I had the great fortune to watch the men’s and women’s interstate teams championships in Melbourne last week.
I could waffle about the high standard of play and the immense potential of many of the athletes from around the country.
But if you followed our coverage of the event, you’ll already know of the outstanding achievements of Jarryd Felton, Julienne Soo, Blake Proverbs, Mitch Gridley, Hira Naveed, Grace Daniell, Greg Longmore, Dale Brandt-Richards, Hannah Green, Ben Eccles, Jack Williams and … the list goes on.
You’ll notice that in this list of achievers, there was no reference to the athletes’ states or territories.
If you can manage to overlook that, by definition, it’s an interstate event, the winner was – without fear of contradiction or a ribbing from the triumphant Victorian teams – Australia.
That’s not to say there wasn’t a fierce level of competition on the fairways of Royal Melbourne and Huntingdale. There clearly was.
But equally evident, just metres off the greens, was the camaraderie and understanding between our elite athletes, particularly those who’ve had previous exposure at this level.
And even more critical from an eternally hopeful Aussie golf fan’s point of view was the relationship between the national coaches and ALL the players, not just those wearing their own state’s colours.
Because, while a small minority in golf are content to look no further than their own back yard, I can assure you that the big picture is firmly etched into the minds of those with the future of our athletes in their hands – our national coaches and high performance staff.
I watched New South Wales coach Dean Kinney interact with the Victorian stars. I saw Queensland coach Tony Meyer sharing his time with members of the West Australian team. Tasmania mentor Alex Head, Victoria’s Marty Joyce, WA’s Ritchie Smith and South Australia’s Gareth Jones all gave freely of their time to anyone who asked for their expertise.
It didn’t matter their state.
It only mattered that they were Australian.
And that someone who will hopefully win a US Open was on the courses last week to take advantage of the knowledge surrounding them.
The celebrations of Golf Victoria were hard earned and justified – let’s not gloss over its achievement.
But regardless of which state or territory you call home, the ultimate success will only be determined by how many of these athletes with stars in their eyes – and not all of them want to push that extra mile – reach their potential on the global stage.
By the time this happens, and with the wisdom of ALL our coaches ringing in their ears, they’ll be wearing green and gold – the only colours that truly matter to our high performance staff and national coaching panel.