Some people are involved in sports for their entire life. For senior Erika Rodgers, that was not the case. Throughout highschool, Rodgers has been heavily involved in clubs. She is involved in young Republicans, TSA, FCA; all three of which she is president for, NHS, Students for FHN and the mentor leadership program. This year, she decided to take a different route and get involved in something new; golf.

 “I have never actually played golf,” Rodgers said. “I played with my dad for fun for years. I never had the right clubs or anything. This summer, I needed something to do besides school so I was like let’s see what happens if I try golf.”

When Rodgers was younger, on top of the clubs that she was involved in, she played softball, volleyball, and basketball. However, when she transferred from private to public school, she decided she did not want to do any of those sports in the future so she stopped playing them. When she got into highschool, she focused a lot of her time on her grades and began taking a lot of honors and AP classes. But, this year, she wanted to try golf for her last year of high school along with all of the clubs she participates in.

“I was 100% so nervous,” Rodgers said. “All of the girls had already played so I was not prepared. I was terrified. I got a whole new set of clubs. I practiced a ton before tryouts and I was dedicated to improve.”

As tryouts progressed, Rodgers put in a lot of effort into making sure she was showing her best skills to the coaches. She ended up making the varsity golf team. She was super excited to take on a new activity and get to know all the girls on the team.

“She has a really good personality so she makes practice fun,” senior Summer Cline said. “She is very dedicated to getting better.”

The season has been going really well for Rodgers. She has learned many more skills that she did not know previously. Rodgers wants to be an engineer when she is older, so she really enjoys the aspect of calculating how far she needs to hit her ball and at what angle she should hit it at.  

“She is a solid player,” golf coach and science teacher Matthew Howard said. “Her enthusiasm keeps the team excited and she keeps it entertaining. She is very dedicated and very hard working and her dedication that we have seen in clubs is definitely coming over into sports.”   

Playing golf has taught Rodgers many skills that she will carry throughout life and her profession. It has taught her how to manage many things at once and how to apply skills from one club to another. She is very happy in her decision to play golf and she looks forward to the rest of the season.

“Golf has taught me how to balance everything,” Rodgers said. “It’s 100% worth it. All the clubs I do, it’s because I’m dedicated. I want to be an engineer, I want to help the school, I want to be a Christian and I do it because I love it. I know I’m stressed a lot but I do it all because I love it all.”