Lynn Bender honored with 2025 Brad Parks Award
Thirteen advocates for the sport of tennis at the grassroots and local levels were honored with national awards at the 2025 USTA Annual Meeting and Conference in Carlsbad, Calif.
Lynn Bender from Zeeland, Mich., was honored with the Brad Parks Award at the 2025 USTA Annual Meeting & Conference, held in Carlsbad, Calif. First presented in 2002 by the USTA and the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Brad Parks Award is awarded to a group or an individual who promotes wheelchair tennis and provides opportunities to wheelchair players through the development of programs. The award honors the founder of the sport and 2010 Hall of Famer Brad Parks.
Lynn Bender has been playing tennis her entire life, opening doors along the way for athletes with disabilities to also be involved in the sport of a lifetime. Lynn married her husband, Curt, who has been a wheelchair tennis athlete for years, which led her to become deeply involved in the wheelchair tennis community.
Bender has worn a variety of coaching hats, as a certified tennis professional, head coach of the Holland Christina High School girls’ tennis team, collegiate wheelchair tennis coach, and an enthusiastic camp instructor at the annual USTA/ITF Cruyff Foundation camps, teaching tennis to kids from around the world.
She has also competed on and captained a USTA League team for many years, in addition to co-founding the non-profit Grand Rapids Wheelchair Sports Association, serving as a tournament director at the Grand Rapids USTA and ITF tournament, and being a dedicated USTA Midwest Section, and USTA National Wheelchair Committee Member for so many years. Lynn truly has done it all in the sport of tennis.
Lynn Bender poses with a trophy for the Brad Parks Award during the 2025 Annual Meetings & Conference. Photo by Fred Mullane/USTA.
“The Brad Parks Award was created for people like Lynn, who have dedicated much of their tennis lives to the growth and success that wheelchair tennis has enjoyed, and will continue to for many years ahead,” said Theodore Loehrke, Managing Director, Section Partnerships, USTA. “A huge ‘thank you’ to Lynn, and her dedication to her family, her passion for tennis, but specifically, wheelchair tennis!”
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