It’s been 10 years since the University of Michigan-Flint last offered golf as a club sport, a new student hopes to not only restart the team, but aim for national recognition. U-M Flint freshman Jakob Ethington spent his first year in college fostering a space for fellow student golfers to compete for their school, creating the new U-M Flint Golf Club.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Ethington explained why he decided to take on the task of recreating the club. After playing golf throughout his childhood, Ethington said he wanted to continue playing on a collegiate level.
“I played high school golf, and starting from (age) 8 I played (with the) Flint Junior Golf Association,” Ethington said. “Every summer they do leagues and tournaments, and I played in that since I was 8 years old. I wanted to find a way to still play collegiate golf somehow. They advertised to start teams and I figured, ‘Why not? Let’s do it.’ ”
In a statement provided to The Daily, Julia Stulock, associate director for recreational services at U-M Flint, said while there are no records on the inactivity of the previous club golf team, club sports are only offered to the extent that there is student interest to maintain them, as all management is done by students.
“We don’t have any records for why the previous golf club stopped being active,” Stulock wrote. “Typically, this is due to a change in student interest levels, or club leaders graduating and no other students are able to step into the leadership roles.”
Ethington said he was surprised by how many students supported his idea. To form a club sport at U-M Flint, a student needs at least six other students to signal their interest in joining the club. Ethington said he quickly received interest from far more than six peers.
“I was surprised,” Ethington said. “I thought it would be hard and right now we’ve got 37 people that have reached out, so the interest is there for sure.”
When forming the club, Ethington said he felt it was important to open the opportunity to play to all students, regardless of gender.
“I wanted to give everyone a chance to play collegiate golf regardless of gender or skill level,” Ethington said. “Luckily, our league is co-ed and all skill levels can play. We want to give everyone an opportunity to play golf at U-M Flint.”
Club golf is unique by providing opportunities for both male and female students to compete alongside one another in their league. Other club sports are open to all genders, Vance Arrington, U-M Flint intramural and club sports coordinator, said in an interview with The Daily, but usually women compete against women and men compete against men. He said the club golf team is the only sport which competes in a co-ed league at U-M Flint.
“This aligns with our club sports mission and also our university mission of providing an all inclusive experience to all our students,” Arrington said. “Sports bring people from all different areas together and is a universal language. Allowing people to bond over something they grew up playing, loving and cherishing.”
U-M Flint junior Nicholas Newman told The Daily he joined the team as a way to meet new people and find a strong community.
“I joined the team as it seemed like a great way to make new friends and try something new,” Newman said. “While I’m not completely new at golf, Jakob made it clear that you didn’t have to be good, or even play at all to join the club.”
LSA Junior Henry Zayko, co-president of the Ann Arbor campus’ club golf team, wrote in a statement to The Daily that the organization is looking forward to competing alongside the Flint campus’ team in future tournaments.
“It’s a shame that they haven’t had a club team for around ten years now, and we wish every school was able to field a team and compete in events,” Zayko wrote. “We look forward to seeing them at the regional tournaments, and hopefully we’ll both be able to qualify for nationals.”
Though the process of planning practices and meetings were difficult at times, Ethington said he eventually found a system that works for everyone.
“We’re being relaxed on (attendance) where you make what (meetings) you can,” Ethington said. “Usually it’ll be me (scheduling the meetings) a few days before, I’ll be like ‘Hey, what time can anybody do on Wednesday?’”
Despite being the president of the team and organizing practices and tournaments, Ethington said he doesn’t want to be seen as a coach.
“We can only take six players to tournaments, so our logic is (to take) our best six golfers, and it’s hard to do that,” Ethington said. “Because then you’re moving into what a coach would do, and I don’t want to be that. It’s a tough position, but we’ve worked it out.”
Including the new U-M Flint Golf Club, U-M Flint currently has eight club teams. Arrington told The Daily the Flint campus continually works to spread awareness about club sports on campus, including the benefits of participating in club sport.
“At the end of the year, we have a big Recreation Bash event where all our club sports come in, and they do tabling, giveaways and little demos of what they have to offer,” Arrington said. “But we also have university-wide events where club sports have opportunities to get in front of the students and showcase what they have and what they have to offer.”
Arrington said the club sports program mainly exists to cultivate a good experience for students seeking to play sports and meet new people.
“We just want to create a fun and safe environment for (students),” Arrington said. “That kind of creates a positive experience, and being in club sports you get to meet new people and work on all different dimensions of social wellness and physical wellness.”
While many universities provide athletic opportunities for their students through both varsity and club sports teams, U-M Flint solely provides club sports, something which Arrington said he believes is more beneficial to student athletes.
“We’re able to reach a lot more students compared to varsity athletics,” Arrington said. “Obviously, there’s a small percentage of students that go and play at that level, so for students that possibly couldn’t make it at that level or wanted to continue in college but not as competitive, club sports is definitely the way to go.”
The team is currently preparing for a two-day tournament in two weeks, which Ethington said he is confident they can succeed in.
“I know some of the scores of some of our top people, and I think we should be able to (make), hopefully, top three,” Ethington said.
As the club starts its first spring season, Ethington said he is focused on building a sustainable structure for the team in years to come.
“I want to get a good foundation of everything set so that it can be a sport and club that is going to be around when I’m out of school,” Ethington said. “I can, as an alumni, look (and say) ‘Oh yeah, that’s cool that they’re still running and it’s still going.’ ”
Though the team has competitive ambitions, Ethington said he encourages golfers of all skill sets and backgrounds to join and compete.
“You don’t have to be the best golfer to come out to this team,” Ethington said. “I can work with people, and there are other people, (who) can set people up and at least teach new golfers fundamentals and just tips.”
Daily Staff Reporter Joshua Nicholson can be reached at joshuni@umich.edu.