As freshmen Nixon Lipe and Brayden Flint walk up to the final green of the last day of tryouts, a swirl of stress and uncertainty revolves around their minds. Neither of them will know what will happen in a matter of minutes when they talk to coach David Young once the final putt drops. As the swift sound of a ball dropping in the hole for both Lipe and Flint, they both walk up to Coach Young to await their fate as a high school golfer. Coach Young calms their nerves by announcing that they both made the team as freshmen.
Making a high school sports team can either be an easy task or one of the hardest things a student can do. For a school like HSE, making the Boys Golf Team can prove to be quite challenging considering HSE has one of the best high school golf teams in the state of Indiana. Freshmen Nixon Lipe and Brayden Flint are two incoming freshmen on the team who still have so much to prove to the upperclassmen and the coaches to keep their spot on a talented roster. Towards the end of the golf team’s season, I conducted an interview with freshmen Nixon Lipe and Brayden Flint to determine how their high school golf career has turned out as they near the end of their freshman year on the golf team.
Whenever anyone enters a new setting, adaptation can be difficult or easy for people. When Lipe and Flint were asked about their feelings about entering a new culture in HSE, Flint responded, “It felt very welcoming, and I knew most of the sophomores and I hung out with them quite a bit and it just led to a fun season.” Lipe had a very similar response, stating, “I felt great entering the new culture. It was a good change and everyone was very welcoming.”
Knowing how limited the spots were on the team and how many people were at tryouts, everyone had sense of doubt in themselves. However, once one makes the team, they feel relieved they have what it takes. When Lipe and Flint were asked about how it feels to be part of a select amount of people to be on the team as freshmen, Lipe responded, “It feels good, and it makes me proud that I was able to be one of the few freshmen.” Lipe continued, “It also makes me push myself harder to continue to improve.” Flint responded, “I felt proud of myself becoming one of the few freshmen this year knowing the amount of work I put in.” Flint finished by stating, “now I need to start working even harder to make it next year.”
Coming into a new culture brings several changes. Lipe and Flint had made sure to adapt to those changes the best that they can. When asked about how high school golf is different from middle school golf, Flint responded, “My freshman year on the team was different than previous years mainly on the workload that we have.” Flint continued, “We have had a lot more practice and matches than middle school and overall, I feel like I improved a lot after middle school. I just need some adjusting to get comfortable.” Lipe responded differently by stating, “I would say that the culture here is a lot different.” Lipe followed up with, “We are a lot more competitive, and we are a lot closer with each other outside of golf than in junior high.”
Lipe and Flint felt that they both had very successful freshman years as high school golfers. Flint said, “My work ethic has spiked. After I medaled against Fishers with a 38, I knew I had it in me to start playing with more consistency and I just wanted to prove what I can to help the team.” Lipe added, “It was a great experience this year, I met a lot of new people golfing and I was able to overcome a lot of challenges.”
