As long as I can remember my father always loved sports. He was involved in different sports, but mostly interested in swimming and water polo. He achieved a rather high rank in it, he is the Master of Sports of the USSR. From the early years, my father took me to different sporting events. He is the one who instilled my love for sports. I attempted many kinds of sports, but once I tried golf, I couldn’t even think about anything else.
It was not just a fun game and it was not just for leisure time, I took it seriously and responsibly.
My Experience as a Golf Player
I was about 13 when I started to play golf and continued to play until I was 20 years old. I dreamt about having a sports career, but did not become a professional athlete. However, this was still an unforgettable experience in my life. My positive experience as a player has impacted my approach to coaching kids later.
I remember everything: the very first day on the greens; the day I took the club and tried to hit the ball; my first coach and the techniques she taught me; my practices and competitions, and my victories and losses. All those memories are as strong as if it was just yesterday.
Before I started to play, I didn’t know anything about the game, and I just thought it was a game for rich old people. Only when I tried to play myself did I realize how mistaken I was.
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My Golf Career
In Russia, particularly in Moscow, the golf season is very short due to weather conditions. If we were lucky, the season began at the beginning of May and it lasted until the end of September. All other months we practiced in special indoor areas with hitting nets or simulators with progressive displays that are used for training purposes. Everybody would desperately wait for the season to start to play on a real field, to experience the long distances and beautiful thousand-yard landscapes.
I don’t want to seem like I am boasting, but I can admit that I was successful in my golf career. I won a lot of tournaments and have many medals and trophies at home. Only my family and my coaches know all the struggles and difficulties I had on my way to these victories. If I ever attempted to count the hours that I spent at the golf club, I would fail. Six days a week for seven years, I was there practicing and playing no matter what.
My sports career ended when I graduated from high school. My parents decided that I needed to go to study a serious subject in order to have a successful future. In their defense, in Russia in the late 90’s, golf was not a widespread sport at all. In fact, golf was considered exotic. They couldn’t see any prospects for my future. So, I went to the university to study economics, though I didn’t give up on golf right away. At first, I tried to play after classes, then on weekends, and later just during vacation. Day by day I made fewer and fewer appearances at the golf club. There was no longer a chance to play much because of my university studies. It was impossible to succeed in both learning and sports. I realized that I had to devote to something that was valuable for my future life. Golf was converted to a hobby, and, of course, not being able to play golf full time grieved me. From childhood, I knew the famous words of Anton Chekhov, the greatest Russian playwright, from his book, “If You Chase After Two Hares, You Will Catch Neither” (Anton Chekhov, 1880), which means that if you try to do several things at the same time, you will not do any of them well.
How I Changed My Career Path
After graduation, I found myself at an advertising agency, in the client service department. I loved my work, despite how challenging it was. McDonald’s was one of our clients. Besides their food, they are famous for their charity programs around the world-Ronald McDonald House Charities. Every summer they arranged a charity golf tournament. Since golf was so unpopular in Russia, the only people from our agency who could participate in the tournament were our financial director, an expat guy from the US, and myself. Every year I was looking forward to that event. It meant a lot for me to be on the field again, meet my friends, and recharge with positive energy. I felt a great appreciation for the chance to return to my second home.
One day my boss asked me what I would do in my life if I had a lot of money. It didn’t take me even a second to think, I answered immediately–play golf. But she kept on wondering what I would choose–to play or to coach. Again, without any consideration, my response was–to play. However, this was before I discovered coaching.
About five years after I stopped playing full time, I got a call from my old golf friend. He offered me a chance to teach kids golf. Never ever in my life would I have imagined getting such an offer. But, I decided to take it. Not because I was interested in it, but mostly because, at that time, I was having a hard time related to my health, therefore I was a little bit depressed, and needed an escape from my daily routine. Playing golf always cheered me up, it was my inspiration. I’d hoped to find something similar in coaching, therefore, I took a two-week vacation from my advertising agency and went to the golf academy. I loved the place from the very first minutes of being there. The academy was outside of the city in the beauty of nature with a developed infrastructure, fresh air, and a healthy atmosphere. Everything was perfectly organized: accommodations in cozy cottages, tasty and varied food, and safety services. Most of the time kids were busy with golf activities, but there was also acting, dancing, and photo classes. It was not only a sports academy, but also an interesting and creative place.
My Teaching Career
Though I was confident about my own skills, I was a little bit anxious about teaching. But, I knew one thing for sure – I would do my best for those kids. I wanted to share my love with them, and instill energy, enthusiasm, and motivation in them. I wanted to show them my experience and knowledge.
