Varsity golf team fairs well at district

With players new and seasoned in the sport, the golf team had fun and learned under Coach Helmer for his 5th season coaching the game, and his first season here.

His approach to coaching is straightforward: teach the game of golf and encourage the kids to have fun.

Our team competed in four tournaments this year, against larger schools including Pantego and Fellowship.
The boys’ team consisted of Jay Sedwick, Matt Hudspeth, Grant Chelette, Trey Kirby and John Bearrie finished third in district 4A advancing them to regionals. On the girls’ team, consisting of Junior Chandley Baldwin and Sophomore Sierra Scala, Baldwin finished fifth advancing her to regionals as well, but neither team placed at Regionals.

Helmer is looking forward to the foundation laid for next year, and potential for full girl and boy teams. This year there were only two girls on the team.

Baldwin found golf to be the highlight of her junior year. Looking forward to her practices every Tuesday and Thursday, Chandley says the sport is very relaxing and easy-going. Only having played for around 5 months, Baldwin is new to the sport and plans to continue her career into senior year.

With a personal best game of 117, Chandley placed 5th in district.

“Coach Helmer taught me to always stay positive in the game and to never get frustrated. He made golf fun for us,” said Baldwin.

Sophomore Sierra Scala’s personal best was 118 this year, and she has been playing since she was three.

“There are more opportunities for girls in this sport, and more scholarships available, so girls should consider playing next year,” said Scala.

Senior Jay Sedwick, shot his personal best at regionals as well as Senior Matt Hudspeth. This was Sedwick’s first year playing competitively, though he has played casually with his father ever since he was young. He met his goal, which was to “shoot in the low 90’s.”

“I learned a lot of golf etiquette playing with Coach Helmer. There were so many rules I didn’t know before, just playing with my dad,” said Sedwick.

According to Coach Helmer, Sedwick was the most consistent boy, and Senior Matt Hudspeth showed most improvement, while Scala was the most consistent girl and both girls show great promise for next year.

The team in general was playing to have a good time, according to Sedwick, which they did. He’s excited to see where Freshman Grant Chelette goes with his golfing in years to come, as he is only a freshman with time to grow and skills already present.

For students wanting to play, Sedwick said, “go for it, it’s a blast.