Post-secondary students who want to pursue competitive golf now have the opportunity to do so at UBC Okanagan with the newly established UBC Okanagan Heat Golf Team.
“One of the University’s goals is to provide opportunities for student athletes to compete in their sport of choice at high levels while remaining in the Valley and studying at UBC Okanagan,” says Rob Johnson, Director of Athletics and Recreation at UBC Okanagan. “The Okanagan is renowned for its golf courses, and there is a very strong junior golf program in the region — a university golf team is a natural fit.”
Ten men and one woman make up this year’s golf team, which has participated in two of this year’s four BCCAA league tournaments, ranking fifth out of nine teams in terms of team play.
“We have a good talent pool this year — three scratch golfers and the rest are single-digit handicap golfers,” says Johnson. “We have a play-off each week to determine who travels to the league tournaments.”
The 2008 Ping CCAA Golf Open Championships held October 14 to 17 in Prince Edward Island will mark the official end to this year’s competitive golf season. However, students interested in the UBC Okanagan Heat Golf Team are encouraged to get involved in the off-season training activities being planned throughout the year.
“Students who want to learn more about the golf team should contact the UBC Okanagan Athletics Department and we can put you in touch with the coaches, Adrienne Vedan and Garry Appleton,” says Johnson. “There will be training and practice opportunities over the 2008/’09 school year. We’ve been lucky to form a partnership with the Okanagan Golf Club, which has generously offered its course as a training facility for our team.”
Dan Matheson, General Manager of The Okanagan Golf Club, says forming a partnership with UBC Okanagan to support the golf program was an easy choice to make.
“The Okanagan Golf Club appreciates the opportunity to give back the community whenever possible,” he says. “And this seems to be a great opportunity to, in collaboration with UBC Okanagan, put Kelowna on the map as a terrific city for students with a gift for golf to further their golf careers while attending a world-class university.
“The Okanagan Golf Club is very excited to help initiate the ‘birth’ of the UBC Okanagan golf team,” says Matheson. “They will be a force to be reckoned with.”
For more information about the UBC Okanagan Heat Golf Team, contact the Athletics and Recreation Dept. at 250-807-9168.
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