I was on the practice field every day from morning till evening. I had four groups of kids of different ages. The youngest were 7-8 years old, and the oldest were 15-16 years old. The majority had never played golf before, and academies like this one were new in general. These academies were the beginning of golf’s rise in popularity in Russia. It was not just a regular camp for kids with a break from everyday life, the goal of such places was to draw the attention of the kids to the game, as even in the mid 2000’s, golf was not a wide spread sport in our country.
I tried to structure my lessons to involve every person. I talked about the history of golf, but to avoid boring them and losing their attention, we also discussed movies where we could see golf. All of the kids loved Happy Gilmore with Adam Sandler; they wanted to repeat his famous swing. In addition, I told them different funny situations that could happen during the game. For example, how I had seen birds steal the ball and play with it. I showed them little tricks with the club and ball. Despite the large number of students, I learned everybody’s name. I knew they would appreciate the attention. During the whole session I tried to come up with different ideas on how to make our lessons interesting and memorable. Since I had a lot of children, their individual potential differed greatly. Some could get the basics from a couple of lessons, while others needed a couple of weeks. I paid extra attention to the ones who needed more help.
From my own experience, I know how important it is to support the students and encourage them not to quit. While I was learning to play myself, I had one coach who was famous and ranked number one in the country at that time. We worked together for half a year, but the dynamic between us didn’t work out at all. He couldn’t explain how to improve my abilities, and I couldn’t get anything from his lessons. I began to play poorly, my self-esteem went down, and I lost confidence in my game. Once, while away abroad for a competition, he asked one of his friends, who was also a famous golfer, to watch me but not pay a lot attention as I was hopeless and would be a waste of his time. He said these hurtful words to my new coach right in front of me while he was introducing us. I don’t know how I overcame that public humiliation. Eventually, this new coach became one of the best coaches in my golf career. We worked together for less than two weeks, but he taught me so many things. At the end of our time together, as a result of his effective coaching, my swing looked better than ever. I am thankful that besides improving my technique, he also brought my confidence back. He was able to lift my spirits by creating a peaceful atmosphere and removing me from negative thoughts. He kind of shook me up and brought me new positive emotions. I felt much happier. Nevertheless, I will always remember how painful it was to hear such words from my coach. He betrayed me. Because of this experience, I wanted to help my students overcome the obstacles that stood in their way. I tried to observe moments that caused difficulties. I wanted to avoid negative emotions and fear, and instead tried to increase motivation, teach them to solve problems and to think positively.
I will forever remember how the kids literally ran to my classes, excited to practice. I remember how they told me that golf is the best game they’d ever played, and that they wanted more lessons and knowledge. I remember how their eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. At the end of the session, one of the girls’ mothers came to me and said that her daughter constantly talked about me, golf, and her new dreams of becoming a professional golf player.
In our academy there were about ten coaches, and at the end of the session the kids voted me as the best. The diploma I got from the academy is now standing on the shelf with my trophies. The experience was new and very different. I opened a new dimension to this game that I love through coaching. To see the smiles on my little athletes’ faces was very touching. This experience was priceless to me.
I felt responsible for my students’ futures, so I tried to make a positive contribution to their lives during the time I spent with them. It was very meaningful to me to gain such respect. Yesterday they didn’t know what side to come to the ball, today they are dreaming about having a sports career. I was very proud of them. It was a strange feeling to realize that these outcomes were because of me. I always thought of myself as a player and never imagined that I could be a coach.
I left the academy when my vacation from the advertisement agency had ended. I never considered returning to golf either as a professional player, nor as a coach. First, it requires a lot of investments, and, secondly, golf does not pay enough because golf is not played by the masses in Russia. This journey was unforgettable and I will cherish it all my life. Golf continues to be part of my life, except this time, without interfering with my main work. I did so until I moved to the USA. America opened golf from a different side: with a huge history and a lot of opportunities. When our family has time, we go to the golf club where, not only do I play but I also coach two students-my husband and daughter. I would be very happy if one day my daughter would achieve heights that I was not be able to reach in my country.
After that experience, I know for sure that if someone once again asks me the same question–if I prefer to play or to coach-I wouldn’t be able to give an answer right away, in fact, I wouldn’t be able to answer it at all. The truth is, coaching introduced a source of joy that playing couldn’t match, though it is much harder as you are not only controlling a ball, but also a people.
My Golf and Teaching Career. (2022, Mar 13). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/my-golf-and-teaching-career/
