Events – Page 4 – First Tee – Greater San Antonio

Participant BJ Little shares love of golf: “I want that to be a piece of my legacy”

With a perfect 4.0 GPA and student government experience under his belt, BJ Little wants to change the world. He aims to become a criminal defense attorney, U.S. Senator and eventually, President of the United States.

But first, BJ is focused on serving his community. Starting with his high school.

When BJ entered his freshman year at Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School there was no golf team. BJ wasn’t going to sit idly by, he was determined to form a team.

“In my freshman year, the very first thing I did was ask for the school to start a golf team,” says BJ. “The school went through all of the necessary preparations for the golf team to start, but then Covid happened.”

For BJ, and most of the country, school was now virtual for the next year and half, halting all chances for the team.

But BJ says the pandemic did not discourage him from achieving his goal.

“Going into my junior year I went in with the same mindset I had freshman year. I asked the school for a golf team, and they delivered.”

BJ helped by recruiting players and finding a practice facility. Leveraging his go-to team, a concept taught and encouraged at First Tee, he smartly enlisted help from his coach and director of golf operations at First Tee – Metro Atlanta Jeff Dunovant. They worked out a plan that the school could use the chapter’s facilities while BJ secured players for the team.

In 2021, the team officially launched. But there was still much work to do.

“BJ was the only player on the team who was not a beginner, so the practices would consist of BJ and I teaching the new players,” says Dunovant.

And for BJ, that’s what it’s what this is all about.

“In all honesty I just want people to have fun. The State and District titles will come with time. But ensuring students are happy and want to learn about golf is the most important thing to me. I hope that when I graduate Cristo Rey, students will still be playing golf. I want that to be a piece of my legacy to the school.”

BJ is one of 78 First Tee participants teeing off this Friday at the PURE Insurance Championship. The tournament pairs First Tee teens with PGA TOUR Champions players providing life-changing mentoring opportunities for the teens. This experience opens the participants’ eyes to the possibilities in golf and beyond as they are contemplating their future education and careers.

The tournament airs on Golf Channel.

Overcoming Obstacles: First Tee Teen Going to Pebble Beach

Isabella Lohr was in for a big surprise earlier this year.

She met PGA TOUR player and First Tee alum Austin Smotherman during the AT&T Byron Nelson in May, where he told the 17-year-old from First Tee – Dallas that she was selected to play in the 2022 PURE Insurance Championship.

Isabella is one of 78 First Tee participants who will tee off at Pebble Beach during the tournament, which will take place Sept. 23-25, 2022 and airs on Golf Channel.

“It’s the greatest honor anyone could receive, playing at Pebble Beach,” she said.

The welcome news came after a tough time for Isabella. She lost her childhood friend Dylan Dorrell on August 13, 2020, at the age of 17. He collapsed at a cross country practice and died at the hospital from an undetected heart condition. She says it’s the hardest experience she’s had to overcome.

“Grief was an obstacle I was not ready to face in life. It was a tremendous loss for me personally as every fond memory I had as a child included him.”

Shortly after Dylan’s passing, his parents created a foundation, #runforDylan in his memory.

“We were all still grieving but watching his parents turn their grief into a positive helped me gain a different perspective on life’s purpose.”

Isabella decided she too would honor his memory. In addition to nine years with First Tee, Isabella has been involved with Girl Scouts for more than a decade and decided to focus her Gold Award Project on raising funds for the #runforDylan Foundation.

Her project focused on organizing an annual 5K fun run to build awareness and gain funds for the foundation. More than 800 people participated in the inaugural event on the morning of November 6, 2021, raising close to $25,000. The proceeds will help fund AEDs at local parks in the community.

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First Tee is celebrating its 25^th anniversary of teaching life skills through the game of golf. Follow the PURE Insurance Championship at PGATOUR.com.

Wes Helmer: First Tee – Greater San Antonio Ace Participant

Ace participant, Wes Helmer, was selected for three First Tee National opportunities. He speaks about his experience at the First Tee National Championship at Notre Dame and the PGA Superstore Leadership Summit in Montana.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Wes Helmer. I’m a First Tee – Greater San Antonio Ace participant that loves volunteering and working at the First Tee. I’ve been in the First Tee for a little over 8 years now. I got started with one of the summer camps when I was 9. I kept golf as a secondary sport to soccer until I was around 12 and that’s when I went to golf full time. I applied to three events (First Tee National Championship, PGA Superstore Leadership Summit, and the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach) and got accepted into all three.

What was the National Championship like?

