Visualize the Shot

       Yesterday I went to the driving range with a bunch of my friends. Lately I haven't been able to hit my driver well and I was kind of avoiding the club altogether. Anyways, I was watching all of the guys crush their drivers - they are guys so of course they want to hit it as far as they could. As I was seeing this good shots that were straight (mostly) and far, I wanted to try my driver again.
      Surprisingly, I was hitting the ball great! They were pretty straight and a lot farther than I would normally hit it. So we continued practicing and I had a good time.
      When I got home I was thinking about why I had hit my driver well. Then I realized it was because of the guys! I was watching their shots and it gave me a visual of what my hit should look like. Being able to see the shot allowed me to focus on it and perform better.
     So next time I get in a funk with any of my clubs I have to visually see the shot before trying to smack it :)

Women in Sports Conference

       This last Tuesday I was chosen to attend the Women in Sports Conference for the Southern Section athletic girls. My coach nominated my sister and I to go, along with some other girls from our school. It was pretty interesting. They had four different speakers, all women and all very successful. Each woman talked about her life and the obstacles she had to overcome.Michelle Smith, a famous softball player was there and she talked about her travels to Japan, the Australian Olympics, and her recovery after a major accident. Her elbow was broken and she had to fight through the doctors shaking their heads at her softball dream. She proved them wrong and was able to play softball and not only did she prove them wrong but she also pitched faster than she had pitched before the accident.
      My favorite speaker, Kaitlin Sandeno, told us about the early start of her Olympic career. She is a professional swimmer and competed in the Olympics for the first time when she was 17 years old. She took home a bronze to her home in Orange County. I won't go into her entire life but she stood out to me because she is such a stud. She had the best attitude towards...life pretty much. She told us that her goal in life is to be happy and that's how she faces all her problems. She was at the lowest point of her career when she was injured and told she wouldn't be able to compete, but she kept on going and giving it her all. She is definitely one of my idols. Her accomplishments, her smile, and her passion shows me that I can do anything (excuse me for the cheesiness but its true!).
   

Boys and Girls Club!

        Last week Comanches Care volunteered for the Boys and Girls Club. It is an afterschool day camp for kids that live close by. So my sister and I get there to set up the soccer field (basically some cones and a ball). Then I went around and asked/encouraged the kids to come play. Before I knew it there were 40 kids that wanted to play! I was kinda worried but I figured just throw us all together and say go. That was my plan and I stuck to it.
        The high school kids from my school showed up and we spread ourselves out on the field. Then I threw the ball up into the air and yelled go!!! In the beginning of the game it was obvious that one side was dominating the other because it was the big kids versus the little kids. So the CC members joined the little kids and made it more even. I had a lot of fun I will admit. It was the first time in a LONG time that I could be a kid. By the end of the game (about an hour and a half later) I was pooped!
         After getting some feedback from our club, I have decided to volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club atleast once a month. I think some other centers have volleyball and basketball courts too. Now I'M excited :) This whole kid thing is contagious.

Communication

        When I was in seventh grade I was one of the quietest kids in school. I didn't say hi to anybody other than my close friends and I was never one of the social butterflies. I was just shy Shyla. My dad noticed this and he told me that I needed to break this shell of mine. He told me that every single day I had to talk to five new  people at my junior high school. When he told me this I was so scared! I thought he was crazy and I dreaded going to school that day.
        The first day it was all I could think about. Finally, I saw some kids in my class that I didn't know and I approached them. Obviously, it was not as scary as I thought it would be and by the end of the week I was so happy. I could talk to a kid without looking down or mumbling.
       I am very grateful to this day that my dad made me do that little "exercise" of his. Not only did this allow me to grow socially with kids, but it gave me a boost when talking to adults too. With this new club of ours, I am dealing with working adults all of the time. Every month we plan at least two or three events. So I pick up the phone, dial a company, and work out the schedule with them. I am so comfortable talking with them now. I have to be confident, clear, and "I gotta sell it." If I get them interested in us, then the event will go much smoother since they appreciate our help.
        I think communicating with adults and teens will benefit anything that I pursue in the future.

Watching the Pros

         Recently I went to Maui, Hawaii and I had the privilege to attend and follow the professional golfers at the SBS golf tournament. Alot of pros including Paul Casey, Ogilvy, Kenny Perry, Reteif Goosen, Stewart Cink and many more played some awesome golf. It was an amazing experience to watch these guys kill in such a tough sport! To get so good and to be so precise and powerful almost EVERY shot just blows my mind. I watched them hit a tiny white ball 280 yards (almost three football fields) and knock it right next to the pin.

         My dad entered the Professional-Amateur tournament which was the day before the pros played on tv. This tournament gave the amateurs (my dad) a chance to pick one of the pros that was playing in the real tournament and to play a round of golf with them. They did call it a tournament but they didn't follow the normal match rules so it would be more fun for the higher scoring amateurs. Anyways, my dad picked Pat Perez. He had a lot of fun with Pat who is an awesome golfer. He is one of the long ball hitters out there and  it was killer to watch him crush the ball.

        Like any sport, pros do make mistakes (but rarely haha). On the eighteenth green Sean O'Hair had a shot into the green and he needed to land it close and make the putt for birdie. If he made birdie, he would tie with first place and have a chance to make the playoffs. He ended up hooking the ball right into the hazards. I felt so bad for him because I know exactly how he felt when I hit a shot on 18 that totally threw my score down the drain. (Well maybe not as badly since I wasn't playing in front of hundreds of fans and national television.) It was the nerves that got to him. I guess the professionals are human after all.

      This will definitely be an experience that I won't forget.

CC December Events

                    This has been such a fun month for Comanches Care. For our December month, we volunteered at the Special Olympics Floor Hockey Tournament. It was an amazing experience and I really cannot wait to volunteer for them again. Our jobs were to be the timers and the scorekeepers. We also took down all of the players' stats. Anyways, once we set up the boundaries and goals, the teams began to arrive. The players ranged from high school kids to adults and every single one had a smile and a great attitude. They were so excited and ready to play. I was amazed at how much heart they had. They gave 100% in every play and pass. I could see them encouraging their teammates and working together. Their coaches were pretty amazing people as well. They really care about their players and treat them all like their own kids. The Special Olympics Association did an amazing job with the tournament and I am sooo glad I went.
                

CIF Southern Section Champs

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/comanches-17736-cif-cypress.html    

This week our golf team took first place at CIF. We played at El Prado, the Butterfield side. It was such an amazing day. Our team shot a 372 to win by three strokes. I personally did not play as well as I wanted to but I made sure to keep my head up and in the game. I started out really well with mostly pars and the occasional bogey. Then I stumbled across a rough patch in my round. In the past, when my round starts to head downhill, my attitude would go down along with it. This time, I stomped those thoughts right out of my head and marched on to the final four holes. I ended parring all of them except a bogie on the second to last hole.

      After counting my score, I realized that I hadn't played the game I wanted but I did "think" the way I wanted to. When I met up with my team and we added our total, my stomach turned over! Three strokes...that is not a very big number to win by.