SPORTS
by Jack Kintner

Blaine's new golf coach believes in hard work

Blaine’s new girls golf coach Kelly Brown believes in a disciplined approach to the game.

“I think you should work pretty hard in after-school practices,” she said, “especially if you want to improve your game.”

She ought to know. Even though she took up the game just a little over 10 years ago as a sophomore at Monroe high school, she learned quickly and was recruited to play for Western Washington University, where she graduated in 2004 with a degree in outdoor recreation.

Brown was a three-time All-American at WWU after her freshman year, finishing in tenth place at two successive collegiate nationals.
She carries a handicap of less than three and still competes, winning last year’s Washington State women’s best ball championship with former Western teammate Sarah Cooper.

So yes, practice makes perfect and Brown’s living proof, in a game that is both loved and hated by nearly everyone who plays it.

Brown brings this same work ethic to her coaching duties along with a devotion to the game that’s based, she said, on her love of competition.
“I’m a competitive person, and in golf you’re competing against your opponents, the course and yourself,” she said.

When asked if she had any words of wisdom for weekend duffers, she said to “keep the ball on the fairway. Better to be accurate than long.”
She also said that people often spend time on the driving range and putting green to the neglect of their short game and chipping, something her team works on every day.

Three of the 10 matches this season will be played at Semiahmoo beginning with the season opener Tuesday, March 27, at 3 p.m.
Play returns to Semiahmoo on April 9, when Blaine hosts Lynden and defending state 3-AAA champion Bellingham, and again on April 26 for a six-team tournament.

Except for the Similk Beach course in Anacortes, site of this year’s season-ending Northwest Conference tournament on May 8, spectators are invited to watch the matches.

You must stay at least 25 yards away from the players at all times and are not allowed to speak to them or give advice in any way. Golfers are penalized and occasionally disqualified when over-zealous parents or friends try to help. Coaches serve as course monitors.

Spectators must also follow local dress codes (at Semiahmoo it’s no denim and you must wear a collared shirt) and cell phones, even if turned off, are not allowed on the course.

Since the players do not use carts most spectators simply follow along on the cart paths staying the required distance behind or to the side of the players.

Slivers from the bench

This year’s boys soccer team is like a bathtub, running both hot and cold.

They were cold on Tuesday, playing between hailstorms and losing to a small but quick Ferndale side 2-1.

Michael Waslohn scored the only Blaine goal in the 56th minute with a quick move following an assist from Patrick Mulholland that Caleb Statum guarded on its way, a play so easy there might have been more.

Last Saturday they hosted Lynden, champions of everything this year, and gave them a 3-1 whuppin’ at the Pipe on finesse and alert play.
After spotting the Lions a 1-nil lead Casey McCabe got the first goal at 30 minutes with a deft little chip shot over the keeper’s shoulder on a well-timed assist from Waslohn.

Five minutes later Mulholland scored the go-ahead goal on a penalty kick.

In a brief look at what’s coming, freshman phenom Caleb Statum scored the third goal unassisted, moving upfield by himself with a defender on his hip, moved to the left and then shot a crossing shot that just got inside the far goalpost.