What I Learned While Interning

This school year I took the opportunity to intern with the junior varsity golf team at Circle Christian while I played on the varsity golf team. I did not know what exactly to expect, whether the kids would take to me or not, but the second I stepped foot on the course I could tell this was going to be a good opportunity. The kids received me better than I could have imagined and they seemed to like me right off the start. This opportunity really gave me a good chance to learn about how to influence and instruct kids younger than me. I really learned a lot on how to be a leader and a mentor to my peers. The three main things I learned while interning were how much kids look up older people, how malleable they are, and how important encouragement is.

Being a senior and only eighteen years old, I didn’t realize how much influence I could have on one kid or even a group. I didn’t realize the weight of my decisions not only in front of them, but when they weren’t looking also. How I acted on the golf course in my own game would eventually come out and be evident to the kids I was teaching, and if how I acted wasn’t the same as how I taught them to act, my words would mean nothing to them. Being in the teacher position really made kids look up to me, I didn’t really have to do much to gain their trust. Simply telling them that I was what they want to be was enough for most of them to put my words into practice. The fact that I was the team captain and the leader of the Varsity golf team really impacted them, but it also put pressure on me to live up to the standard that I was giving to them. Luke 6:38-39 explains my point perfectly when it says, “And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.” Something about that verse really hits me hard, I think it’s when it says “but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher”. I think we as seniors and young adults overlook that fact, the kids we teach, even in the smallest ways, our pupils, and they will follow the paths we set, not just the paths we teach them. I realized that those I taught were constantly watching my attitude and behavior on and off the course. Whether it was when I was walking down the halls at school or when I was playing in a tournament, my peers were always looking. As a teacher, you can’t be living two lives, eventually one side will spill into the other and all the respect you built up may be lost. I learned this prior to my internship, but I really saw how important this rule was while I was interning.

The second thing I learned sort of goes with the first but even more so to the fact that the kids that look up to you as a teacher hang on every word you say. They see that you are where they want to be, and they take every word you say to be literal and helpful. It reminds of 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” As a teacher, you almost have to aim to make it to where everything you say is profitable for teaching. If you go around making jokes and not taking anything seriously, the kids that look up to you will do the same. On the other hand, if you make everything you say helpful and instructional, they will do those things and grow. I also had to make sure that what I told them I had either done myself, or have personally seen someone do and benefit from. I didn’t want to instruct them in the wrong direction telling them things that I didn’t even know if they worked or not. I made sure to tell them things that I had personally done and that had worked for me, while also instructing them on things to watch out for and stumbling blocks that I ran into. I think that I did a successful job teaching the kids what I wanted them to know and I hope and pray that they take my words into action.

Lastly, I had never fully understood how important encouragement was to a kid until this year teaching these young golfers. I have learned about encouragement and heard about how important it is but I had never put into practice like this before. Simply telling a kid that he hit a good shot and to keep it up would spur him on for the entire day. Just acknowledging one good shot, would motivate him for hours to keep hitting good shots because he wanted to hear it again. I don’t think there was one time where I said an encouraging statement and the recipient didn’t instantly show better results. Just telling them good job and keep it up would help them perform better. They waited on those encouraging words and when they got it, it helped them do better. To see how fast and easily just saying something nice to someone would help them, I couldn’t stop saying encouraging things. I would tell anyone good job for the smallest things because it was helping them. I didn’t restrict it to just golf either, I would tell someone good job for saying good job to someone else. I wanted to teach them that team fellowship is just as important as playing well. I learned a lot about encouragement from these few months of interning, more than I would have ever learned about it by just listening to a lesson.

All in all I think that I had a really successful internship and I learned more from the kids than I think they learned from me. I am so thankful to Scott Richardson for letting me have the opportunity to interact with these kids. I had such an enjoyable time going to all of their events and cheering them on, I really hope to get another opportunity like the one I had again soon. I look forward to seeing how the kids grow up not only in their golf game but also in their life and spiritual walk. I just hope that I can pave a way for them and set an example for them that they can always look up to. Everything I taught these kids I have learned previously from my mentors, one of the main ones being my coach, Scott Richardson. He had done what I was trying to do for the kids in that he instructed me in a way that he had walked previously and I learned so much from him. He has had a huge impact on my life and my golf game, and I have gained so much from this internship.

By Hayden Squadrito, Circle graduating class of 2011

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