KeNako has once again enjoyed a rewarding year filled with cheer and challenges; an exciting year that saw many new students joining the academy program – enjoying an ever evolving program that remains innovative and at the cutting edge. A program that is kept fresh, up to date and educational; but all the while fun for the students.
The challenges the students bring with them are numerous, especially as most of them are growing through their teenage years; years filled with changes in hormonal balances and imbalances! Technical, physical and attitudinal habits and beliefs need to be addressed and if necessary adjusted for the student to become more efficient, consistent and increasingly competitive.
Patience is a tough challenge to deal with, particularly in today’s modern world, where information is literally at one’s finger tips, but the information and digital ‘overload’ does not translate into instant success. Patience, focus, dedication and passion remain key ingredients in the progressive drive to success in golf or in any sporting or life discipline for that matter. They are attributes that the professionals at KeNako try to encourage and nurture. They are Skills for Life.
It takes a while for these attitudes to be adopted and become an entrenched part of the everyday lives of the students. KeNako is now in the fortunate position of having a few students who have been at the academy for a few years now and their progress, both at golf and in life, bears testimony to the quality of the program. Once the students learn to trust the program and the professionals at KeNako their improvement is usually quite dramatic.
The younger students have observed their seniors positive attitude and this enables and encourages them to commit more readily to the program – this in turn accelerates their learning curve. The success of some of KeNako’s newer students bears testament to this and several of the newer students have performed exceedingly well in 2012, their first year at the academy. Similar progress in future years will surely see the birth of some of tomorrow’s champion golfers!
From a coaching perspective it has been very enjoyable to watch all the students improve their technical, physical and mental skills this year; growing in confidence and applying their newfound skills on the golf course whilst playing competitive rounds.
Most if not all of the students enjoyed wonderful moments and rewarding achievements during the course of the year, be it their best ever tournament rounds; a tournament win and in some cases multiple wins; representing their school with distinction; and the year saw 11 KeNako students representing the Southern Cape at provincial level.
The high quality level of play bodes well for KeNako as it has set a standard for the students not only to maintain but to improve on – they are driving and motivating each other to achieve. The old adage “success breeds success” is so true and I would like to congratulate all the students on their achievements this year.
On a personal note I wish all of our students well. Rest and enjoy your time at home with your families and practice and maintain some of the skills that you have learnt during the holiday period. I wish all of our students and their families a happy and gratifying Festive Season.