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The ace serving pro tennis' stars

Kathleen Stroia, supervisor of WTA trainers, has built a resume by lengthening players' careers.

By DAVE SCHEIBER, Times Staff Writer
Published September 16, 2007

You won't find Kathleen Stroia's name anywhere amid the women's tennis rankings. But to the marquee athletes who draw crowds from one continent to the next, she has always had the winning touch.

Stroia may not be a fellow player, but she's the one who helps keep them in the game.

For the past 14 years, the Tierra Verde resident has shaped and overseen the sports science and medicine operation for the WTA Tour, whose international headquarters is based in downtown St. Petersburg.

In short, Stroia is athletic trainer No. 1 for all of women's pro tennis.

And now she has a national ranking to match - one that reaches well beyond the tennis court.

Stroia was among nine nationwide who recently received the 2007 Most Distinguished Athletic Training Award from the National Athletic Trainers' Association - earning the honor in a field that includes trainers from all pro sports and levels. The award is given to individuals with at least 20 years in the field who have demonstrated leadership, service, innovation and professionalism throughout their careers.

"What's exciting and stimulating about my job is the challenge of providing care to the best athletes in the world," says Stroia, 46. "It's one of the opportunities I really cherish."

Going the distance

Stroia's efforts go hand in hand with Roadmap 2010, unveiled last year by tour CEO Larry Scott. The program will actually launch in '09 and, among other things, shorten the long, draining season and streamline player commitments to top events in an effort to stem withdrawals due to injuries.

"Our season is 11 months long because we have 60 tournaments in 22 different countries," Stroia says. "With Roadmap 2010, the tour leadership really looked at providing a healthy calendar for the athletes. Increasing the offseason, so more rest and recovery can take place, allows for better preparation of the players."

One of her innovations is Pro U, an initiative that complements Stroia's sports and medicine department. The program - Professional University with a double meaning of "pro you" - is geared to teaching athletes ways to enhance career longevity, health and well-being.

"Pro U is the educational institution of the tour," she says. "Many of our educational programs are built on a scientific premise where we study growth and development. It's about bringing information to the right places at the right times."

Stroia spent the first four of her 18 years with the WTA as a trainer. Now she supervises a staff of 17 certified athletic trainers/physical therapists, 10 of whom are full time. "We call them primary health-care providers, and they go all over the world," she says. The staff numbers 27, counting massage therapists, medical advisers, sports science advisers and Pro U.

"I feel it's my responsibility and one of my great joys to bring the evidence-based advancements in sports medicine to the sport of tennis," she says.

Stroia is also proud of the extensive mentoring program that helps young players learn important coping skills from tour veterans, and new trainers gain skills and knowledge by working with experienced health-care providers.

She credits the origins to a legend of the tour, Billie Jean King. "Billie Jean is the historian of that program, and has been instrumental in teaching us so many lessons about mentoring and giving back," Stroia says. "She's also been a key mentor of mine."

A healthy background

In a way, Stroia's first mentor was her father, Dr. George Stroia, supervisor of health education services for the Gary, Ind., school system. He hired the first trainer in the school system and also served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under John F. Kennedy.

Later, he became chair of the health, physical education and recreation department at Chicago State University. Her brother John and sister Mary received master's degrees in athletic administration, with John becoming a basketball coach at the college level and Mary a high school physical education teacher. Mom Rose has cheered them all on.

"I knew I wanted to be an athletic trainer and into sports medicine," Stroia says. She earned her degree in the field at Purdue, where she learned everything she could from head athletic trainer William "Pinky" Newell, a founder of the national association, and his successor, Denny Miller, a past association president.

She later earned her master's in athletic training at West Virginia and got her physical therapy degree at Chicago Medical School. Upon graduating, one of her former professors called. He'd heard about a trainer's position opening up with the WTA and recommended her.

"I interviewed for the job and a week later got a phone call asking if I could work the U.S. Open, because one of their therapists couldn't make it," she says. "So I did that and I knew it was custom-made for me."

After four years, Stroia was promoted to head of the operation. At the time, in 1994, there was concern about too many young players leaving the game because of burnout. One of Stroia's first moves was to bring together a panel of sports science and medical professionals to study the issue. The panel's work resulted in an age-eligibility rule change: Players were required to be 14, not 13, to turn pro, with their dose of tournaments monitored up to age 18.

In 2004, Scott directed Stroia and her panel to conduct a review, and their findings were encouraging.

"We met our charge and we decreased burnout from over 7 percent to less than 1 percent and also increased career longevity by 25 percent," she says.

"Kathleen has great passion for what she does," Scott says, "and one of the reasons she's so good is that she takes a broad view of an athlete's career."

And that's of particular importance in women's tennis.

"We have a grueling, long season that overtaxes the players, and injuries are very much an issue in women's tennis," Scott says. "If we can't have our players healthy and out there and doing their best, and able to show up where they're advertised to play, that runs the risk of undermining the product. So I take great comfort and pride in the fact that Kathleen is heading up that area for us - and is recognized as a leader in the field."

Chuck Kimmel, president of the National Athletic Trainers' Association, says Stroia "is an innovator who embodies everything our organization stands for."

Her old mentor, King, is equally pleased.

"Kathleen is always in the pursuit of excellence for the players to have a better quality of life, and to be able to sustain their careers," she says. "And she's also very good to the staff, her team."

In addition, Stroia's award represents a plus for women's sports. "When you get to sports, women are absolutely an afterthought," King says. "You'd never think that the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's primary health care for the players would be the best in sports, people wouldn't even go there. But it's such an important priority. And Kathleen is always coming up with the cutting edge stuff, like Pro U and the mentoring program."

King remembers the many hours she spent with Stroia, trying to figure out how to make things better for the players.

"Kathleen is the mastermind behind of all of it," King says. "She's brilliant and I'm glad her creativity and pursuit of excellence has been recognized."

From one No. 1 to another.

Dave Scheiber can be reached at scheiber@sptimes.com or 727 893-8541.

[Last modified September 15, 2007, 23:09:39]