By: Danny Kramer — School Sports Editor

The upcoming 2021-2022 season for the golf team was much anticipated among the team’s six seniors, including the three senior captains Nathan Daley, Eric Carter, and Rosie Leonard. The  2020-2021 season was riddled with COVID restrictions, but, there were encouraging signs for the future of the golf team with numerous underclassmen opting to try out.

Through about a month of winning, the Eagles have won three of their six matches. After losing to Oliver Ames 158-155 where senior captains Eric Carter and Nathan Daley shot 37 and 35 respectively, and against North Attleboro 162-149 where Nathan Daley shot 32, Sharon was able to earn their first win decisively 194-178 against Stoughton. The Eagles were able to build off this win by following it up with a 196-173 win against Taunton, and a 185-163 win against Stoughton behind junior Reid Nierman’s 40. 

Senior captain of the golf team Eric Carter took notice of the incoming freshman and returning sophomores and their future. “A lot of seniors are leaving this year, so there is going to need to be a lot of players to step up [in upcoming seasons] and [the golf team is going to need to have] as many players that there can be to help,” said Carter.

Coach Thor VanVaerenewyck added that more team members increases the competition for the younger players. “It has been fifteen years since I have had this many students try out for the team. I think that it is great for the team. More players translates into more competition for starting spots which should lead to success for the team,” says VanVaerenewyck.

Glassman says that the increase in participation could be due to the environment the golf team brings. “The popularity is rising mostly because of the hype around the team and how much fun we have,” says Glassman.

Carter says that the experience the seniors provide can be extremely beneficial. “They’ve been through it, so they can help the younger players understand and can teach the younger kids how to be leaders because when the seniors leave, they will need to step up into leadership roles,” says Carter. 

Glassman and Carter are adamant about the goal for this year. “The goal this year for the golf team,” Glassman says, “Make states—haven’t done that since 2018.”

VanVaerenewyck says that ​​the team should be able to reap the benefits from the Cape Club practice facility in order to prepare for major matches such as states. “The practice facility gives us plenty of opportunity to work on any part of the game that we may be struggling with,” said VanVaerenewyck.

Captain Carter says that the goal is simply winning states, and to do so, the golf team will need to win roughly half of their matches. “We have some winnable matches, we think it’s not unrealistic for us to be able to go to states—there are some matches we know we probably are going to lose, but most of the matches we feel we have a chance,” said Carter.