Collaboration and idea sharing between players associations across sport is an invaluable way to advance players associations’ shared goal of safeguarding athlete well-being. In this spirit, the NBA Players Association (NBPA) recently hosted its second-annual Performance Summit at The Sanctuary in Andalucia, Spain, providing a forum for top athletes, executives, and thought leaders in the sports industry to gather and discuss the latest advancements in sports performance and technology.
The two-day event featured a variety of programming and speakers, including Wajid Mir, the PTPA’s Executive Vice President of Player Engagement. Wajid joined the panel Workload Issues Across Sports: What Are We Doing to Protect Players? alongside fellow leaders Stephania Bell (ESPN), Alexander Bielefeld (FIFPRO Director of Global Policy & Strategy Relations), and Boki Nachbar (ELPA Managing Director). The panel explored the latest research and advancements around athlete health, injuries, and workload management.
Bringing Tennis and Basketball Together
Wajid has spent the past 20+ years of his career working to support professional athletes. As the PTPA’s EVP of Player Engagement, he oversees player relations initiatives and day-to-day engagement with players, their families and support teams. Earlier in his career, Wajid worked with various NBA players as an agent. With his extensive work across professional tennis players and professional basketball players, Wajid has seen firsthand how issues like workload management are universal across sport, and how players associations play a crucial role in safeguarding players.
How Players Associations Protect Players
With tennis’ intense season scheduling, match scheduling, and travel demands, Wajid was able to share his unique perspective on player welfare concerns in tennis and what the PTPA is doing to understand and address these concerns.
The PTPA has stepped up its commitment to players’ holistic health by launching numerous new player services and programs throughout 2024, including its groundbreaking medical network program, PTPA MedNet. The first-of-its-kind program, led by recently-appointed PTPA Medical Director Dr. Robby Sikka, provides tennis players and their teams with 24/7, on-demand access to health and wellness support regardless of where they are in the world. Players can leverage PTPA MedNet for a variety of needs such as preliminary medical opinions, independent secondary medical opinions, medical record reviews, recommendations for qualified doctors and physical therapists around the world, injury prevention strategies, treatment plans, return-to-play strategies, and more. In addition, the PTPA is conducting in-depth research and analyses on player health trends, injury rates, and risk factors to better inform its advocacy efforts. As indicated in the PTPA Principles, the PTPA is 100% committed to safeguarding players’ welfare, including their physical and mental health.
Learning From and Collaborating With Global Thought Leaders
Not only was Wajid able to share his knowledge and shed light on the PTPA’s efforts – he was also able to learn from and collaborate with other industry leaders from across sports and around the world. When players associations work together and share their learnings and best practices, it benefits everyone, from the organizations to the players and ultimately to the sport as a whole.