Through emphasizing effort and attempting to stick together as a team in the current and upcoming seasons, Souderton Area High School’s golf team was able to grow as a team together.
Every school year, a new wave of freshmen come in and an old wave of seniors go out. According to golf team members, this was a difficult hoop to jump through.
Varsity golfer Jacob Dommel said losing them set the team back.
“When I got here, freshman year we were starting to rebuild,” Dommel said. “We had lost a lot of seniors.” According to Dommel, without the senior leaders at the head of the team, there was work to be done. They had to take some years and losses to build.
Head coach Scott Giuliano agrees with the importance of leadership.
“We really rely on our upperclassmen as leaders to show the others how to carry themselves on the course, overcome bad shots and pick each other up when someone is struggling,” Giuliano said.
Junior varsity golfer Matthew Meehan agrees.
According to Meehan, it’s important for a team to be together and “learn to persevere.”
“We took our wins and our losses together,” Meehan said. “You could definitely see a sense of sportsmanship and gamesmanship.”
Giuliano agrees.
“It helps take the pressure off knowing you have teammates who have your back,” Giuliano said.
According to Giuliano, one of the most important things in golf is to keep on going and finishing strong.
“For a lot of golfers, the moment we have bad shots or a bad hole, we tend to get discouraged and put our heads down,” Giuliano said. “It is important to realize that just because you may have had a bad shot or hole doesn’t mean you can sulk and give up.”
“Chemistry has to be mental confidence in yourself and in your team,” Dommel said. “One hole doesn’t decide the whole match”
Although some may find these lessons to be hard to learn, the golf team has done “great work” with keeping up, Meehan said.
Giuliano agrees. “We stumbled to the finish line based on how well we started the season,” Giuliano said, “but we really made up for it when it mattered most.”
With the season coming to an end in late September, the off-season becomes a larger priority.
Leaders are looking to “rally the team,” according to Dommel.
“Our focus is to continue to help our returning golfers improve and prepare to help the team for next season,” Giuliano said, “while also finding golfers to fill the void that our seniors will leave.