Monday, June 28, 2021

From left: Coach Aaron Blackwelder, Erin Madsen, Addison Landrigan, Kara Lynn Conditt, Rayleah Trice, Zoe Jouwsma

From left: Coach Aaron Blackwelder, Erin Madsen, Addison Landrigan, Kara Lynn Conditt, Rayleah Trice, Zoe Jouwsma

 

 

Woodland High School’s girls golf team won the district championship for the first time in nearly a decade. However, for the team, golf represents more than competition, it offers an opportunity to develop new skills, make friends, and find inspirational support from others.

Aaron Blackwelder, an English teacher at Woodland High School, coaches the district’s entire golf program. His inspiring coaching has led to students who join the team their freshman year, continue playing throughout their entire high school career, and, in many cases, playing far beyond high school, too.

Rayleah TriceThe 2021 graduates on this year’s team started playing in high school right from their freshman year. “I started playing my freshman year because a bunch of my friends were playing,” said Rayleah Trice, a 2021 graduate. “Golf presents a challenge – you have to work at it to become good – and that kept me motivated to continue working toward the goal.”

Rayleah placed second in the league and second in the district and will be attending Pacific Lutheran University this fall where she will continue to play golf.

Addison LandriganJust like Rayleah, Addison Landrigan, a 2021 graduate, started playing her freshman year with her friends and continued playing it through her entire high school career. “I appreciate the relationships I’ve made with my teammates along the way,” she said. “Although I won’t be playing golf in college, I’ll continue playing it as a hobby.” Addison will be attending the University of Hawaii this fall where she plans to major in Business Management.

Erin MadsenErin Madsen, a 2021 graduate, started playing golf in the seventh grade to keep her closer to the memory of her grandfather. “My grandpa passed when I was much younger and I remember playing golf with them as a kid,” she said. “My parents also supported me, and I’m glad they did because golf continues to teach me patience and how to deal with stress.”

As a sport, golf has a notorious reputation for confounding even professional athletes. “Golf has given me a thicker skin,” said Erin. “Whenever I feel I’m going to play amazing, all of a sudden, I’ll have a few bad shots in a row; golf requires me to figure out what’s wrong with my game, and I can apply those solution-finding techniques to other problems in my life.” Erin will play golf with Centralia College this fall. After earning her two-year associate degree there, she plans to transfer to the University of Washington.

Zoe JowsmaZoe Jouwsma, a junior, was introduced to the game by her older sibling. “My sister has been an amazing inspiration to me and motivated me to start playing,” she said. “However, I find golf to be a stress causer, not a stress reliever – although I’m definitely going to continue playing next year.”

Kara Lynn CondittOne of the team’s newest members started playing golf thanks to family members as well. Kara Lynn Condit, a freshman, picked up the sport after being introduced to the game by her father. “I started playing when I was four or five years old when my dad gave me this really old set of golf clubs from my grandfather who passed away,” she said. “My dad would let me putt on every course with him.”

Golf presents a form of stress relief for Kara Lynn. “I can just go out to the driving range and hit two or three buckets of balls,” she said. “Golf helps me not linger on the past, and I plan to continue playing throughout high school.”

For the entire team, the camaraderie comes from the team’s head coach, Aaron Blackwelder, an English teacher at Woodland High School who coaches all of the district’s golf teams, and from Sam Jouwsma, the team’s volunteer assistant coach and father of Zoe. 

Zoe greatly appreciated her dad, Sam Jouwsma, stepping up to help out. “When my dad volunteered to coach, and that meant a lot to me,” she said. “Both her and my sister got me into golf, and he’s been an amazing inspiration to both me and the team.”

During the 2021 season, Kara Lynn’s grandmother passed away, and Coach Blackwelder was instrumental in helping her get through the trauma, “Blackwelder called my family to make sure I was okay the entire time,” she said. “I don’t think I would have been able to keep playing without his support; it meant so much to me.”

Just like the rest of his team, Aaron Blackwelder’s inspiration for starting to play golf was his mother. “She played with her dad growing up, so she got me started when I was a kid,” he said. “My mother is the reason we have a flamingo as an unofficial mascot – one of my mom’s friends got her into collecting flamingos, so we had them everywhere in our home growing up – from flamingo statues to even a flamingo plunger.”

Blackwelder started coaching golf in Woodland when he moved to the area in 2006. “I knew I might have the opportunity to coach so I volunteered the first year for the boys team and was picked up as head coach for the boys the following year,” he said. “Starting in 2014, I coached the girls golf team and I’m incredibly proud of the program we have now.”

For Blackwelder, the time commitment of coaching presents his biggest challenge, so he makes a concerted effort to balance his time between coaching and spending time with his family. “I don’t play golf myself during the teams’ seasons so I can spend time with my family, too,” he said. “My wife and family very much support me and my coaching.”

Coaching golf offers Blackwelder not only to continue the tradition of motivating young people to pick up the sport, but also to coach sportsmanship. “I get to hang out with kids and pass on the sport to the next generation,” he said. “Plus, it’s important to teach the team how to be good losers as well as good winners – I like coaching kids on how to be good people, too.”