Professor invents product to benefit endurance athletes

Marvel may have invented the phrase “Higher, faster, further,” but Scott Black, MD, MS, physician assistant studies program director at the UK College of Health Sciences, has adopted the same mentality when it comes to fueling endurance athletes. As the co-founder of SWORD Performance Products, he’s on a mission to see athletes go faster and farther than their competition in both wellness and performance.

Black is a Wildcat through and through earning his undergraduate and medical degrees, and completing his family medicine residency, all at the University of Kentucky. He’s been a long-distance runner since college and now competes in marathons and ultramarathons.

“A number of things pushed me to move my work towards academia,” he said. “I really admire what physician assistants do, and believe they are one of the solutions to many health care problems we have right now. I enjoy teaching and being around students, it makes you stay on toes and when you’re around younger people you feel younger.”

Black has always been interested in wellness, physical activity, and nutrition. “I have a master’s in exercise physiology which came after I finished medical school,” Black said. “You quickly realize how someone’s physical activity plays a role in their overall health. I played sports all my life so I know how important it is to keep moving.”

This desire to keep moving forward is one of the many reasons SWORD Performance Products was born. The formula for its profitable line of sports drinks and other endurance products was produced right in Black’s kitchen with the intent to bring great-tasting and purpose-driven hydration to hard working men and women everywhere.

“I met a PhD student here at UK (SWORD’s other co-founder, Shawn Stasko) and we quickly became friends and started discussing this idea,” Black said. “We started working on the formula in my wife’s kitchen while poring over sports medicine and exercise physiology literature to see what makes a good formula and what doesn’t.”

Before long, Black and Stasko had created a successful homemade formula to combat dehydration and fatigue which they tested out at numerous trail runs and long-distance races. Soon they were sharing it with friends to see how it worked for other athletes.

“The first time I used SWORD for a 50-mile race is one of my fondest memories on the journey,” Black continued. “SWORD was my fuel the whole time and when I got through that and felt great, I knew that we were onto something. Having other people use it and be successful, validates the work that has been done and validates our formula.”

In the early days, Black and Stasko were literally selling the drinks out of the back of their car. But soon their marketing progressed to a website, online sales, and the start of a recognized brand. “We started small and were thankful many in the local endurance community adopted us,” Black said. “We now have connections with many professional athletes and these athletes have even endorsed our product.”

One such athlete is marathon runner Jordan Hasay. Hasay finished third in the Boston Marathon and is considered one of the most elite marathoners in the United States. “We’re really proud she is using SWORD,” Black said. “It’s amazing to work with an athlete like Jordan who will soon compete in the Chicago Marathon and then the Olympic trials.”

According to Black, innovation and entrepreneurship is all about perseverance and personal connection. “It’s incredibly important to be optimistic in the entrepreneurial field and you can’t let adversity stop you,” he said. “For every door that has been opened, probably ten will close in your face and you have to be able to accept that there is a lot of failure involved in moving forward. It is important to look at the failure, examine them, and try it again in a different way.”