By valuing their family dynamic, the golf team was able to overcome various challenges and grow closer to each other over the course of their season.
According to captain Kenneth Kreitz, the team worked well together during the season.
“We had a lot of high hopes for the team this year because there was a lot of young talent,” Kreitz said. The dominant issue that the team faced was “losing by one shot.” “There were a lot of matches that I think we should have won,” sophomore Jacob Dommel said, “but that means there is definitely room for improvement.”
Matches being postponed due to rain also had an impact on the season. On Kreitz, this impact was positive.
“There was a course that we were supposed to play that’s really hard,” Kreitz said, “but that ended up getting postponed so we played the same school on a course I like better.”
Over the course of the season, the team has “grown a lot closer,” according to Kreitz. “I started off the season only knowing a few people,” Dommel said, “but now I’d say I’m pretty good friends with just about everyone.”
Dommel feels that the team dynamic has lead to “laid back” matches that are “more fun than competitive.”
According to both Kreitz and Dommel, the team had fun during the season.
“My highlight was definitely the first match,” Dommel said.
“Not only did I put up the best score on varsity, but I put up my best 9 hole score, as well.”
Kreitz made clear that the whole team had a great time.
“I’ve heard from everyone how much fun the season was and how much they’ve improved.”
The team traveled to various courses in the area. “I liked the Indian Valley course in particular,” Dommel said. “It was a beautiful course and it forced me out of my comfort zone because of the difficulty level of some of the holes.”
Kreitz, however, prefers to perform on his “home turf,” Lederach Golf Course. “I grew up on that course, which makes it special every time we play there.”
Since the high school does not have a golf course on campus, the team practiced at Lederach Golf Course.
Kreitz said that this required them to leave class quite early to catch the bus to Lederach. “Since our season is so short, we leave class basically every day in the month of September,” Kreitz said.
The early departure causes the team to miss much of their fourth block class.
“I think it had the potential to hurt my performance in fourth block,” Dommel said, “but my teachers did a good job of giving me the work ahead of time.”
Each year when the seniors graduate, some valuable players leave the sports teams, according to Dommel.
“I think we will be able to adapt to performing without our two captains,” Dommel said. “We see new leaders emerge every season. Hopefully, one day I’ll be a leader of this team.”