Many of our students at Northgate have interests and hobbies outside of school whether this be in sport, drama, music, uniformed groups or something else. It’s always lovely to hear about what they get up to and their achievements. Reece, Year 7, tells us a bit more about his love for golf and how he recently had the opportunity to meet pro golfer Ian Poulter.
“I have been playing golf since I was 5. My Nan and Grandad introduced me to it, and at first I played just for fun. After sometime of playing, I started having lessons with other professionals and began to take golf seriously, as I was learning a lot of skills. After a while, my coach asked if I would be interested in playing competitions, and of course I jumped at the chance. I have now been playing in competitions for a couple of years.
Around this time last year I was offered the chance to join the Norfolk squad and represent my county. I was very excited about this opportunity, and joined straight away. I now attend a scholarship at Royal Norwich Golf Club every week and have lessons with coaches, and have represented our county in some recent competitions.”
“On Monday the 18th of September, I had an amazing opportunity to meet Ian Poulter, a professional golfer who has previously been ranked as number 5 in the World. On this day, I was invited to the Royal Norwich Golf Club. They were moving their facilities to a new location, and had arranged for Ian to open the facility. He would be the first to play on the new golf course, and he would also teach a master class of the short game of golf – i.e. putting and chipping the ball.
Ian was supposed to be coming to Norwich on his private helicopter however the wind that day was too rough so he had to drive himself in his sports car which I also got to see. Lucky old him!
When Ian taught his master class I stood close to him and he kept joking with me and touching my shoulder and pretending it wasn’t him! He signed my golf hat and also a recent score card I had.
It was an amazing experience and I would love to live this day again.”