By: Markos Papadatos, Senior Editor
James Pristouris chatted with HNA’s Markos Papadatos about his Greek heritage and serving as CEO and founder of the Super League Athletic Academy.
Background on the Super League Athletic Academy
Super League Athletic Academy is an organization whose objective is to keep the youth engaged and active.
Super League Athletic Academy camps are focused on sports, which include soccer and basketball. It enables young participants to learn and enhance skills and techniques to play competitively or simply for recreational purposes.
How did the Super League Athletic Academy come about?
I was working as an athletic director at a high school and decided I wanted to establish something on my own. I started doing small camps and clinics locally and we just kept growing each year.
We were lucky enough to host camps with some high-profile athletes and coaches that helped us get our name out there and give us the exposure needed to work on other projects.
We started with a small camp of 25 kids in Brooklyn to hosting international basketball tours overseas. It has been quite the ride!
What does your job description involve as founder?
As founder, I am still actively involved in the day-to-day operations of the academy. I deal with scheduling, staffing, finances, and everything involved in making our activities run as smoothly as possible.
I also find it important to still be on the court/field working with the players and building relationships with them.
I take pride in knowing all the kids and families that are involved in our program and making sure they have the best experience possible.
What motivates you each day?
I am an extremely self-motivated person. There is not a day that goes by that I am not thinking about what I can do better and how I can make my company better. I like to think big and work hard to attain my goals. My ultimate motivation though are my children.
They are eleven and eights years old and having them be a part of what I do makes it extra special. They say all that goes into making what we do a success.
The hope is that they can emulate that and use it in their lives whether it be academically, athletically, and eventually professionally.
Can you tell us about your Greek heritage?
My Greek heritage is extremely important to me. I was born to two immigrant parents from Sparti that came over to live the American dream.
Through their hard work, my siblings and I were able to experience an ideal childhood with everything we needed.
They kept us entrenched in our Greek culture and traditions and that is something my wife and I have passed on to our children. Being able to bring back groups and host events in their native country makes it all the more special.
What do your plans for the future include with the Super League Athletic Academy? (Where do you see it in the next five years)
I am always looking ahead to see what we can add to the program and how we can improve it. Our initial focus right now is to expand the international basketball tours that we have been hosting.
Those trips were originally for children of our program but have now expanded to other teams.
We have been fortunate enough to host universities such as North Georgia and Haverford College along with prominent AAU teams like EEP Basketball. The plan is to bring 5-10 teams per year to tour Greece and play some top-level teams such as Panathinaikos and Olympiakos.
In the next two to three years, we also plan on expanding these trips to other countries such as Italy and France.
What are some of your proudest professional moments with the Super League Athletic Academy?
There are so many moments that make me proud. Initially I would say hosting many of the 2004 Greek soccer players that won the Euro. Having our players meet Karagounis, Seitaridis, and Basinas was amazing.
Obviously, all the different events we have done with the Antetokounmpo brothers were amazing. We hosted a camp with them, organized Greek Heritage nights for all the brothers but the most memorable moment with them was probably bringing a group to Game 7 when they beat the Nets.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo bought tickets for over 100 people and we had our own section to root them on. The Greeks in the USA program has been a great success as well. We have been able to send five Greek Americans to try out for the Greek national team in their respective age group.
There are many more moments, but these are the ones that stand out. On a personal level, being honored by the Brooklyn Nets as the youth Coach of the Year in 2020 was very special to me.
What are your thoughts on the Greek-American community here in the United States?
I owe a lot to the Greek American community. From day 1 they have embraced what I do and have shown their support whether it be through their children’s participation or sponsoring an event or one of our teams.
With that being said, I also believe that a program like the Super League Athletic Academy is needed within the Greek community.
It gives our children a place to be active and meet other Greek American children throughout the tri-state area. The important thing is that we support each other and keep spreading our culture.
What does the word success mean to you?
We typically tie success to an end result which I always try to avoid and preach to the kids. What I try to do is be process driven rather than result driven. If you focus too much on the end result you lose track of the true purpose of what we are doing.
To me, success, is doing the best you are capable of doing. For some players that may be participating in their full potential with others, it may be improving every day.
What’s the one thing you want people to get out of the Super League Athletic Academy?
The idea is to establish a brotherhood and sisterhood amongst the children that lasts them a lifetime. Many of the children join our program as complete strangers and become lifelong friends.
My goal for all participants is to use basketball as a platform to enhance their overall lives. So far, we have been doing a good job with this and hope to be doing it for many more years.
To learn more about the Super League Athletic Academy, follow its Instagram page and visit its official website.
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