Academy Founder Mark Weil
WEIL ACADEMY OPENS IN 1997 AS FIRST BOARDING TENNIS ACADEMY
IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES!
Every Academy starts with a dream. Weil Academy Founder Mark Weil had a few dreams throughout his life. Like many kids, he dreamed of being a professional athlete, initially in American football and then in tennis.
Later, he dreamed of being a theater actor and director, founding and serving as Managing Director of the Stillwater Theater Company in Manhattan from 1987 to 1992. But the dream he settled on, and the one he built his life around, was to open a tennis academy dedicated to supporting the next generation of junior tennis players to play US college tennis.
“I wanted to separate Weil Academy from other tennis academies. I wanted us to be unique, and I wanted us to be more authentic as a training program, and so I decided our mission at Weil was going to be preparing our students for College Tennis, as I had such an incredible experience playing college tennis,” said Weil, who played college tennis at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. “After visiting a couple of academies in Florida, I realized that they were all talking to me about pro tennis, and yet I felt like the coaches there knew that was a dream that really wasn’t going to be a reality for most of their players. I felt like they weren’t really being authentic with their parents and students, and they were using that dream of pro tennis to just sell the kids on coming to their academy.”
Mark Weil competing as a Junior!
Weil Grad & UCLA All American Maxime Cressy ( Top 35 ATP)!
Starting that dream and opening the Weil Tennis Academy is one thing. Building it up to be one of the premiere tennis academies in the world is a whole other thing. To understand exactly how the Academy succeeded though, simply look at Weil’s own journey – one that was anything but linear. A football player growing up, Weil found tennis late, first playing at the age of 14 with his father in New Orleans.
“What I loved about it at the start, is that it was something that I started to do with my Dad. It was something that my Dad and I started to go do, we would just go hit tennis balls together,” Weil said. “I really, really enjoyed the time that I had just hitting with him on the court, and that led to, ‘Hey, I think I’d like to get better at this.’” And then I caught the tennis fever and I wanted to master the game, be a great tennis player! I thought being a great tennis player was the coolest thing in the world! ”
Coming late to competitive tennis, Weil played his first USTA tournament as a 15-year-old. And he was admittedly awful.
“I couldn’t hit a backhand over the net, I double-faulted 24 times, I threw up before the match I was so nervous. And I lost 6-0, 6-0 in a very short time, but something else happened … I fell in love with tennis that day. I became a tennis player,” Weil recalled. “I couldn’t imagine anything cooler than that. So, I cried a little after the match, then stood up, gritted my teeth and vowed to the Heavens to work my butt off to get good enough to come back and beat this kid who had crushed me that day…. A big chip on my shoulder was born that day and it’s motivated me my whole life to continue to improve, to get better and better in every way.”
Mark interviews Rod “The Rocket” Laver—2017 Ojai Tournament.
Mark & International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin at The Ojai!
Eventually Weil did improve, enough to attend and play Division 1 College Tennis at what was then called Northeast Louisiana University, now known as the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM). During college, Mark discovered a love of theater as well, acting in several productions while balancing his classroom and tennis team responsibilities – even winning Best Actor at ULM in 1980 for his role as The Boy in the musical production of The Fantasticks.
After graduating college, Mark moved to New York City to enroll in a top acting conservatory, The Neighborhood Playhouse, where he studied with future Academy Award winner Alison Janney, and many other prominent television and Broadway actors, writers and producers. Upon completing his studies at the Playhouse, Weil began coaching tennis in New York City.
“Consciously, I needed a job. I had just graduated from The Playhouse… and I really didn’t want to work in a restaurant again,” he said. “I didn’t want to work full time in an office, as I needed to have some flexibility to go on auditions, so I really thought I was just going to coach part-time until I got a job as an actor.”
But the more lessons and clinics he coached, the more he realized how much he still loved the game.
“That summer, as I started coaching, I had one adult that I started coaching one-on-one. As I was talking about hitting a forehand, I got goosebumps – telling him how to hit the forehand, and how your racquet is an organic extension of your arm,” Weil said. “I realized it is an extension of my heart, really. It’s just, it’s part of who I am. And I realized then that tennis will always be really important to me. It’s a big part of my life, even though I didn’t really ever expect to be in tennis for the rest of my life.”
2025 Weil Grad Andra Braicu to Harvard!
The Fabulous Weil Academy Class of 2025!
