Serve & Return

Callawassie Island’s new Tennis Pro, Racquet Sports Director Tony DeCandia serves with a huge heart for warmth and connection – the perfect match for the community’s caring and compassionate culture.

Callawassie Island Racquet Sports Director Tony DeCandia’s secret for success is one he learned from the masters who came before him: “Don’t teach tennis, teach people.”

For DeCandia, that’s a deeply ingrained personal principle and promise. Stepping onto a court or into a conversation, his intention is to leave people better than he found them, whether that means their backswing or their backstory.

His backstory is filled with mentors who instilled his heart of service, right from childhood, from his parents’ love story to his father’s survival story (a USMC pilot who was rescued after ejecting from his jet upside down and spending 3 days lost at sea). That experience, DeCandia says, changed his father from the quintessential marine to the guy who always wanted a hug and later played a huge role in DeCandia becoming the kind of father-figure he is to all those he serves today. He would even become a figure of faith himself as a former pastor saying, “I’ve seen my dad incarnate that loving father and I want to give other people the sense of what that kind of love looks like.”

Doubling down on that people-first training, DeCandia was later mentored at NC State University by tennis great and university coach J.W. Isenhour, the namesake of the school’s Isenhour Tennis Center:

“He always taught me, ‘teach CHILDREN, not tennis. Teach PEOPLE, not things.’ He prioritized the leadership and dignity of the person above all and that animated me for years. The whole idea of pouring out into somebody else is important to me,” DeCandia says. “That’s when you discover a whole lot about yourself, when you’re connected with somebody else. People can be very vulnerable on the court. Barbers and bartenders hear stories – so do tennis and pickleball players. There’s something about that exchange of ideas and sharing of life together and when it happens, life’s richer.”

That’s “richer” where it counts, of course, loving your neighbor in word and deed as DeCandia emphasizes his goal of prioritizing people over profit: “Every member GETS A FREE HALF HOUR. That’s my way of building up community and getting to know people. I don’t know how to serve them until I know them.” (Not a member? Ask about a lesson during a Discovery Tour.)

That’s just one of the many ways DeCandia practices what he calls “the ministry of presence, focusing on active ways of modeling joy and letting people know they’re loved and lovable. Most of us understand being loved, but fewer see themselves as being lovable – and there are ways that all of us aren’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that we can be fully accepted by God and that we can live that out in each other’s lives wherever He plants us.”

This is a mantra for DeCandia, who takes time regularly for “table fellowship,” getting together for dinner with residents to get to know them off the court and break bread together. On the court, residents benefit from the state-of-the-art amenities and resources for which this exclusive resort community has long been known.

For tennis and racquet sports this includes six Har-Tru®courts, four pickleball courts, a beautiful facility, and year-round access to pro teaching. Island-wide occasions and opportunities range from events like Callawassie Wimbledon, TENGO, and Club Exchanges, or specialty groups and happenings like the Callawassie Racquet Club (CRC), Tennis Boot Camp, perfect for newbies diving in, and now kids tennis camps, clubs, and classes.

While racquet sports are his official capacity and a large part of his professional background and career, DeCandia has a whole different racquet going on where coaching is his calling in a deeper sense than just sport itself. He’s not just shuttling sheep in and out of lessons but is personally committed to caring for the real people he serves, creating spaces for authentic connection and building stronger community ties.

This ranges from sport to spirit, not only in his spiritually inspirational nature, but in 2025, literally extended to faith-based service when he was called upon to preach the Easter message at an outdoor chapel service by the River Club. In a full circle moment, the message he shared centered on his father’s story of survival. It was a direct correlation between his father’s 3 days lost then found alive, to the Easter message of Jesus 3 days gone and the resurrection having a transformative effect, just like his father’s rescue had a transformative effect on his and his family’s lives.

DeCandia sees “family” as a tremendous part of his role at Callawassie Island, crediting the residents themselves as well. “This place is so beautiful. There’s this sense of receiving and giving always happening. People here aren’t just surviving but flourishing and thriving. It’s a way of life that everyone on Callawassie Island values. There are so many philanthropic people who want to be generous and who are concerned about the environment, the animals, the ecology. A group here makes contributions to build homes for the poor in Beaufort and Jasper counties. There’s a whole lot of outreach. They’re very quiet about it, but it’s always done.”

The compliments he pays to the people in the community are compliments due him in return. “It’s a Divine Dance,” he says referencing a classic concept of faith. “The Divine Dance refers to the relationship between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in a constant exchange of love, within that trinity but also between God and us.” It’s a powerful picture to paint when you realize he turns that same heart onto the people of Callawassie Island. “God went to extremes to make us see that we’re loved and lovable, and my father always taught me, you know what they say, ‘people don’t care what you think until they think that you care.’ It’s a matter of showing up and being the Good News in people’s lives.” Beyond everything else DeCandia brings to the net as an experienced Pro, is this passion for simply ‘showing up.’

Any conversation you have with DeCandia, the warmth of that connection and his enthusiasm for serving this up to every client in his wake, is unmistakable. In the sport of tennis, “love” may mean “nothing,” but on the courts on Callawassie Island, love means everything.