Golf has become another meaningful way for me to serve, mentor, and spend time around young people who are learning lessons that go well beyond a scorecard.
I serve as a varsity golf coach with Indian Rocks Christian School in Largo, Florida. The role gives me an opportunity to support student-athletes as they develop their game, learn how to compete, handle pressure, represent their school, and grow in character and faith.
I enjoy golf, but what makes coaching worthwhile is not simply teaching someone how to hit a better shot. It is watching a young person learn patience, discipline, responsibility, sportsmanship, and the confidence that comes from working at something over time.
Indian Rocks Christian School places athletics within the larger educational and spiritual development of its students. That philosophy is one of the reasons this role fits naturally into my life.
I have always believed that some of life’s most useful lessons are learned through experience.
Sports provide plenty of those experiences. A player can prepare well and still have a bad round. One poor hole can test your attitude. A teammate may need encouragement when your own game is not going the way you hoped. You learn quickly that talent matters, but attitude, preparation, resilience, and character matter too.
As a coach, I want our players to improve technically, but I also want them to understand that how they carry themselves matters. How they respond to a mistake matters. How they treat a teammate matters. How they represent their school matters.
Those are lessons that transfer directly into school, business, relationships, leadership, and life.
A lot of what I value in golf is the same thing I value in business and community leadership.
Preparation matters. Relationships matter. Integrity matters. You have to make decisions with the information available to you. You cannot control every outcome. You have to recover from mistakes. And you have to keep moving forward.
Coaching gives me an opportunity to share some of those lessons in a completely different environment.
If a player finishes a season as a better golfer, that is good. If that same player also becomes more confident, disciplined, responsible, and prepared for life beyond golf, that is even better.
Golf is different from many team sports because the player ultimately has to stand over the ball and make the shot.
A coach can help prepare you. Your teammates can encourage you. You can practice for hours. But once you are on the course, you have to manage your own thoughts, emotions, decisions, and expectations.
That makes golf a tremendous teaching tool.
You learn honesty because much of the game depends on personal integrity. You learn patience because forcing the issue usually makes things worse. You learn focus because the last shot cannot be changed. And you learn humility because golf has a way of reminding everybody that there is always something else to improve.
Those are qualities I want to reinforce whenever I have an opportunity to coach.
My connection to Indian Rocks Christian School is personal as well as athletic. Our family has been part of the Indian Rocks community, and I have had the opportunity to see firsthand how the school combines academics, athletics, faith, and character development.
Coaching gives me another opportunity to participate in that community and support students in an area they care about.
The official IRCS athletics program includes varsity boys and girls golf as well as middle school golf. The school describes its golf program as representing IRCS and Christian sportsmanship on courses throughout the Tampa Bay area.
That last part matters to me. When our players are away from campus, they are representing more than themselves. They are representing their teammates, families, coaches, school, and faith.
Over the years, Belltech has had the opportunity to work with businesses and organizations throughout Florida and beyond.
Our work has included relationships with brands and organizations such as:
Some relationships have lasted for many years.
That matters to me more than simply counting projects.
Powered By Belltech has grown into a full-service digital marketing and technology company providing services that include:
The tools continue changing. Our responsibility is to understand those changes and help our customers use them effectively.
I also appreciate the opportunity to work alongside coaches who have spent years developing young athletes.
Coaching is not about walking into a program and assuming you know everything. It is listening, learning the system, understanding what the head coach expects, and contributing where you can be useful.
I enjoy bringing my own experience in leadership, business, community service, and golf to the program, but I also continue learning from the people around me.
The best teams are not built around one person. They are built when coaches, athletes, families, and the school work together.
I want our players to compete. I want them to prepare, improve, and give themselves a chance to win.
But winning cannot be the only measurement of a successful high school athletic experience.
A student-athlete should leave the season stronger in ways that are not always visible on a leaderboard: more disciplined, more confident, more responsible, better able to handle adversity, and more aware of what it means to be part of a team.
Indian Rocks Christian School’s athletics philosophy emphasizes high-level competition while maintaining good sportsmanship, Christ-like attitudes, and a servant spirit. That is a standard I am proud to support.
Being a father has changed the way I think about coaching.
When you are working with someone else’s child, you have a responsibility to remember that the student standing in front of you is much more important than the score they shoot that afternoon.
My daughter Zoë is also a student-athlete, and watching her compete has given me the perspective of both a parent and a coach. I know what it feels like to want your child to succeed, and I also know how important it is for young athletes to have adults around them who encourage effort, responsibility, and growth rather than making every moment about winning.
That perspective is something I try to carry onto the golf course.
Powered By Belltech continues to help businesses strengthen their technology, marketing, visibility, and ability to grow.
