Mark Spann

Mark Spann is a the Director of Tennis at the Upper Dublin Sports Center. Spann coached on the ATP tour from 1997 - 2001 including Wimbledon and the US Open. He has trained over 150 Former Students Athletes that have played for notable Universities such as Brown, Tennessee, William and Mary, Penn, Santa Barbara, as well as Williams and Amherst college to name a few. He is a USTA Player Development coach and former Chairman of the Middle USTA Coaches Commission.

Mark Spann was first drawn to tennis because of it’s individuality. As a child he learned about the game and developed his skills from his mother, a Wimbledon Champion. As the 7-year-old practiced in his backyard and began to take lessons at the local club, attaining a ranking within the top ten in Africa by the end of his junior career was an accomplishment well deserved.

Although Spann was exposed to many different sports early in his life, he knew that coaching and playing tennis was what he wanted to do.At 17 years old, after graduating from boarding school, he honed in on tennis competition and set foot into the professional arena, the satellite circuits. Spann realized quite quickly, after performing at a high level, that he had a passion for helping others learn the sport rather than competing as a player. Pursuing his coaching career, at 18, he was the youngest in South Africa to receive a coaching certification.

While he coached he also competed. Spann moved to the United States where he played for National Champions Tyler Junior College in Texas. Here he received an associates degree in Tennis Technology from an institution that ranked as the top elite educational tennis program in the country that specialized in various teaching methodologies.

After college Mark’s coaching background continued to expand. He quickly became the Tennis Director at the Julian Krinsky School of Tennis, which received a rating of 4th best tennis institution from 1986 to 2008. He has extensive experience training players to compete at a professional level and for five years in the summers between 1997 and 2001, he traveled on the tour with Jason Weir-Smith and Katie Schlukebir. In 2009 Mark partnered with Victor Urzua to create a tennis legacy at Upper Dublin Sports Club where he is able to continue educating players on the different aspects of the game. Together Victor and Mark created Tennis Match Academy which was recently featured on CBS news.