September 10, 2004

Evergreen Sports

EVC soccer

High School rivals come together to form winning teams

By Meri Coleman
Special to the Times

A sense of pride and community spirit emanates from former East Side Union High School District students as they shed old rivalries and bond together to form the 2004 Evergreen Valley College Men’s and Women’s soccer teams.

Players from high schools like Andrew Hill, Mt. Pleasant, Overfelt, Independence, James Lick, Santa Teresa and Oak Grove plan to show what commitment, hard work, training and cohesiveness can accomplish.

“It’s great playing with top players from other high schools,” says Nico Arellano, one of the EVC soccer players. “It feels like an All-Star team. We will be ready for anything by the time we start playing for real.”

His dad, the EVC men’s head coach, Nick Arellano, says, “There is no reason for any good soccer player to leave Evergreen or the East Side to play soccer. Here at Evergreen [Valley College] we have the best facilities, and being a soccer-only school makes us the perfect spot to play and acquire a first-class education.”

This year, the EVC soccer staff hopes to provide the community with excitement by producing winning soccer teams to inspire community spirit by offering a first-class family friendly outing. Evergreen College has one of the best soccer facilities in Northern California, complete with a turf field, stadium lights and free admission to regular season home games.

Members from youth soccer teams will be serving as ball boys and girls during home games. Plans for half-time entertainment include soccer fans and stars competing in challenging and entertaining contests.

“The boys and girls have been working extremely hard to represent Evergreen Valley College and the community both on and off the field. It is great to see one-time high school rivals come together to form a strong unit. There is no doubt in my mind that we will have an extremely successful season,” Coach Arellano adds.

Dreams of becoming the next Tiger Woods

Evergreen boy wins first place in 2004 U.S. Kids Golf State Championships

By Jeffrey Lo
Times Intern

Aside from the fact that Tharusyan Pillay is active in Cub Scouts like many boys in Evergreen, this nine-year-old is no average kid.

The fourth grader at Tom Matsumoto Elementary School is already a veteran of the competitive golfing scene. He has competed in some of the most prestigious children’s golf tournaments in the country for more than a year.

In his debut tournament at the 2003 U.S. Kids Golf State Championships, Tharusyan was the only participant to score an eagle (two strokes under par) for the tournament.

This year, as a member of the Junior Golf Association of Northern California (JGANC), Tharusyan competed—and placed—in many more tournaments around the Bay Area. For example, he placed third in the Little People’s Championships and first in the Pruneridge Junior Tournament.

Yet his biggest accomplishment to date is winning first place in the 8-year-old age division of the 2004 U.S. Kids Golf State Championships held at the Shoreline Golf Course in Mountain View on June 30.

By winning this event, he automatically qualified for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships in Virginia, held July 28 to 31. There he tied for 26th place in the world in the 8-year-old age division. One day before the world championship began, Tharusyan also won first place in his age group in a skills tournament for landing his golf ball closest to the hole.

“He started playing when he was only three. In fact, he started playing the game with a toy set of plastic clubs when he was one,” recalled Tharusyan’s father, Kelly.

“I am a golfer myself,” continued Kelly. “He used to tag along with me when I would go to the driving range. His interest in the sport began with him watching me hit golf balls.”

Tharusyan Pillay has already set high goals for himself. As a Tiger Woods fan like his father, the youngster said, “I want to go to Stanford and someday win golf’s Grand Slam.”

His passion for golf has already taken him far and may one day catapult him to the PGA. “I want to become a pro golfer, just like Tiger Woods,” he proudly remarked.

Yet his mom, Shasi, also thinks like Tiger Woods’ mom, who made Woods return to Stanford after he dropped out to go pro. “I always tell Tharusyan that even if he becomes a professional, he will still have to finish college.”

