Categories
Sports Agents Tennis

Never Too Young?

In March of this year, IMG signed Bernard Tomic, a 13-year-old tennis player from Australia. After only being alive for 13 years, Tomic is already listed as one of the top 200 players in the world [Bernard Tomic, 13-Year-Old Tennis Star, Signs With IMG]. He will join other tennis greats Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, etc. as clients of the mega agency known as IMG.

IMG Australia senior vice-president, Brian Cooney, believes that Tomic will be a superstar and has no issues about signing up a 13-year-old to IMG’s client roster [Tennis prodigy joins stars on IMG pay roll]. He said, “Winning four consecutive under-18 ITF tournaments puts him in the top 200 players in the world already, and he’s just 13 years old.” But he is just 13 years old. Should IMG have a clear conscience about signing up such a young player, or are there some ethical issues surrounding this matter?

[tags]tennis, img, sports agent, bernard tomic[/tags]

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.