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Barely known golf team gets treated as stepchild of sports

“I did not even know we had a golf team,” was the response from several students when they were asked about how familiar they were with the Grambling State University golf team. Of the twenty-five random students asked, only fourteen were completely sure if GSU had a golf team. How can a student not know of a sport that is a part of his or her own campus?

Maybe it is the lack of publicity and the very few number of members of the team. Maybe it is because golf is not a contact sport like football or as fast paced as basketball. The golf team is like the stepchild of GSU athletics, compared to some of the other sports.

The team is simply overlooked, not just by the students, but also by the University as a whole. The most surprising fact is the golf team’s practice area. So where does the golf team practice?

The small space between the T.H. Harris Auditorium and the men’s gym is home to the golf team. It is amazing that anyone can get anything accomplished in such a limited amount of space. It is also sad that the team had to result to the small area.

Did the school just forget about them? The team’s top male performer, Jonathan Coleman, describes the area as “inadequate, not good enough to produce a competitive team.”

Nevertheless, practice must go on.

“To be the best you have to practice just as much if not more than the best,” states Coleman.

The team’s season has not been bad, but with an updated practice area and better equipment, the possibilities could be limitless.

According to Coleman, the golf team has equipment that cannot be used due to lack of communication.

That is not only evident in the use of equipment, but also on the sports page of the Grambling website. The picture and caption on the golf page are from April of 2008. The schedule on the website has the last game posted as November 4, 2008. This inaccuracy would lead one to believe that the season for the team is over.

The golf team is actually still in season. Two weeks ago the team placed second at the Memorial Classic in Monroe.

They will also be competing in the conference tournament April 19 – 22. The conference tournament will be the last tournament for the men unless they qualify for the National Minority Championship.

The women’s team will go on to compete in Atlanta April 23-26. The golf team never lets obstacles obstruct the vision for winning.

Each member of the team plays is or her best ability. Maybe with a little more encouragement and support from the university, their best could be a little bit better.