By Grace Kuryan, Staff Reporter
This coming fall is the first time there is an opportunity to form a girls’ golf team at Conestoga. Juniors Sophia Brubaker and Suzie Ahn, who are on the varsity golf team this year, had the initial idea of creating a golf team just for girls after seeing increased interest during their junior season.
“I’ve been thinking about starting (a girls’ golf team) for a long time, but there haven’t been enough girls. Now that I’m a junior, there’s been a lot more interest and a few of us have been talking about starting one,” Brubaker said.
Brubaker and Ahn wanted to create the team so they could have their own space with more independence and representation to play and develop their skills. Currently, there are three teams within the co-ed golf team at Conestoga: developmental, junior varsity and varsity. If there were to be a girls’ golf team, the developmental and junior varsity teams would remain co-ed while the varsity teams would split off into two different girls and boys teams.
Brubaker emailed Athletic Director Kevin Pechin to see if it was possible to start a team. According to Pechin, there must be a minimum of eight girls that try out in August in order for the team to exist.
“We need consistent participation. If we say we have a girls’ team we are going to be scheduled year after year, and I want to make sure we are able to do that,” Pechin said.
Varsity co-ed golf coach John Jones and Pechin are both supportive of starting a girls’ golf team.
“I fully support the girls golf team,” Jones said. “I believe this could increase the number of girls playing competitive sports and I know there have been girls in the past who have been intimidated to try out for the sport because the team consisted mostly of boys”
Both Brubaker and Ahn agree that more girls may be inclined to join if the team was not co-ed. Many girls tend to feel intimidated by the thought of playing with boys.
“I think co-ed —just the term — kind of makes people afraid. I definitely think girls would just feel more comfortable and at ease if they knew it was going to be just a girls’ team,” Ahn said.
The hope is to play against other area schools that also have girls’ golf teams such as Unionville, Great Valley, and Downingtown East and West.
The idea of a girls’ golf team has been proposed before; however, there has never been enough participation. Now, more girls have expressed an interest, like sophomore Maggie Hawkins who currently plays on the junior varsity golf team.
“I definitely am excited to join the girls’ golf team next year,” Hawkins said.
Ahn and Brubaker have been working hard to make this idea a reality. Brubaker says they do not only want a girls’ golf team for the sake of their senior year, but instead, they just want other young girls coming into Conestoga to have the option of joining a girls’ golf team.
“We really want to create an environment where girls are not hesitant to join,” Ahn said. “We want this to be a place where it’s just positivity because it’s definitely a sport where things can get a little hectic.”
Grace Kuryan can be reached at [email protected].
