Former University South Alabama men's tennis player Mark Gellard has become a popular face on the professional tennis circuit having worked with a variety of highly regarded players such as Martina Hingis, Nadia Petrova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Danka Kovinic and Melinda Czink. Gellard credits his time at South Alabama for where he is today in his career.
"Had I not played at South Alabama there is no doubt in my mind I would not be where I am today. I started my college career at ECU, a fantastic school and I enjoyed my time there immensely but the professional opportunities available both in the classroom and on the tennis court were not comparable with what South Alabama was able to offer," Gellard said. At the time of my transfer to USA the team were nationally ranked inside the top-15 or 20 in division one and the business program offered was one of the best available. The facilities, coaching, infrastructure and opportunities were second to none and the school is still continuing to grow exponentially so will only get better in the future. Although its cliché the biggest things USA taught me was hard work. I thought I was a hard worker before I came but once being in the competitive environment at USA I really had to reach another level on and off the court."
Gellard, who graduated from USA with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, worked as assistant women's tennis coach under current South head coach Jaco Keyser after his playing career ended with the men's squad, recording a record of 29-13 in two seasons (04-05 and 05-06) with the Jaguars.
"Most athletes have a reasonable idea of their own abilities by the time they reach college and by my sophomore/junior year I was well aware that any hopes I had of making it as a professional player were gone as I simply wasn't good enough," Gellard said. "Tennis is something I have been involved with since I was six and so I wanted to make sure that I remained in the sport. Luckily, I was able to forge a great relationship with then and current women's head coach Jaco Keyser. He was able to offer me the assistant coaching position and I was eager to learn from him as he has vast experience both as a former player and coach. As soon as I began coaching I knew that it was something I was born to do as I enjoyed the thrill of seeing someone else achieve their goals, almost more than I did mine."
Shortly after concluding his time as an assistant coach, Gellard was offered the role of 'hitting' partner for former number one overall player Martina Hingis, who also won five Grand Slam titles. This opportunity opened other avenues for Gellard to capitalize on: "I was very lucky to get the opportunity to work with Martina as it opened up many doors for me, but it was important to keep working hard and improve my coaching techniques."
Gellard has earned the highest coaching qualifications from both the USPTA and PTR and is a certified strength and conditioning coach through the NSCA, Gellard was hired by the Kazakhstan tennis federation where he was reunited with former South Alabama teammate Dias Doskarayev. Doskarayev became Kazakhstan's director of tennis upon graduation from South and hired coach Gellard to help build up the country's tennis program.
"Kazakhstan had a wealth of talent, and being part of their tennis tradition was a privilege. I was proud that I was able to assist several players achieve career high rankings as well as helping some get NCAA scholarships. Also, having the opportunity to work closely with Dias again was an amazing opportunit."
In addition to Gellard's ability to develop players he used his initiative and training methodologies by implementing Kazakhstan's first coaching education program which was designed to increase the overall coaching quality within the country. Gellard still is called on to help coach players in Kazakhstan and speaks at events in the country.
Gellard is currently based in China with Star River team (while continuing to consult for KTF) and for the past several years Mark has been helping guide China's best players to the Olympic Games, Wimbledon, US. Open, Australian Open and Roland Garros.
