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Name:
Anthea Solomon
Golf Club:
Yowani Country Club
What enticed you to become a Community Instructor?
My primary reason was because I wanted to see more females playing the game. I also really love teaching kids, it's so great to see their faces light up when they hit a good shot and they can see and feel that they are improving.
What programs have you been involved in the delivery of?
MyGolf and Swing Fit.
What do you enjoy most about instructing golf?
Sharing my passion for golf and seeing participants getting excited about improving.
What is your philosophy when instructing golf?
Keep it simple and make it as much fun as possible – don't sweat about absolute beginners not having the perfect grip or swing.
You have done a lot of work in schools, what has been your approach in forming relationships with them to deliver programs?
Projecting a positive image of golf, it's such a great inclusive game that can extend students in so many different areas and teach them different skills like concentration, perseverance, balance, and hand eye coordination to name just a few.
You have also recently been involved in the piloting of a range of Swing Fit offerings for Golf Australia within schools, gyms and other environments outside of golf clubs, how have you found this?
I have been really honoured to have been chosen to run these Pilot Programs for Golf Australia. All of the programs I have run have been a lot of fun and really popular. The Swing Fit high school pilots that I ran as part of the Youth Participation Pilot were incredibly popular and it was great to work with researchers from La Trobe Uni, the Australian Sports Commission, state golf associations and school teachers. We got some really interesting outcomes from work shopping the survey results from the pilots and I think grass roots golf is going to benefit greatly from this project.
The most exciting news from the project was a PE teacher at one of the schools said that they had kids that don’t usually participate in any sport wanting to take part in the Swing Fit pilot – and that they thoroughly enjoyed it.
I have also been responsible for running some pilots of Swing Fit in the Fitness industry and trailed the program at a Fernwood gym in Canberra which worked amazingly well. Participants really liked the program as it was different from other programs on offer and it was unique to the fitness environment. The participants also appreciated the convenience of being able to do the program in a gym setting after hours as light and weather wasn't an issue.
Another Swing Fit program I ran was at a community oval which was also really successful with lots of people in the neighbourhood walking past interested in what we were doing and asking how they could get involved. We even had a community cat join us at one of the classes, which was hilarious.
Can you offer any advice of CI's wanting to get more actively involved in golf programs in their community?
There are lots of places you can run golf programs other than golf courses just be sure to make sure you have the right permission. Don't be shy, give it a go, it's loads of fun.