A seasoned competitor who calls “the links” his home

Tharusyan Pillay, who celebrated his ninth birthday on Sept. 10, has already competed in the following tournaments:

- Buchanan Fields Junior Golf Classic
- Palo Alto Junior Golf Classic
- Shoreline Junior
- Little People's Championship
- Grayson Woods Junior Classic
- U.S. Kids State Golf Tournament
- Crystal Springs Junior
- Almaden Junior
- Saratoga Little Junior Classic
- Pruneridge Junior Tournament
- U.S. Kids World Golf Tournament
- Micke Grove Junior Classic
- Father-Son Santa Teresa Tournament
- San Leandro City Junior

High school senior seeks to empower young women

By Fiona Sortor
Staff writer

Clad in matching skirts and T-shirts, with crisp new red and pink Nike visors atop their heads, 25 little girls stand in a straight line, bent slightly over, hands one on top of another, grasping golf clubs, eyes fixed on the ball and ready to swing.

In sing-song voices the girls repeat after their bronzed instructor, “one-and-two, swing-out-and-hold!” On the instructor’s cue they raise their clubs behind their backs and bring them forward, sending dozens of white balls flying off into the golden-green distance.

These 25 girls are all part of a project taking place at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club, led by 18-year-old Megann Crowley.

Strong golfing background
Megann, a senior from Notre Dame High School, has taken on teaching this group of girls for her senior service project, a requirement of the school. The goal of the project is to empower young girls in golf, a sport that Megann sees as predominantly male.

Megann has been playing golf since she was 12 years old and has first-hand experience of being a young woman playing golf.

From ages 12 to 16, she participated in junior tours, stopping to focus on her studies. She has been part of three separate golf teams, the all-boys Silver Creek Country Club team, the all-boys Valley Christian golf team and the golf team at Notre Dame High School, which is a girl’s school.

At Notre Dame she has made the varsity team three years in a row and earned the awards of Most Valuable Player, Most Outstanding Player, 2002 WBAL Champion Golfer and 2003 team captain.

Outside of these teams she has participated in tournaments across the country and has played with PGA golfers such as Davis Love III.

“I’ve enjoyed every little bit of it,” Megann said, admitting that she’s had some tough experiences, too.
Motivation for mentoring girls

“I was always a little bit embarrassed and afraid to ask questions around other boys and the male instructors,” she said.

She has also experienced sexism. On the Valley Christian golf team, Megann was not allowed to advance to the varsity team because she was a girl, despite the fact that she was the number-one player on her team.

In her words, Megann is excited to teach this all-girls class because she “ed girls to be able to play in an environment that is fun and somewhere where they won’t be embarrassed or trying to impress boys,” she said.

So far, Megann has led four classes of 25 girls between the ages of 5 and 12 years old. Each class meets from 3- to 5 p.m. on Saturday afternoons at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club.

According to Megann, only members of the club can participate in the class at this time.
Each girl pays $50 for the class, which covers the food provided to them after each session. The instructors are not paid.

What the classes offer
At the beginning of each class, the girls are separated into three groups, based on their age.

During the lesson, each group of girls rotates between three stations: chipping, putting and range work. Two instructors from the country club, Kelly Jackson and Trudy Soza, assist Megann in teaching the class. Megann leads the class in chipping, Jackson teaches range work and Soza teaches putting.

Through practice, repetition and games, the girls learn the fundamentals of golf, the proper stance and footwork, and how to have a good time.

“So far it’s been a swinging success,” Megann said. “I only expected about five girls to sign up for the program, and now we have 25!”

Megann also commented that some people at the club discouraged her from starting the class, because previously kids classes had failed. “I feel like Mohammed Ali!” she said, excited about the success of her class. “The girls have learned a lot already and seem to be relaxed and enjoying themselves.”

Jackson and Soza have been impressed with the class as well.

Soza, a professional golfer, has been an instructor at Silver Creek Country Club for the past two years. She teaches the part of the class devoted to putting.

She said helping Megann with the class is her way of giving back to the club, by fostering and developing its youth. She has enjoyed watching the girls’ excitement for the sport, and noted that they are improving.

During the last class, Jackson also commented on the seriousness of the children. “They are all really improving, and are surprisingly serious about their game,” she said.

So far Megann has enjoyed teaching the class, and although there are only two sessions remaining, she wants to stay involved in working with girls.

“Right now there is only a boys’ team, and I’ve been thinking about starting one for the girls,” she said.

Megann is currently engulfed in the process of applying to universities and has a pretty good idea of what she wants to do. If she receives a golf scholarship she plans to stay in California, if not, she is thinking about studying art and philosophy at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.