Mark and his wife Jane, who was a professional Broadway stage manager at the time, met while working in children’s theater in New York City, got married in 1991, and moved to Los Angeles in 1993. Despite coaching 50/50 adults and juniors in New York, Weil found himself quickly leading a High Performance training program for top So Cal Juniors at Mountain Gate Country Club in Brentwood.
“We had just arrived in LA in May of ‘93, and I got the job (at Mountain Gate) in late June. But by November of that year, I’m the head of the program, and I was really loving it,” Weil said. “I started hiring staff, putting brochures together, doing the marketing, putting the T-shirts together, and really, putting the entire program together…. I started to handle all the finances too, so it was like I was running a small business at that point, even though it wasn’t mine.”
It wasn’t until two years later though that Mark really started thinking seriously about opening his own full time academy.
“After we (my wife Jane and I) had our first child, Jack, I started to look at life differently, and I realized just about a month after he was born, that I didn’t want to stay in Los Angeles and raise our family there. I wanted to do something even more challenging and even more special in my life,” Weil said. “I had fallen in love with Ojai on a couple of trips up here to go hiking with friends. I loved the Ojai Valley so much that when i had the idea to start my own Academy, I ended up doing more research into Ojai, and found out that there were five boarding schools in the Ojai Valley, and that Ojai had an incredible tennis tournament with this 100 year history, that all of the greatest American players had played in The Ojai. I just thought “Tennis and Boarding School “, and, Voila, I believed that a tennis boarding school sounded like it could work.”
Weil’s 28th Graduating Class!
Another Ojai Tournament Champion!
When the Weil Tennis Academy doors first swung open in June of 1997, it was the first and only full-time Boarding School and Tennis Academy program on the entire US West Coast. Initially, Weil said his goal was simply to “get to the next day, get to the next week, get to the next semester, and then get to the next summer camp.”
About seven years into the program though, the tides started to turn, and the success of the Academy became less and less of an uphill battle. Weil said those first seven years were eye-opening, in part because of some of the mistakes he made. Mistakes that he made sure not to repeat, a skill he learned in large part because of what sports taught him.
“What I learned as a tennis player, especially as a young athlete, was that losing was a motivating force, not a devastating force…. It was a mindset that I had developed – that I don’t really care about losing. I’m going to still fight to make it work and to be successful,” Weil said. “Tennis teaches you that, because you play so many matches, and you lose a lot…. No matter how brilliant you are, you’re going to lose some. It’s a cliche, but if you really look at why you lost, you can learn from that and come out a stronger, smarter player the next match.”
Weil’s International Coaching Staff : Best in the World!
Placing our Weil Students into US College is Mark’s passion!
As every athlete learns, no one wins alone – even in a stereotypically “individual” sport like tennis. Building the Weil coaching team was as important as any step, and while Mark said he made some early mistakes in hirings, eventually he found the perfect team to enact his vision.
“I started to identify these people that were team players first. They loved being part of a team, like I do. I also wanted competitive people, as you’ve got to compete at all times to be the best, and take a lot of pride and ownership in what you’re doing. I feel like I’ve got that with my current coaching staff, they’re really focused on making it about the kids and their success,” he said. “I feel like I’ve lived that, and I feel like we found that here at the academy. I cannot imagine any other Academy like this that has a group as close as my coaching staff.”
A key ingredient in the success of the coaching staff has been Head Coach Mohamed Badran. Badran was hired as a coach in 2006, and has been Weil’s Head Coach since 2012. Badran, a former top-5 junior player in his home country of Egypt, said there’s a multitude of reasons why he’s stayed with Weil for nearly 20 years.
“First, Ojai is a special place. Just being in Ojai, and the community that we have here, for sure played a big factor in that. But most importantly was the team that we have. We have incredible coaches that have come throughout the academy,” Badran said. “The community that we’ve built in this place, I think, outmatches any place in the world…. The camaraderie amongst the coaches that we have here, who are also outstanding people…I think that is the most valuable thing that has kept me here all of these years!”
Mohamed and Mark’s partnership has been at the foundation of the on-court success of the program as well. Mark said that Mohamed “is the best in the world at what he does,” and Mohamed said Mark’s drive has kept him going as well.
“I really believe in my heart that I thrive working with Mark, because he’s a driven guy, and he’s very competitive. He challenges you on the grounds every day,” Badran said. “I’m also that kind of guy that I’m competitive and I love to achieve. I love to be up on my feet, and to be challenged every day. I don’t like to be in my comfort zone, and I think Mark has that as well.”