It was golf-oriented, and I got to meet a lot of people from around the country and other First Tee chapters with the practice rounds and dinners and the actual rounds. There were around 120 applicants with 24 boys and 24 girls selected.

What did it take to get selected?

They looked at a lot of volunteering outside of golf. A lot of people who apply are good golfers but it’s about what you do off the course; Focusing on volunteer hours and what you do around your community.

What was your favorite part of the National Championship?

My favorite part was definitely the setting being Notre Dame. It was a beautiful campus, and there were a lot of historical things to see; Playing the Warren Golf Course was just a bonus.

What did you learn most from the championship?

I learned about staying in the moment because I had a 10 on the first day and a 9 on the second, so learning from my mistakes and figuring out how to regroup.

After playing in the championship, what was your key takeaway?

After the championship, I really focused on my wedges. Compared to everyone else, I needed to work on them. I also encourage anyone to apply to these national opportunities because they are special.

What was the Leadership Summit like?

The Summit is a camp where a lot of great and highly thought of mentors come together. They instill how they have gotten to where they are and use their leadership skills to instill them to the kids there. It was a lot of journaling and reflecting on the team activities that we did and how those activities and reflecting connect to the real world.

What did you expect?

I expected there were going to be a lot of fun activities, but I did not expect there to be so many team-oriented activities there were and how they would apply to my everyday life.

What was the most valuable thing you learned?

The most valuable thing I learned was through listening to Michael Vick that success comes at different times for people, and it takes hard work and dedication to get there. When you make a mistake, you find a way to improve that and not let it affect you.

Going forward what will you do differently?

I had written when we journaled that I was going to be more involved in my local chapter and try to find a way to possibly work at the PGA Superstore and give back in my free time.

What would you say to someone starting in the First Tee program?

Don’t worry about your golf game as far as results but focus on using those 9 core values in your everyday life because your golf game will eventually come together.

What is the most meaningful core value to you?

My most meaningful core value would be perseverance because I haven’t found success immediately in my life but focusing on being a good person on and off the golf course has helped develop that success even when I had failures.

What are you looking forward most to at the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach?

Once again I am looking forward to meeting more people from different chapters of the First Tee and taking in the full experience of Pebble Beach and Spyglass.

Stay tuned to hear all about Wes’ experience at the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

2022 Game Changers Luncheon

The First Tee – Greater San Antonio was excited to host our inaugural Game Changer Luncheon, where we celebrated, in 2021, the over 1000 youth that were impacted by our First Tee programs. We awarded the Nine Core Value awards to 9 participants, as well as an overall Participant of the Year award and $2,500 scholarship to Kyle Mahan. Two corporations were also awarded for their Distinguished Service to the First Tee – Greater San Antonio. Mary Carriker, former executive director of the organization, was also awarded the inaugural Mary Carriker Commitment Award. Jeff Traylor, Head Football Coach at UTSA, was our guest speaker, with former FTSA Board Member Richard Oliver as emcee.

At the First Tee – Greater San Antonio, we empower youth to build character and life skills through the game of golf. The Game Changer Luncheon is our way to recognize our standout participants from the past year! These kids have gone above and beyond just being a participant in our program. They have made friends, been a mentor, volunteered, shown passion, and many other character traits that the First Tee instills. Below are the award winners:

Isabella Coronado – Courtesy

Hailey Creech – Confidence

Michelle Lee – Integrity

Zayden BroadnaxDeBerry – perseverance

Armond Walker – Respect

Jack Polansky – Responsibility

Dax Spencer – Sportsmanship

Honesty – Riley Lisenbee

Judgment – Riley Yount

Participant of the Year – Kyle Mahan

We cannot thank our donors and sponsors enough. Their continued support allows us to keep expanding our programs and allowing more kids than ever to learn about golf, but more importantly the character and life skills that First Tee instills in them. Congratulations to all award winners.

First Tee – Greater San Antonio @ 2022 Valero Texas Open

40 of our First Tee participants had the opportunity to celebrate with the Valero Texas Open Champion, JJ Spaun! Our players got to experience the emotion of a first time winner of a PGA tour event. There were many smiling faces with the excitement of meeting someone who has fulfilled the dream of working hard through the game of golf. Our game changers are inspired by players like JJ to be the best in a sport that they work so hard at every day. Due to the record setting charitable amount raised by this event, our players also got the pleasure of meeting PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, and Valero Energy Corporation CEO, Joe Gorder who spoke with them about the importance about golf on and off the course. First Tee – Greater San Antonio is grateful for events like the VTO that creates special moments for our participants.

-Charlotte Davis