Cataleya Panagoulopoulos: Faces of First Tee, February 2021
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