Juan Garcia, Director of Tennis at the San Dieguito Tennis Club in Encinitas, California, recommended Amanda Fink as Female Pro of the Month. Thank you, Juan.

Amanda Fink is Head Tennis Professional at The Santaluz Club in Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego North County.

TCB: Where were you born, Amanda?
AF: I was born in Tarzana, CA and grew up in Calabasas. No, I did not live next to any of the Kardashians or Justin Bieber growing up.

TCB: When did you start playing tennis? Did someone teach you? Who got you into the sport?
AF: I started playing when I was 8. My mom took tennis lessons and thought it would be adorable if we both played. My uncle also taught tennis so he would work with some of my little buddies and me sometimes. But my parents both play recreationally and love it…so they really were the ones who encouraged me to play along with other activities like soccer and softball. I decided to just focus on tennis once I was about 13.

TCB: Did you play High School before USC?
AF: I did! So I played nationals and sectional tournaments but I did play high school tennis all 4 years at Calabasas High School. Won team CIF which was a super cool experience….I mean we got rings! I played every age division national tournament…and was ranked as high as 1 nationally in the 16s and top 5 in the 18's.

EDUCATION University of Southern California 2005-2009 BA (Psychology) Ranked as one of the top college players in the nation and reached a ranking of #1 freshman year, PAC 10 singles and doubles champion, 2009 National Rookie of the Year, NCAA team semi-finalist and individual quarter-finalist. Team captain 2008 and 2009.

TCB: Out of college you started on the pro tour. How much do you still play there, if at all?
AF: I was ranked as high as 260 in singles and about 237 in doubles. I stopped playing professionally in 2012 . I coach full time now but every once in a while I get a wild hair and compete in a local open. I really do enjoy competing! The tour just became too much for me after years of living out of a suitcase. But I got to the final of our district tournament this past year! (before falling to a very talented junior player.) Unfortunately, if I want to play a tournament I want to focus entirely on training and playing in it…and I can't do that very often with a full time teaching job.

TCB: 5. When did you start teaching tennis? When did you get USPTA certified?
AF: After I retired from playing I wasn't sure what I wanted to do….go back to grad school for psychology, figure out how to get into business, drop everything and try to be the musical theater star I always wanted to be since I was 10….but I wasn't sure I wanted to be in tennis.

Many people including myself have a love/hate relationship with tennis and I was still figuring my feelings out. Until I figured things out, my mom suggested that I try teaching. Being a good teacher and a good coach are two completely different things and I was used to focussing on me so I wasn't sure how it would go.

But I taught some neighbors and friends and I actually found myself enjoying it…because it's not all about the forehand and the serve…it's about getting to know people: connecting with them and figuring out how they learn! Then my mom suggested since that was the case, (if you can't tell already my mom is brilliant) I should get certified by the USPTA so I could coach anywhere I wanted. People wouldn't just see me as a player. I was completely nervous and definitely lost a few points for knocking over my own basket of balls the first time around….but I did get certified (I believe) in 2013. I upgraded once I moved to San Diego and am now an elite pro. My director at Santaluz also encouraged me to join our division's board where I now serve as 1st Vice President.

TCB: What made you work at Calabasas Swim & Tennis after college? How did this come about?
AF: The Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center is my hometown club. It's where I took lessons and clinics when I first started playing. And I actually based myself back there in my last year of competing on tour, working with the wonderful Steve MacEvoy and Novak Nash. All things come full circle I guess! I was teaching on a private court initially but once my mom let Steve know that I was teaching, he said that I would be a great addition to the team at Calabasas. Steve has always had my back and I am truly grateful for it. I did a lot of hitting there but I also got to watch how Steve, Mary Pat and the other great pros ran drills/gave lessons. Eventually they started throwing me into the pool and I ran my own clinics/lessons..and camp…tennis camp there is a monster in a good way. The camps there had tons of kids so I learned the dos and don't(s) of tennis camp very quickly. I had a bunch of truly lovely clients and coworkers there and it was fantastic to know that my home town supported me so much.

TCB: How did you get to Rancho Valencia after Calabasas? Did you work for Robin White?
AF: When my boyfriend (now husband) got into an MD/PHD program at UCSD I knew that I was eventually going to be looking to come to San Diego. He and I spent enough time apart while I was on tour and I didn't want to live that far away from him. So I enlisted the help of the friends and contacts I had in San Diego to get a feel for where I should be looking to work in San Diego. I was directed to both Rancho Valencia and Santaluz which are about 5 minutes apart from each other.

