Golf breaks winning streak

By Trevor Glassey

The Piedmont Hills Golf team lost its seven game win streak against the Branham Bruins, losing the first game at Santa Teresa on Mar. 27 and the follow up game at Spring Valley on Mar. 28.

“We tried our best,” stated junior Jessica Te. “But (the other team) was just really good.”

According to Te, their second best player senior Jasmit Singh was out of actions, and their top player Team Captain Justin Zeiska was playing with the the flu. To make things worse, the other team’s top four players were about as good as Zeiska.

“The team we played against might be the top of our league,” elaborated Te. “I think they might be moving up to A-League next year.”

Despite the setback, the team is still hopeful that they can win the championship. They hope the old saying of practice makes perfect will prove enough to get them through the championship.

“We practice a lot,” explained Singh calmly. “It really shows when we play.”

The team practices every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at San Jose Municipal Golf Course with coach Steve Smith. According to freshman Samuel Suniga, while the practice is relaxed, it helps them work on the different swings like putting, chipping, irons and drives.

“We need to go over practice,” mused Singh upon being asked what the team needs to improve. “We have to keep the coach’s tips in mind when playing because when we don’t, we start getting sloppy.”

These tips are important to learn as it can be quite difficult to become better at golf. While other sports allow heavy improvement with increasing physical ability through practice, golf has a common but pronounced problem.

“It’s all in technique,” revealed Te. “Practicing wrong all practice will lead to no improvement.”

Although their win streak is over, some in the golf team team still have high hopes for the potential of the golf team.

“We have a high motivation to get first,” expressed Zeiska. He hopes if the team works on golf in their own time, they can heavily improve and pull through into CCS.
Others are skeptical of their chances.

“(Winning the championship) has never happened before,” established Te. “But I’m not going to eliminate the possibility.”

Unlikely or not, motivation and hard work go a long way to making the impossible possible. The team hopes that with their efforts, it can overcome these challenges and bring home a trophy for the first time.