firstteeprovideslifelessons
Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach where he
learned under two-time Masters Tournament
Champion Ben Crenshaw.
Besides life lessons, First Tee highly values
learning, and gives numerous scholarships away
for education. Two $20,000 scholarships were
awarded last year, and one child from Louisiana
was a recipient.
“The First Tee program is not boring in any
way,” said First Tee
Coach Morgan Miley. “It
...research shows that most young is always changing, and
just have a love for the
people do not play golf because of Igame.
You have to love
the
game.”
cost. This need was met by the dawn of
started swinging
First Tee in 1997. Since then, the group golfMiley
clubs when he was
has helped over 10 million young very young and has been
with First Tee since he
people.
was 14. Now at 22, he has
graduated the program
and spends his time coaching the kids.
“Working with kids is great and you can have an
impact on their lives,” said Miley. “The coaches-in
training are all energetic and ready to learn. It is
really cool to see how excited everyone is with a
smile on their face, ready to work and ready to go.”
Pointer is on the go as well, making every
attempt to expand the program to more Baton
Rouge locations. This way, he hopes to influence
more minds so that these children do not become a
product of their environment.
18
“We try to recondition the kids mind in the
way of thinking,” said Pointer. “I make sure that
they get all the stuff they need to play as well as
instructions.”
However, a setback First Tee of East Baton
Rouge faces is transportation.
“A lot of the kids can’t get back to the programs
in a timely manner,” said Pointer. “Right now, I
try to do programs closer to where they are. I try
to center programs on the time of day the parent
might be off work until we can afford transportation
like a bus.”
Transportation or not, the people at First Tee
continue to make a difference. One noticeable
change was found in a young lady in the program.
“I have one parent who told me she brought
her daughter to the class because she was mean
and had an attitude,” said Pointer. “After a year or
so, she thinks the program has changed her way
of thinking. Now, that young lady is in the U.S. Air
Force Academy.”
In the future, this chapter would like to give
personal scholarships to long-time students.
“I would like to have enough money to where
I can give scholarships,” said Pointer. “They are
ready to go to college. Sometimes, my older kids
stay and help out with the younger kids.”
For more information on how to get involved,
visit thefirstteeebrp.org.