I had known Robin White a little as she had helped the USTA as a national coach for juniors while I was competing. The timing eventually was right where I could be a fit at both Rancho Valencia and Santaluz and work at each part time. I truly admire Robin White. She genuinely loves tennis and is obviously a playing legend! I was honored to be a fit to work at a resort that is literally a tennis resort…one of the nicest in the country. I got more coaching experience with all kinds of players and learned the ropes of top notch customer service. I loved working for both facilities but I got a full time offer from Santaluz that I just felt like was too good to turn down. I still visit Rancho Valencia and keep in touch with Robin.

TCB: Is The Santaluz Club a private country club?
AF: It sure is. The Santaluz Club is also one of the finer clubs we have in the area (obviously I think it's the best one). It offers the best in golf, spa, tennis and fitness. Beautiful facility located within a gated community.

You do not have to live in the gates to join but you would have to join at the Golf or Spa level. Beautiful golf course, restaurants, pool, gym, full service spa, fitness center, basketball gym and spin studio. It is quite the property and everything is gorgeous, if I could afford to live there I would. We love the club so much that I actually got married there 2 years ago.

TCB: How do you like working for that club? Who is the Director of Tennis?
AF: The director of tennis is Doug Bradley who has directed a few very successful programs at other clubs before coming to Santaluz. It is an absolute pleasure to work for him. He has allowed me to develop as a coach and professional while always supporting the new ideas I have for the program. He is teaching me something new every day and he values what I compliment to his directing style. I have an amazing job at Santaluz because I have an incredibly supportive membership comprised of wonderful people. I get to do different things every day: one minute I am doing lessons and clinics, the next I am creating emails to promote events, and in another I could be helping out at a club karaoke night (and I am a karaoke junkie).

TCB: How many courts do you have and what surface are these?
AF: We have 6 hard courts with LED lights.

TCB: Do you prefer teaching adults or children?
AF: I don't prefer anything in particular. What I prefer is doing different things over the course of the day. I like working with all different levels and ages; keeps me on my toes!

TCB: What is your specialty? What do you like teaching best?
AF: Oh I think I have a ways to go before I call myself a specialist in something. My specialty right now is promoting tennis: I make sure everyone is learning and hopefully improving in a fun way! I am a big fan of cardio tennis and game based clinics. I am learning more and more from my coworkers and other coaches day by day to continue on my journey to really finding who I am as a coach. It took me forever to figure out who I was as a player.

TCB: What tennis racquet do you use? What string do you prefer?
AF: I am a Babolat Pure Aero girl. I use hurricane in the mains of my strings and Xcel (or if I am playing a tournament leftover gut from playing on tour).

TCB: What are your challenges in your job?
AF: Keeping everyone happy…which if you don't know already….is impossible, but it is our job to make that balancing act work as well as we can. From having enough courts for league play, to deciding what kind of events we can have, standards of moving up level in teams or clinics…all of the tough decisions. Obviously my director has the final say but I have input in most of what we do at the club. For a big people pleaser like myself....knowing that when I try to make the best decisions I can for the club, it won't make everyone happy.. that's the toughest thing to face.

TCB: Is there anything else you want our readers to know about you?
AFP: So I think Juan mentioned me for this because of the combo of things I am contributing to our area at the moment. Currently I am helping organize educational events for coaches through the USPTA and leading our division's U30 committee...with goals to have younger coaches more involved in our community and providing more educational/networking opportunities for them. I also serve on our district board, helping coordinate amazing things like TennisFest which is the country's largest tennis open house!

There is also an amazing SCTA program called Sip N' Serve that I have spread to San Diego. The program tries to get players under 40 who used to play but are too busy with work/haven't played since high school/can't afford to join a club yet a fun social environment to play in. Each of our two sites runs an hour and a half clinic once a week, and the group chooses a venue after each session to grab a bite/drink! It's been super rewarding to watch this thing grow.

Our flagship site at Balboa started with under 5 players a week....now they are reaching sometimes 24 players a session. We just started our second site with Juan Garcia at his club in Encinitas. Also in the SCTA arena I developed free to the public seminars called College Knowledge....I bring together 3 college tennis coaches, an academic counselor who specializes in working with athletes, someone from tennis on campus and other specialists to give parents, students and coaches an overview of the spectrum of possibilities that is playing tennis in college. If you love playing tennis, you should be able to play in college! So many college programs and even scholarship opportunities are overlooked because people don't have the information to use or a forum to ask questions. Basically anything I can do to promote growth and enjoyment in tennis I will.

TCB: Thank you, Amanda.