The NDB golf season finally began in late February. Usually, the season would start at the beginning of the school year, but it was pushed back until spring due to COVID-19.
The team has practice as usual from Monday to Thursday, but the times have changed since there is no van provided. Many members are coming from different areas due to the school’s hybrid model.
“I played volleyball freshman and sophomore year, and I played lacrosse all three years so far. But, when it got to with COVID, all the sports were happening at the same time, so I couldn’t play lacrosse and volleyball together, because you can only play one team sport and one individual,” said junior Ali Lewis. “I’ve always kind of wanted to play golf, but it’s just at the same time as volleyball. So when this happened, I was able to play golf and the cross so it was just, it worked out that way.”
During practice, the golf team works on the normal activities, such as chipping, driving, and padding. Along with the new COVID-19 protocols, students are required to always wear masks, maintain six feet apart, and to play with their own golf balls.
“It’s been kind of hard missing all of the sports and everything that we would have had at the beginning of the year,” said junior Emma Boyd. “But the fact that we were able to kind of get it in is really nice.”
This year, there are three new members joining the team as Boyd became the team captain for the first time as this is her third year being on the team.
“I’m pretty excited, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to maybe plan something for the team that I can maybe do a team bonding thing for golf or something like that,” said Boyd. “I am kind of feeling a little nervous, because I know COVID is kind of throwing everything off. But other than that, I’m feeling pretty good about it.”
The difference this year for the new season is that the golf course is more crowded since both the girl and boy teams are playing at the same time. There are also more adults playing at Mariner’s course, where the team practices, due to being one of the first golf courses to open up during the pandemic.
“[I am feeling] Definitely better than I was last year and I had a season of experience. I want to work on just my mental game since I can get really intimidated under pressure when playing,” said sophomore Hannah Nebres. “So I want to work on just being more confident and trusting myself that I’m going to play the best that I can.”
Now, the season has already started for about a month now, the team had their first match with Harker high school last week at Moffett Field.
“It was great, Harker is a really good team, so it was a little intimidating as our first match, but it was also kind of nice to be like, and they were really sweet,” said Lewis. “It was nice to play with other people and like to see them. It was my first match ever so that was a little scary, but I’m glad that I did it. It was a lot of fun.”