that. Trying to avoid becoming so swept up that I’m working constantly and that is a challenge for us all I think. Human beings have feelings and I work with that every single day. When young athletes are quite driven and maybe perfectionist and place high expectations on themselves, it’s okay that they are human beings too. I think that’s something we can all stop for moment and remember because we have much more in common than we have apart.
SZ: Kathy thank you so very much for taking time out of your busy schedule for talking with me about your job at the WTA. The tour has made amazing changes over the years.
*Featured guests are not current nor former clients of Susan Zaro
