Program will bring golf to local schools
While a number of area teachers began the school year with in-service days at their local school buildings, a handful of physical education instructors recently spent a morning at the John Daly Learning Center at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa. The teachers took part in a training session for The First Tee National School Program, which brings golf skills to kindergarten through fifth-grade students in three local school districts – Albert Gallatin Area, Laurel Highlands and Uniontown Area.
The total funding for 2005-06 is $22,500, with the 84 Lumber Classic and the PGA Tour each providing an equal share.
During the morning-long session, program director Benna Cawthorn reviewed the curriculum, which can be adapted for each grade level. She said the students can learn more than just the basics of golf.
“This is a youth development organization that focuses on life skills through golf,” she said.
“It emphasizes the skills and the values rather than becoming an expert golfer.”
Each of the 15 schools in the program has received a bag of equipment so that physical education teachers who travel to different schools will not have to take the pieces with them from school to school.
Cawthorn said as many as 48 students can be taught at one time using the equipment, which consists of oversized clubs, tennis-style balls and a variety of targets. Clubs are designed for left- and right-handed students and different sized clubs are used based on grade level.
“The clubs are weighted like traditional clubs and the ball reacts like it would in a traditional setting,” she said.
When the ball is hit, it adheres to a target, which serves as the “hole.” Students are involved in a number of ways, either practicing or retrieving, all while maintaining a focus on safety, Cawthorn said.
There are three levels of curriculum, which correspond to all of the elementary grades. Eight lessons are included in each curriculum level.
During the 2003-2004 school year, the National School Program was piloted in 130 elementary schools in eight communities, reaching more than 50,000 children, according to information from the program’s Web site.
Cawthorn said because of the financial commitment, schools that receive the equipment and training are expected to implement the program during the school year.
“With 84 Lumber involved, they want to see the kids and the program,” she said. “They want to know what the donation is doing.”
Kim Dillinger, workforce/education development specialist with Fay-Penn Economic Development Council’s REACH program, said the program was another way that local business partners are helping to change education locally.
“We thought this was a wonderful opportunity on a number of levels,” she said. “We need to work on character education, because some of our students are not taught the values that they need to be successful in their careers and their lives.”
Dillinger said based on how well the curriculum is implemented in the three districts, it will be expanded to the remaining Fayette County school districts in 2006-07.
Maggie Hardy Magerko, president of 84 Lumber and executive director of the 84 Lumber Classic, said the local involvement in the program is just another way that the tournament supports local and regional communities and charities.
“We are pleased to work hand-in-hand with the PGA Tour in providing financial support for this program that offers both fun and learning to our young people,” she said.
Cawthorn said the program is designed to give students the opportunity to get interested in golf at an early age. For 80 percent of the students, the pilot program was their first exposure to golf, she said.
“We want every child to believe they can have access to it and they deserve to be part of it if they want to,” she said.
More information about the program can be found at www.thefirstteensp.org