Category: Coaching

Developing Leaders: Impact Beyond the Golf Course

How do youth at The First Tee grow up to be leaders and positive influences in their community? It starts with positive youth development. Developing leaders requires recognizing and enhancing young people’s strengths. That’s what The First Tee is all about. We use golf a way to create supportive and positive environments needed to build on those strengths. Through opportunities and positive mentoring relationships, youth today become leaders of tomorrow. Alumni, like 21-year-old Luke Shrestha from The First Tee of Fresno, amaze us with their talents and accomplishments. Luke shares in his own way how his chapter helped him become the person he is today.

Luke’s Leadership Journey

Luke Shrestha, alumnus, The First Tee of Fresno
When I first joined The First Tee of Fresno around the age of 10, I was a super shy kid that would be more likely to look at the ground than look someone in the eyes. I didn’t know how to introduce myself to another person properly and I hardly talked at all. I remember being skeptical of having to learn life values along with golf since I just wanted to learn about golf, but my mom signed me up anyway. After that day, every class that I went to I started to open up more and more and the shyness started to go away. After a year in the program, I could easily go up to someone and introduce myself with no problem.

Growing in Confidence

As a kid, I struggled with confidence, but The First Tee classes helped me become more confident as well. After many years in the program, I started applying to go to national academies that The First Tee offered. I got accepted to go to Kansas one year for a Life Skills & Leadership Academy, and to Virginia the next year for the College Golf Prep Academy. In both of those experiences, I met people that I still keep in contact with today and play some of the best golf courses in the country. I will always treasure those memories. Without The First Tee of Fresno, none of those life-changing experiences would have happened.

Giving Back to the Community

For a couple years during college, I coached for The First Tee. This was such a rewarding and educational experience for me to not only be able to help kids that may have been in the same situation I was in at their age, but I also learned how to teach and give back. I had to learn how create a lesson plan, deal with rambunctious children, and how to be a leader. Learning life skills, especially leadership skills, in The First Tee helped me many times and even got me a job organizing and partly leading a company.

Pursuing a Career with Courage

Today, I am in Los Angeles working fulltime as a music producer and songwriter. Through the things I learned in The First Tee, I have been able to work on platinum selling records and billboard number ones. I have been able to be in the studio with some of the biggest artists of today, and I have the confidence to know my skills and creativity are valuable. I know for a fact that without The First Tee, I would not be down in LA making music like I am now. The First Tee of Fresno not only instilled confidence in me, it also made me more driven, showed me how to go after my goals and dreams, and how to approach stressful situations. All the life lessons that I was taught as a kid, I still use today. Every session I walk into, I walk into with the same mindset I used to walk onto the golf course with. A mindset of leadership, confidence, courage, patience, perseverance and every single Nine Core Value.

Thank you so much to all my Fresno coaches for the guidance and support throughout the years. I would not be the person I am today without that guidance.

WHY CHOOSE THE FIRST TEE?

Research shows our youth development program has a lasting impact, creating better citizens and lifelong golfers in the process. Our program aims to get young people ready for life’s challenges and pursue their goals. Find a chapter in your area to get started! Our Program

How the Game of Golf is Making a Difference

Golf is Making a Difference

When you think of golf, you may see it as just a game. You go out on the course, swing a few clubs, play a few holes and tally up your score.
golf Noor Ahmed, Billy Hurley III, Adam Zakaria
Noor Ahmed, PGA TOUR player Billy Hurley III, Adam Zakaria
How can a game like golf make a positive impact on lives? Just how can golf make a difference? On April 26th we celebrated National Golf Day and why golf is much more than a game. Industry and political leaders came together on Capitol Hill to discuss golf’s benefits to the economy, charity, fitness and the environment. PGA TOUR player Billy Hurley III, along with U.S. Representatives, Senators and invited guests also heard touching stories about golf’s personal impact from two participants of The First Tee.

excerpts from their stories:

 
Congressional Breakfast golf speech
Noor Ahmed, The First Tee of Greater Sacramento

Noor Ahmed, The First Tee of Greater Sacramento

“In my very first moment with The First Tee, Coach Angie taught me how to goal set. I learned whilst standing on the first tee box how to shake hands with my playing partners, look them in the eye, say my name loudly and clearly and to tell them it was nice to meet them. I know that it sounds so silly but that was a huge accomplishment for me. Coach Angie noticed me—the shy, introverted girl in the corner that no one saw before—and through her small action she told me that I was a part of a group and that I was wanted. My journey with The First Tee began there. I made friends with other golfers my age, that would mold me in ways that I would never have imagined. My friends at The First Tee of Greater Sacramento helped me indirectly in other ways. I am an American Muslim, but for a long time I struggled with that aspect of my identity. When I chose to begin wearing the hijab, or headscarf, in 7th grade, I lost a lot of friends. They couldn’t see past the way I dressed or my faith, which made me question whether being American and Muslim were antithetical. I remember the first time I went to my chapter after beginning to wear the hijab and nobody even noticed, or if they did they didn’t seem to care. I was still Noor to them. I was a part of our chapter’s family and that was all that mattered to them and that is what I learned they mean to me.”
2017 Congressional Breakfast golf speech
Adam Zakaria, alumnus, The First Tee of the Central Coast

Adam Zakaria, The First Tee of the Central Coast

“In addition to the guidance I received as a participant of The First Tee, the lessons I learned have helped me succeed off the golf course. By embodying the core values of responsibility and confidence, I graduated as the Salutatorian of my high school and was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley as a Regents’ and Chancellor’s scholar, a distinction awarded to the top 2% of the incoming class. However, the academic rigor that I encountered at UC Berkeley was much greater than what I was accustomed to in high school. Rather than panic or allow myself to become stressed out, I decided to implement The First Tee strategy STAR, which stands for Stop, Think, Anticipate, Respond. After analyzing the situation, I realized that what I was missing in Berkeley was a Go-to Team, and therefore I began branching out to those around me for support. I got to know my classmates, attended my professor’s office hours, and spoke with major advisers. By forming support networks with those around me and putting a great deal of time into my studies, I have been able to maintain a 4.0 GPA as a graduating senior in the competitive major of Molecular and Cell Biology, and will be moving on to medical school this upcoming fall.”

MORE THAN A GAME

Offered are more than 1,200 locations, The First Tee golf and life skills program was developed by experts in the field of positive youth development and is delivered by trained coaches . Our mission is to help prepare kids and teens from all backgrounds for success in all areas of life. Chapters offer full scholarship or reduced fee programming for those with financial need. No one is ever turned away for inability to pay. Find The First Tee Location in Your Community