MORGANTOWN — Every year, talented and dedicated high school student-athletes represent their schools as they compete for championships, and for some, college scholarships.
But for many, high school sports are just as much, and maybe more about having fun, connecting with friends, and even learning a new sport.
University senior Hadley Banks is a girls’ lacrosse player in the spring, but two years ago, she wanted to pick up a fall sport, and decided to try golf. And while she will readily admit that she’s not ready for the LPGA tour quite yet — she considers her game to be “mediocre” at best — she’s enjoying the sport, learning the game, and also helping to grow it.
“I picked golf because I thought it would be a lot calmer, a lot less intense than lacrosse,” she said. “It’s truly a completely different sport for me. In lacrosse, there’s no time for anything other than reaction and instinct and power, with a little finesse sometimes. In golf, there’s all the time in the world to think about what your next shot will be, but I think my biggest problem is overthinking things. Coach (Barry) Kolar told me to play a practice round with no practice swings. Just step up, get in your stance, and hit it, and I think it helped.”
Last year, four girls were members of the UHS team, and this year, three of them returned, including junior Aubrey Estel and sophomore Olivia Cox. As far as Kolar is concerned, the more the merrier.
“We encourage anyone with an interest in golf to participate,” he said. “I know that John Marshall is able to field a girls golf team, but many schools in the state have co-ed rosters. It’s nice to have the chance to teach anyone the game, because it’s a game for a lifetime. And for advanced golfers, since Title IX has gone into effect, the number of scholarship opportunities in women’s golf continues to grow.”
Banks plays golf with her father on occasion, and can see herself staying involved with the sport beyond her high school days, but maybe her favorite experience as a UHS golf team member has been her involvement with the First Tee of West Virginia program, designed to promote youth golf and its inherent values of sportsmanship and social skills.
“We were finishing up practice, and a woman with First Tee came up to me and my mom,” she said, “and asked me if I’d be interested in volunteering to teach golf to kids. I said, ‘Sure,’ and I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s great helping the really little ones, the 5- and 6-year-old kids, watching them having fun and learning how to play the game. And some of the older kids are really good, too. I tell them they ought to be teaching me!”
It seems pretty clear that when Banks decided on golf as her fall sport at UHS, she chose well, both for herself, and for the game.
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