Author: mhutcheson

Hi, I am Lilian Davey. I am 13 years old and have been playing with the First Tee program for 3 years. I’ve always had an eye for golf; it was something I could just sit and watch and never get bored of. Before golf, and still till this day, I’ve had a passion for different types of martial arts. I started doing different types of martial arts when I was 6 years old, but right now I practice Okinawan karate, boxing and I’m a brown belt. Aside from sports, I love learning different languages. I am fluent in French and American Sign Language. I’m currently learning Spanish, French Sign Language, German, and Latin. I go to Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orléans which is a French school, and is how I learned French. Faces of the First Tee portraits: New Orleans Snapshots by Andrew J. Cohoon

Hola! My name is William Smothers, and I am 11 years young. I am the youngest of five children and a 5th grader at the International School of Louisiana – Westbank. I am a Birdie participant of First Tee. I have a ton of different interests and hobbies outside of golf. I like to build robots, watch Anime Youtube episodes, and play basketball with my neighborhood friends. Also, I love traveling with my family. However, my passion is cooking. I plan to one day turn that passion into a career by becoming a celebrity chef like Gordon Ramsay. I am entering my 3rd year as a First Tee participant. I have enjoyed every year and I am excited about continuing my participation in the program. The First Tee has taught me so much, and I appreciate every lesson taught through the program’s 9 Core Values. Of the 9 Core Values, I believe perseverance will help push me to a great chef. Perseverance teaches me to never give up no matter how tough something gets. Confidence is another core value that will help move me forward because I have enough confidence in my passion for cooking to keep going even if people doubt my skills or abilities. I do aspire to one day be a professional golfer like Mr. Charlie Sifford. If I continue to work hard, focus, and remain humble, I can achieve both: a professional golfer and celebrity chef. Faces of the First Tee portraits: New Orleans Snapshots by Andrew J. Cohoon

Hi! I am Cataleya Panagoulopoulos, a 8 year old third grader at Audubon Charter School. I have a younger brother that drives me up the wall, ugh!! I have a very active life, as I love to dance, sing, take violin, play golf and act in my school play each semester. I am creative and love all types of art, but normally don’t really like sports. I don’t really do all that running around. I like things that require planning and strategy. Thats why I like to play board games with my dad, especially when I beat him. I play the game and look at the rules to find loopholes and a way to win. It takes careful thought and skill. That’s why I like golf, because it’s just like that. I like that it involves strategy, skill, and perseverance in order to succeed. Just like the science experiments I do at STEM camp, to get an experiment to work, you have to prepare and plan for what you’re doing, and make sure you follow the steps and do it right or it won’t work. As I have gotten to attend First Tee, the instructors have been teaching us how to play, and in the process have been teaching us about the Core Values that are important for success, not only in golf but in life too! The Nine Core values are honesty, integrity, confidence, courtesy, respect, responsibility, judgement, sportsmanship, and perseverance. I have been learning, and the more I practice and play, the better I have become lining up my shots and getting my drives closer to the hole each time. While I have a long, long way to go, I know that with practice, I will be able to succeed. While all the Core Values are important, for me the ones that I think about most are Confidence and Perseverance, because of all the ways they extend beyond golf. Sometimes, when I am getting ready to act out a new play or play a new song on my violin in front of people, I get a little nervous and worried about messing up in front of all those people. But then I remember all the work I have done practicing and working through the difficult parts, memorizing the lines or notes and their order, even when I get frustrated after messing up. By persevering and continuing to practice and work, I know my lines. Knowing my lines, it gives me confidence that I will be able to do it right in front of the audience. And with confidence, I can perform at my best! Faces of the First Tee portraits: New Orleans Snapshots by Andrew J. Cohoon

Hi! My name is Ashley Biehl, and I am 11 years old. I am the youngest of four children and a 6th grader at St. Angela Merici. My hobbies are baking, cooking, writing, photography, sewing, and playing golf. I am a birdie participant in the First Tee of Greater New Orleans. The First Tee has taught me so many different things. One of these things that they have taught me is the importance of the 9 core values. These 9 core values are honesty, integrity, confidence, courtesy, respect, responsibility, judgement, sportsmanship, and perseverance. My favorite core value is perseverance. This core value has taught me to never give up, even when you have a tough challenge you have to face. One tough challenge I have had to face is being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes has been a struggle, but with all the support I have, I know that I am unstoppable! Even though Type 1 Diabetes has its disadvantages, I have learned a lot from my experience with it. Something I have learned with my experience with Type 1 Diabetes is to never give up. Persevering can be hard, especially when you don’t know what to do when you are facing obstacles in your life. Type 1 Diabetes has been a very hard obstacle because I have to check my blood sugar, give myself insulin, and watch what I eat every day. I know I have the support from my friends and family to overcome this challenge. I am fearless! Type 1 Diabetes has also given me a lot of opportunity to do things that I may not have been able to do before. I have been able to speak to my entire school about my experiences with Type 1 Diabetes and what it is in order to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). I have also been able to talk to U.S. House of Representatives Minority Whip, Steve Scalise’s associate to bring awareness about diabetes for federal funding and the benefits of the JDRF’s research. I was in the top ten for raising money for the JDRF One Walk this year and last year. All these experiences have shown me that I can do anything as long as I put my mind to it and that having Type 1 Diabetes can’t stop me from becoming the person I want to be or doing the things I want to do. I am limitless! The First Tee, the game of golf, and my experience with Type 1 Diabetes have all shown me to persevere through my challenges. Playing the game of golf shows me that some things are unpredictable, just like diabetes can be. Each of these things has shown me that I am limitless, fearless, and unstoppable. Faces of the First Tee portraits: New Orleans Snapshots by Andrew J. Cohoon

Hi!  My name is Brant W. R. Walterman.  I’m eleven years old and in fifth grade.  I started playing golf with First Tee when I was six, and it is the only sport I’ve ever really enjoyed.  So far, the driving range is my favorite activity.  I’m super tall, so that helps me hit the ball really far.  Golf has helped me learn to keep trying when I get frustrated and to concentrate on my goals.  I love getting to hang out with my First Tee friends every Saturday on the golf course. When I grow up, I want to be an Astrophysicist and a Composer.  I’ve been fascinated by space since I can remember.  I love to stay up late and use my telescope to look at the stars.   Hopefully, someday, I’ll get to travel somewhere with less light pollution so that I can see the sky as clearly as it appears in a planetarium.  I also love music.  I started begging to play piano after I saw one at my great-grandma’s house when I was two.  I’ve studied piano since I was three and have been composing my own music since I was eight.  For the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to perform pieces I’ve written at my recitals, and once, I even took over a piano in a coffee shop.  They gave me free cookies for playing them my song.  Someday, I hope to write amazing music like my favorite composers, Beethoven and John Williams. Faces of the First Tee portraits: New Orleans Snapshots by Andrew J. Cohoon

Hi, my name is Nina Edgecombe. I am 8 years old, and in the 3rd grade. I have been in the First Tee program for three years now. I wanted to learn to play golf because my Dad plays golf. I like all the fun activities during First Tee lessons, such as Sharks and Minnows and Pokemon chipping. I also think the Play Days are really fun. I like the Play Days because you get to play holes on an actual golf course and explore it. I am looking forward to being a Junior Coach in First Tee when I’m older because I could show other kids how much fun golf is. I also like to play the piano and tug of war with my dog. A way that playing piano is like playing golf is piano is fun playing both fast and slow, and so is golf—you have to hit the golf ball fast and thinking about how to hit it and getting set up is slow. They both take a lot of practice. Faces of the First Tee portraits: New Orleans Snapshots by Andrew J. Cohoon