International Olympic Day A Big Success, British Columbia Golf SNAGs New Golfers
Chris Crisologo Puts Together Some Snag Equipment For International Olympic Day At The Richmond Oval - Image Credit Alfie Lau
by Alfie Lau
When the doors opened at 10 a.m. Monday for International Olympic Day at the Richmond Olympic Oval, hundreds of schoolchildren rushed through the doors and headed for specialized sports areas such as volleyball, athletics, basketball and tennis.
But the biggest rush was to the golf area run by the CN Future Links team led by Stephanie Wong and her team of Winnie Hyun, Chris Crisologo, Eizza Hernandez, Curtis Chan and Quilchena assistant pro Tom Flockhart.
The golf team had been putting their display area together for two hours, with the multi-coloured SNAG teaching kits hard to miss and hard to resist for the kids lucky enough to attend the event.
For Crisologo, a 19-year-old SFU student who recently won the Marine Drive Amateur, it was a chance to give back and introduce a whole new crew of kids to the wonderful world of golf.
“I learned to golf with my dad at Mylora and now it’s time for me to help other golfers learn about this sport,” said Crisologo. “The great thing about these SNAG kits is the kids see that golf is a lot of fun. We’ll see probably a couple thousand kids today and they’ll get a chance to putt, to hit the ball in the air and maybe they’ll want their parents to take them out to the golf course.”
Crisologo said his favourite part of golf is seeing the flight of the ball in the air and how he can create shots with different trajectories. And he’s taken so many life lessons from the sport that he wants other kids to experience as well.
“Commitment is the most important thing,” said Crisologo. “Commitment to playing the sport, commitment to hitting the shot, these are things that kids can learn on a golf course and use in their lives.”
For Wong, it’s been a whirlwind month of CN Future Links events, including several in Kamloops and several more planned for later in June.
Stephanie Wong Puts Together Some Snag Equipment For International Olympic Day At The Richmond Oval - Image Credit Alfie Lau
“When we were in Kamloops, I think we introduced golf to more than 1,500 kids,” said Wong, who’s played her amateur golf for UBC. “I’m expecting to introduce golf to more than 5,000 kids by the time we do all these clinics.”
Wong said SNAG has so many different and fun elements.
“I think of SNAG as the training wheels of golf,” said Wong. “Kids are hitting bigger balls with bigger clubs and they get a sense of what the sport can be. We can work on fundamentals and that’s a great place to start with these kids.”
For the Richmond event, Wong did not use the wildly popular practice of having a team member wear a Velcro suit and players try to hit the suit to gain points. Instead, golfers hit into hockey nets.
“We’re expecting so many kids that we need to control the fun chaos that always happens here,” said Wong.
The day celebrated sport, health and achievement, with the goal of promoting the Olympic values and participation of sport across the globe, regardless of age, gender or abilities.
Hundreds Of Students Stream Through The Doors During International Olympic Day At The Richmond Oval On June 15 - Image Credit Alfie Lau
One non-golfer who was intrigued by the golf exhibit was baseball player Amanda Assay. Assay, originally from Prince George, was at the event to help drum up support to have baseball added to the Olympics in time for 2020. With golf receiving the go-ahead to be a medal event for 2016, Assay is encouraged by golf’s success in getting added to the Olympics.
“Sports promotes fitness, teamwork and pursuing a dream,” said Assay. “I see that in golf and I experience that in baseball. It would be great to have women’s baseball in the Olympics alongside golf.”
Back at the golf area, Wong and her team are having fun with the kids, but also having won entertaining themselves. When asked to pose for a group picture, the teachers can’t resist mugging for the camera, alternating super-serious with super-silly poses.
“We’re having a lot of fun and we want the kids to have the same amount of fun,” said Wong.
While this year’s International Olympic Day is now over, you can bet that the next one will be even better.