History

Work History

Ted Meekma's career closely mirrors the evolution of the 'camp' business into the 'academy' industry. As a 16 yr. old in Wisconsin, he began working as a summer tennis camp coach for Nick Bollettieri. The day after graduating from college in 1978, he moved to Florida to work as a fulltime coach for Bollettieri, and was a member of his staff when the now legendary Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy opened its doors in Sept. 1978. For the next 30 years, Meekma would play a crucial role in the growth and development of what would eventually become IMG Academies, the world's #1 multi-sport, training and education, camp and academy.

In 1980, Ted went back to school to further his legal/business education, earning his law degree in 1983. This milestone also marked the end of a very successful 10 yr. coaching career during which he trained many highly ranked juniors, collegians, NCAA All-Americans, the 1982 NCAA Doubles Champions and numerous top ATP and WTA tour professionals. Officially 'off the court,' Meekma turned his full attention to the business side of sport and became the Executive Director of the NBTA in Bradenton, FL in mid-1983.

He continued in this capacity throughout the 80's, and helped the Bollettieri team establish the NBTA as the most dominant training academy in the sport of tennis. In 1987, Ted helped negotiate the sale of the NBTA business to sports management giant IMG. In 1990, he relocated to IMG's headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. While working to better integrate the international resources of IMG and the unique abilities of NBTA, Meekma became exposed to IMG's golf business. He worked with IMG's international consulting team on a variety of club/resort projects; he supervised the worldwide growth of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy (DLGA) site network; he also helped manage the representation of both Nick Bollettieri and David Leadbetter.

Ted returned to Bradenton in 1994 when the Academy started its expansion down the multi-sport path with the launch of the first junior golf academy-the DLGA program-alongside the NBTA business. For the next 14 yrs. Meekma would co-pioneer the design, development and management of what came to be called IMG Academies (IMGA), which emerged as the standard by which all other commercial sports training programs strive to be measured.

When Ted left the Academy in Dec. 2008, it was as Senior Vice President IMG and Director IMG Academies. By that time, the 300 acre IMGA campus had grown to encompass the NBTA, the DLGA, the Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, and Swimming Academies, the International Performance Institute, the Pendleton School, the Wellness Spa, residential and rental condominiums, and the IMGA Golf and Country Club.

Meekma formed Ted Meekma Consult in Jan. 2009. Its mission is to provide commercial sports training/recreation facility, programming, marketing and operational consultation to a select number of U.S. and international clients on a hands-on, personalized basis.

Expertise

Ted's comprehensive experience has honed his business skills in the following areas: facility planning, programming, marketing, promotion, public relations, sales development, endorsements, managing international affiliates, divisional liaising, merchandising, licensing, consulting, branding, and contract negotiations.

From 1978-2008, Meekma negotiated every endorsement contract secured by NBTA and eventually the other IMGA sports as well. This included sponsorship deals with Nike, adidas, Titleist, Callaway, Gatorade, Polo, Prada, Prince, Penn, Head, Donnay, Volkl, Gamma, Rawlings, Under Armour, Reebok, Kwik Goal, etc.

In addition, Ted negotiated licensing/consulting deals for IMGA in India, Dubai, Canada, Thailand and in the U.S., and supervised the management of an international network of up to 20 DLGA club/resort sites (and numerous NBTA camps and satellite locations) throughout his three decade career.