Girls' Golf a Budding Sport at Westfield High

High school golf is a co-ed sport for the majority of schools in Northern Virginia, but is one of several schools in recent years that has started an all-girls team.

Mark McCullor signed on this year to coach the girls but said there has not been enough players to compete in matches this year. The team needs at least three or four more members in order to go head-to-head. McCullor hopes to form a full-fledged squad for the 2012 season.

“I’m trying to get word out there that there is an actual girls team. In a lot of schools you are forced to join a co-ed team and there can be a big intimidation factor there sometimes,” said McCullor. “So, we’re trying to raise awareness and hopefully we’ll get enough where we can do school matches against other teams.” 

The boys’ team has been supportive of McCullor's effort and helped him out in the beginning of the season, the coach said. A handful of girls came out for tryouts but only two have stuck it out and come to every practice. McCullor has been impressed with his freshman and sophomore players who have shown the initiative, courage and determination to learn.

Although the girls cannot compete in school matches, they are eligible to enter tournaments. However, McCullor does not think it fair to put them in that position yet, as they are both still learning many rules and fundamentals of the game. McCullor believes the sport to be one that is valuable in teaching kids more than how to swing a club.

“It teaches someone more than just competing against other individuals. The game of golf is you against the course,” he said. “It teaches honesty and it’s a thinking game. There are so many shots you can play and it’s just a great sport and very unique.”

The elementary school teacher/golf coach said he enjoys coaching girls because although just as talented as boys, they tend to have more fun while playing sports.

“They might be a little more apt to form friendships, whereas guys seem to be mostly competitive all the time,” he said. “There is less competitiveness between them. They want to take advantage of the opportunity being around all girls and not try and show each other up all the time.”

By age seven, McCullor hit the links for the first time and has been playing now for 20 years. With two decades of experience, he feels coaching has always been in the cards. But he held out the past couple years for a spot to open up nearby his full-time job. Fortunately, Westfield came calling.

“I started playing when I was seven. I came from a small school so when I was in middle school I was able to play for the high school,” McCullor said. “I grew up south of Buffalo and it’s a lot smaller. I graduated with 111 other kids. Westfield has almost 3,000."

McCullor hopes the word will spread and said no experience is necessary. He believes the girls deserve a shot at competing in this sport, where everyone constantly learns and nobody ever perfects the game. McCullor said wants his girls to learn, have fun and contribute something great to an already terrific school.

“It feels like it’s a tight-knit community even though it’s such a large school,” he said. “You get the sense that a lot of people are constantly involved in different events around the community and they help each other out.”

For more information, contact Marck McCullor at: mcmccullor@fcps.edu.