UCLA Men’s Head Coach Billy Martin with Mark & Head Coach Mohamed Badran
Weil Senior Justin Powell with top-10 WTA Player Mirra Andreeva
after warming her up at the 2025 BNP Masters Tournament in Indian Wells!
Over the years the Academy has also built relationships with important organizations and coaches. Weil is on the board of directors for The Ojai Tennis Tournament, and the Academy has fostered special relationships with many collegiate tennis coaches – like UCLA Men’s Head Coach and Southern California Tennis Hall of Famer Billy Martin, who sent his son Wil to Weil for his senior year of high school.
“Being a college coach for 30 years, I’ve seen a lot of kids who have come through academies. I had coached players who had attended Weil and heard what a great job Mark, and Coach Mohamed and everyone had done here for many, many years. It wasn’t an easy thing to send my son away for his senior year of high school.” Martin said. “Our experiences with the Weil Academy have been A+, and I would highly recommend it to any parent considering sending their child to Weil to focus on his and her tennis and place them in a great college. It’s really a no-brainer.”
As the Weil Tennis Academy approaches its 30-year anniversary, the mission – and Mark’s dream – remains the same.
“The mission that we had at the beginning to be the academy that shepherds our kids to the college game; it has proven to be the right path…. I feel like that choice has been so fulfilling – that I made the right choice to make that our mission,” Weil said. “To see these kids each year who, once they learn about how incredible college tennis is going to be, they start really wanting it so badly. The way I did, and I see myself, you know, in each one of our students.”
Mark & Jane live in Ojai & have 3 sons:
Jack, Mitch and Pierre who they are very proud of.
Weil boys shown here in their Thacher Basketball uniforms.
The Magical Ojai Valley!
“As proud as I am of what we have all achieved with the Academy these 29 years, my greatest moments in life are marrying, Jane, my wife of 34 years, experiencing the births of our three sons, Jack, Mitch and Pierre, as well as raising our boys together in Ojai. Now, THAT is living the dream!! “ said Weil ( with a big smile on his face).
Mark Weil invites you to come and experience his academy first-hand and see if your child is ready to achieve all of their tennis and academic dreams here at Weil Tennis Academy!
In 1993, Mark and wife Jane, a professional stage manager in New York, moved to Los Angeles where Weil took over a small after-school training program at Mountain Gate Country Club in Brentwood. Within two years, Mountain Gate was the top program in Los Angeles, with over 300 sectionally ranked players and many national players. Coach Mark achieved the highest level of professional coaching in the US completing the USPTA Professional Level 1 Certification, as well as the USTA’s High Performance Training Program for Competitive Player Development. But Coach Weil had a dream: he wanted a bigger challenge and wanted to have a greater impact on the students he coached, and after researching Ojai and several tennis academies in the US, decided to open his own Full-Time Boarding Academy in Ojai.
In 1997, Mark & Jane, with a 1 year old son and pregnant with their second child, made the move to Ojai to open Weil Tennis Academy & College Preparatory School as the first full-time boarding school for junior tennis players on the West Coast of the US. Since 1997, Weil has prepared and placed over 400 Graduates into some of the most competitive US colleges and college tennis programs, mostly on scholarship.
ATP Player Steve Johnson, a 4-Time NCAA Champion at USC, in Ojai with Mark.
WTA #2 Vera Zvonereva of Russia trained at Weil in her off season.
Coach Mark always felt passionately about college tennis, and designed his Academy School & Training Programs as the ultimate preparation for rigorous college study and team play. Mark and his entire staff focus their energy on the true development of each individual player within a Team dynamic–to truly develop a player’s competitive game, and then transform those junior players into tennis champions who Play Amazing!
“The success of players like John Isner ( Georgia), Stevie Johnson ( USC), Mike and Bob Bryan (Stanford), James Blake (Harvard) and Weil’s own Maxime Cressy (UCLA) have proven my belief that players can go to college and still succeed at the professional level. At Weil, we maintain a more balanced training approach for our players designed to deliver them to college tennis programs ready to compete, where they will continue to develop under terrific college coaches who will get them to the professional level, if that is their goal.” Weil explained.
Coach Mark invites you to come and experience his academy first-hand and see if your child is ready to achieve all of their tennis and academic dreams here at Weil Tennis Academy!