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The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Giving from the green to the community

    Senior James Anstiss shot even-par 72 in the final round at the Old Waverly Intercollegiate. The golf team will be competing in the LSU Tiger Classic this Thursday in Baton Rouge.
    Courtesy of Dr. Amber Narro

    The Lion’s golf team did more this season than get eagles on the green they have built a reputation of good deeds through extensive community service efforts.

    Players credited Head Coach Jake Narro with this rise in service work as his method of coaching includes positive but firm mentoring on the green and behind the scenes. 

    “We’ve done a tremendous year of volunteering,” said Narro. “We’ve done numerous things. We have helped two people, back when the floods happened, gut their houses on two consecutive days. We most recently volunteered at the Blues and BBQ Festival in Hammond. We also have volunteered in the past to go pick up litter with Keep Hammond Clean.”

    Students were grateful for their change in coaching as senior finance major Paul Obermann shared. Obermann is tied for fourth on the Lion’s all-time rankings after achieving his ninth career eagle this season.

     “I think the change in coaching has definitely led to a more friendly atmosphere,” said Obermann. “The whole team connection, the interaction between us teammates, how we practice together and how we treat each other have improved.”

    Despite successes on the green, Obermann credits their success to the service work their coach has encouraged throughout the year.

    “I think it is largely due to the community service and the influence of the coach,” said Obermann. “He’s been less of an authority which doesn’t mean we don’t respect him, but he encourages us more and helps us on the course and really accepts our personalities, which I think is really important for a successful golf team. He always brings the positivity to us. He makes us believe we are better than we may have performed, keeping our heads up. We keep improving with more confidence and encouragement and I think that’s how he really contributed to our great team spirit.”

    Narro is proud of the team this year because despite a fall in rank, they have shown they can compete against big-name teams and hold their ground.

    “Our best event of the year was also when James finished second,” said Narro. “We also as a team finished six out of eight teams. But the thing about that sixth place finish was the strength of the field. There were five highly ranked teams there and we really competed well with some really big programs.”

    Senior finance major James Anstiss had his seventh and eighth career eagle this year, leaving his tied for sixth all-time for the Lion’s rankings, he shared the ups and downs the team has experienced this season.

     “We had a couple not so good events,” said Anstiss. “There has been a lot of good stuff in there, just got balanced out with a bit of bad rounds too. It’s unfortunate, but we just have to put it all together at the right time and it’ll pan out.  The struggle, when looking at the stats, we’ve always been up there with the amount of birdies everyone is making but we’ve made a few mistakes and then a few more and had a few less pars than everyone else which has hurt our scores a lot.“

    The player’s goals are to use this momentum to do better in the upcoming conference.

     “Our goal is to get some confidence and team spirit and to really do well in the upcoming conference,” said Obermann.

    According to Golfweek, the Lions team ranks 156 overall with a score of 34 wins, 71 losses and 3 ties this year.

     

    Senior Paul Obermann is captured during an iron swing. Obermann is currently in 8th place all-time with 301 birdies.
    Courtesy of Dr. Amber Narro

     

     

     

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