Backspin Volume 3, Issue 11 | Page 7

editor’s letter My new title: Assistant Coach. Huh? I found out when I walked across campus to drop something off to Jake and one of the other coaches addressed me as such. “Funny,” I said. “No really,” he laughed. “It’s documented.” And it was. I am the official volunteer assistant coach for the Southeastern Fightin’ Lions. Who in their right mind would make me an assistant coach? Good guess. I called Jake immediately to protest. “Jake, the most official part of my volunteer duties is grabbing the box lunches for the team and making sure they having something to eat,” I said. “That’s the only box I could check,” he replied. Well, my first demotion. I was assistant coach, and then I became a check mark. Well, this check mark was going to be the best check mark possible. So, I asked, what does a check mark do exactly? Jake said I should do the same thing I’ve been doing. And so this past weekend, I did. First, I was an official scorekeeper for one of the groups. One of the other coaches said I was certified. Well, that was the easiest certification I ever got – a login and password for golfstat.com. The player I followed was much improved from the day before, and the only thing I told him all day was to get a plan and stick to the plan. I remembered that Metairie Country Club PGA Pro David Marchand told my husband that one day at a golf tournament. I thought it sounded pretty good ... and official. The next day, I told a player that he needed to get out of his own way. Another thing I overheard once. To my surprise, the player agreed. Hmmm ... it’s working. And then Jake asked me to do something I’m really nervous about. He told me that in order to step it up, I needed to start figuring out what clubs players were hitting where so that I could tell Jake later. That means I need a notebook. I am continuously gob smacked when players remember every shot they ever hit. I can’t even remember one hole from another. I’m like, it’s the one with the trees around the green and the fairway that slanted. I. Don’t. Know. Which. Stinkin’. Club. They. Hit. So, I tried it out the next day. And forgot to do it. But I did take a lot of pictures that I will share with the boys and their parents. I’ll send them to our sports information guy and will probably use some of them in our scrapbooks ... as soon as I ever start scrapbooking. After the round, the team was instructed to give their scorecards to the coach. When a couple of them looked at me, I quickly shook my head. “I’ll go get him,” I said. Well, I’m a checkmark training. So there you have it. Amber 7