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05/10/2021 12:00 AMThe Valley Regional golf squad is back out on the links in 2021, and there are numerous athletes working to improve their games. The Warriors moved to a 1-6 record on the year after last week’s action, but several players have been learning effective approaches to develop their overall ability on the course.
Valley had three matches on the slate last week, and the Warriors were unfortunately unable to pull a win in any of them. Head Coach David Sparrow knows that many on his squad are still learning the ropes, and his athletes can’t be overly concerned with the team’s overall record. Instead, they must concentrate on forming good habits that will yield positive results for the long haul.
“Most of my team are beginners. I only have three people who played on the team the season before COVID. Everyone else is new,” said Sparrow. “It’s not too different, though. Typically, I have more beginners than most teams. I may have two or three return players, but usually they are mostly new.”
The Warriors’ matches last week came against Old Saybrook, North Branford, and Cromwell. On May 3, Valley headed to Fenwick Golf Course to take on Old Saybrook. The Warriors lost to the Rams 191-243. The next day, Valley was at Indian Springs Golf Course and took a 191-245 defeat against North Branford.
On May 6, the Warriors headed to TPC River Highlands where they took a 189-216 loss against Cromwell. Sophomore Kevin King ended up securing the lowest score for Valley, shooting a 51, and senior captain Zach Figuenick came in right behind him at 52. Senior Gavin Filacchione shot a 55, while Jake Castellano turned in a scorecard of 58.
The Warriors have a good number of players invested this season with a combined boys’ and girls’ roster of 15 players, and the split is eight boys and seven girls. Valley also has two capable captains in Figuenick and junior Zoe Cika representing the squad who have been strong leaders and helping to support Coach Sparrow.
“Zach’s a senior that’s been on the team for four years. He’s probably our second best player, and he’s a steadying influence. He’s played in matches before this year. He doesn’t get too up and too down. He’s really solid,” Sparrow said. “Zoe is a beginner, but she’s kind of the senior for the girls. She’s played in a match for us, and she’s really athletic. The team looks up to her.”
While the captains are providing significant moral support, Coach Sparrow is doing as much as he can to instruct as many athletes as possible and make the most of the team’s time at its home course, Black Hall Club.
“I do what I can, we have limited range time at Black Hall. Mostly the kids are out on the course, so I will do kind of group lessons on the basics early in the season. Otherwise I will just let them play and give tips as they go,” Sparrow said. “For instance, I’m working with a freshman with his bunker play. Sometimes, I will do individual lessons on aspects of the game like that.”
Sparrow does his best to help who he can, while other players are excelling with less guidance, like King, who generally finds himself as Valley’s low-golfer in most matches. It’s pretty impressive since this is King’s first season with the Warriors since COVID canceled what would have been King’s freshman campaign in 2020.
“Kevin has been playing the most out of everybody on the team. He has great natural ability,” Sparrow said. “At practices, we’re mostly just working on refining his swing. I have high hopes for him over the course of his years at Valley. He has great distance on his drives. It’s consistency that he struggles the most with, which is pretty common.”
One challenge that Sparrow and the Warriors have come across is finding matches for the girls on his team to play in. Many schools don’t have the requisite number of athletes to field a girls’ team, but Coach Sparrow has played it by ear most of the time. Cika has been able to play in matches, depending on how each player fares in the practices prior to matches.
“We’ve had a couple of informal matches for the Shoreline teams with enough girls,” said Sparrow. “Against some teams, we just have the boys and girls play together. Whoever scores the best plays in the matches. It’s worked out so far. Zoe played in our very first match of the season.”
Some other players who have swung away for the Warriors include Costello and freshman Tyler Ruel.
“Jake Costello is a lefty, and he’s really been working on his swing. He loves the game of golf, and he’s very enthusiastic about it. That’s always a good sign,” Sparrow said. “We also have a freshman, Tyler Ruel who shows a lot of promise. He’s very enthusiastic and very coachable. I have high expectations for him, long-term.”
Regardless of the Warriors’ record this year, it already feels like this season has been a huge success after having to spend a year away from the links.
“My goal in coaching is to get the kids to learn the game and love the game. I want to have them out there having fun and learning, that’s the No. 1 goal far and away. Winning is way down on the list,” said Coach Sparrow. “It feels great to be back out here. That’s what matters most, really. I love working with the kids. This team gets along really well. They interact and they have fun. I think that they represent Valley quite well. They are good kids. Everyone should be proud that they have a bunch of great kids at Valley.”