Jill Kushner - Specializing in The Colony Golf & Bay Club, Bonita Springs, Florida FL - Downing-Frye Realty Inc.

As residents of The Colony and Pelican Landing, do you realize how LUCKY we are to have Mary Fink among our ranks? If you haven’t met her yet, Mary has been the Director of Tennis at The Colony for five years now and has been in the WCI family for 10 years. Her 4-6 hour days on site are filled by the clinics she holds for residents and guests and private lessons she offers to everyone from beginners to advanced players.

When I asked Mary about the daily clinics she teaches, she said she likes to focus primarily on things like doubles court positioning, shot selection and cardio drills to help improve speed, stamina, reaction time and recovery time. She plans her clinics to accommodate players of all levels and encourages players to find others with similar ability levels so that she can customize her clinics to their specific needs. When not racket-deep in clinics, the tennis pro schedules private lessons around her planned programs, doing her best to accommodate everyone’s schedule. Her 90 minute clinics cost as little as $20 and private lessons are available for $70.00 per hour or $40.00 per half hour.

In addition to clinics and private lessons, there are currently 5 interclub leagues at The Colony. The National Tennis Rating Program (NTRP) is used to determine levels of competition and residents can compete on 3.0 50+ Ladies; 3.5 50+ Ladies; 3.0 60+ Men; 4.0/3.5 50+ Men; and 4.0/3.5 50+ Ladies teams.

Mary is originally from Medford Lakes, NJ and has been directing tennis programs in the Naples area for over 20 years. She’s been playing tennis for 42 years, having started at a parks program at the tender age of 7. She played #1 Singles and Doubles for West Chester University in PA, won the PA State Athletic Conference at #1 Singles and represented the Eastern Seaboard at Nationals in CA in 1983. She also played on the 5.0 team in Naples for many years and made it to Nationals in Palm Springs in 2003.

Mary’s expertise and her true love of the game is obvious and definitely one of the perks of living at TheColony. I asked Mary how she felt about her association with The Colony and she said, “I feel very proud and honored to be associated with the tennis program at The Colony. We have a great team of people who truly love to serve people! The tennis program continues to grow each year as we develop our beginners, introduce more teams and opportunities to play. It is truly a pleasure to work with our members and guests and see them enjoying our program as they do.”

If you are interested in learning more about the tennis programs available for residents and guests of The Colony, feel free to contact Mary at (239) 390-4711 or maryfink@wcicommunities.com.