For many students at Hamilton Southeastern, seeing someone in a collared shirt with the lionhead logo or carrying a Southeastern bag simply tells them that they’re on the golf team. But for the players—and for Coach David Young—it means a whole lot more.
Coach Young has been the head coach of the HSE boy’s golf team for 20 years, and he has been very successful doing so. Since 2005, he has won 6 sectional championships along with 6 regional championships. He has been to the IHSAA State Finals 14 times, the team’s best finish coming in 2016, placing second.
Along with all the trophies, Coach Young has coached so many players and made countless valuable connections doing so.
After the first day of the 2024 IHSAA State Finals, the Royals were not in the position that they wanted to be. Instead of just talking to the players himself, Coach decided to “reach out to seven or eight of [their] alumni and just asked [them] to record a short video for the guys that [Coach Young] could share with them at breakfast the next morning before day two. [Coach Young] wanted [his players] to know that this is not a unique feeling and [the alumnus] have been in the same boat.” As the team got on the bus and they all had their headphones on watching the videos, Young thought to himself “[the team] doesn’t know any of these [alumnus]. These are monumental people in our program’s history. State runner ups, individual state champs, people who are on [HSE’s] wall of fame.”
Coach wanted these people to be more known in the program and he wants his current players to be able to learn from the people who went through all of the same things that they are going through. This is where the idea of ‘Championship Friday’ was created.
Every Friday throughout this season, there has been an HSE Golf alumni that comes to speak to the players to “bridge the gap, still be a Royal even after graduation, and be able to give helpful advice to current players”
Coach Young says he already sees these Championship Fridays improving the team since last year. He gives the team his own motivation and tips, but he thinks it “helps a lot to hear these things from a different voice and perspective to know ‘hey, this works.’ [Coach has] already heard conversations on the bus where [the players] talk about ‘let’s do what this guy told us about last week’ and just trying to put it into place.”
The Royals have one more Championship Friday to help guide the end of their season.
“They don’t know any of these guys… but they’re carrying the same bag, wearing the same lion, and chasing the same dream — that means something.”
