October 15, 2025 • 35 mins
Join host Tim Cates on this powerful episode of the Masters in Coaching Podcast as he sits down with Andrew Parker, head golf coach at Woodbridge High School. Coach Parker shares his inspiring coaching journey — from his early days as an educator to his time as a hockey referee, to then taking over as a high school golf coach despite limited experience playing golf himself. In a heartfelt conversation, he opens up about how his team faced a devastating tragedy, and how the players, coaches, and community came together to support each other and ultimately win a CIF Championship. Coach Parker also reflects on how he is currently going through the Master’s in Coaching and Athletic Administration (MCAA) Program at Concordia University Irvine, and how it’s shaping his philosophy, leadership style, and commitment to building not just better athletes — but better people.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Through tragedy, he helped coach a high school golf team
to a CIF championship. We talk about the challenges on
and off the course that he had to navigate his
students through. He is Andrew Parker, head golf coach at
Woodbridge High School here in southern California, and he joins
us now on episode eighty three of the Masters in
(00:20):
Coaching podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's go.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, welcome into episode eighty three of the Masters in
Coaching Podcast here on iHeartRadio or wherever you happen to
get your podcast. We certainly appreciate the listen. Make sure
you give a like as well. So excited to talk
to this this week's guest. The head girls and boys
at golf coach at Woodbridge High School here in southern California,
won a Division championship last season, the Coach of the
(00:45):
Year in twenty twenty five. He is currently right now
going through the Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration program
at Concordia University, Irvine, so we'll get into that as well.
He is Andrew Parker, and he joins us now, Andrew,
how you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I'm great, Thank you guys so much for having me
I'm excited to be on absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So where are you guys at with the golf program?
Are you at the driving range a couple of days
of the week. What's going on right now in the
fall as far as the golf program is concerned.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, we're currently in the girls season right now. The
girls are battling for a league championships. So we played Portola.
We're number two, they're number one. So we play them
on Thursday tomorrow and if we beat them, we get
a share of the league championship and then we have
league finals the following week and everything's kind of picking up.
It moves from a nine hole to an eighteen hole
(01:32):
for CIF So it's really kind of that fun time
in the season.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So girls going fall, the boys play in the spring. Yes,
so I imagine that keeps you busy all year round.
When do you guys start up for the fall and
the girls? Do you guys start back during the summertime
in preparation for the season.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, we start in early August. We do some fun
rounds based upon who's around and who's available to play.
We had a lot of fun scrimmages with others schools
at various sites so it's been a lot of fun
kicking off the girls season and getting them going. We
have six new players on the team this year, so
he kind of lost a lot of our seniors last year,
(02:12):
and it's been fun for them. It's been fun seeing
what they've been able to accomplish this year.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Usually with golf, the kids will start it very early
because of a parent or into the sport at an
early age.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You don't see a lot of kids take it up
in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Is that challenging for you to find new players at
this time in their life when they're going through high
school and dealing with everything else and maybe playing other sports,
and you know you want them to play golf. How
challenging is that to get a team together?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
It is tough in Irvine specifically because we have different
demographics where certain schools are stronger because they have certain demographics.
There are some success stories who I'll talk about in
a moment with Jeremiah where he picked up COVID all right,
He picked up golf during COVID with his father and
started going out and playing and actually worked his way
(03:02):
into a starting role. But yeah, most of the players
have been playing most of their lives. Every once in
a while you get a new player who's new to
the game and you really want to take them on,
and so we try to do the best weekend because
golf is unique. It's a one sport where we're using
someone else's facility, and at the end of the day,
a golf course is a business, so we got to
(03:24):
make sure that we're keeping the patrons happy, that we're
not slowing up the field to play too much. So
there's different elements with golf than there are with other
high school sports.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
We're going to get into your philosophy, the team aspect
in a team sport, but yet an individual sport in
golf as well. Coming up in just a little bit,
But want to cut back to your story in education
for twenty years teaching but coaching for seven years. What
first off got you into the education part of your profession.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
It was actually my brother. He was a special ed
teacher before I was, and I was working in business
and he was, you know, we were kind of approaching
that two thousand and seven time where things kind of
changed drastically, and he said, why don't you come come
on back to southern California And why why don't you
(04:16):
be an instructional assistant for a year to see if
you like it, see what it's like, because you know,
becoming a teacher is quite a bit of work, and
it was great. I was in Ia for a year
with him in his district, and he kind of showed
me the ropes. And then I went back to Long
Beach State and did their district intern program, which allows
you to teach and also get a pay check, which
(04:37):
is nice because not everyone can, you know, work for free.
And you know, I just been doing special life for
quite a bit. I myself kind of struggled a little
bit in school, and so helping other kids out had
kind of struggled similarly where it was kind of a
passion of mine and I was always drawn to sports,
and so that's kind of what kept me going, and
(04:58):
so I really gravitate towards those kids who are in
a similar predicament that I was, where maybe not the
best student, but you know, the sports kind of kept
you going.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So teacher twenty years in education, but coaching just for
seven years, Yes, what sparked that interest in coaching and
in golf.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
So I did middle school for quite a bit, and
when I came to Woodbridge. We had, you know, kind
of a Hall of fame golf coach with Tracy Roberts.
And he's actually, I believe an adjunct professor, teaches a
class over summer there at Concordia, and you know, he
was amazing. I mean, he won a state championship, he
(05:37):
won multiple league titles. They won CIF and Tracy had
to leave coaching kind of quickly and our ad stepped
in and he was there for a bit, but he
really needed someone to kind of take over right away,
and so it actually just kind of happened spur of
(05:58):
the moment, and I said, yeah, I'm willing to do it,
and so it was very interesting. I took over right
during COVID where the boys and girls actually played together
and you know, you're playing out outside and there was
a lot of rules and stipulations and we all went
through it, but we got we came out stronger. So
it was a great experience. And I have to say
(06:19):
the coaches that are in our league had been fantastic.
I have to give them so much credit because they've
really shown me the game golf is. I played one
year in high school, but I wouldn't say I'm an
expert in golf, and they really showed me the ropes.
And a lot of them have played college golf or
were the coach Bruce Loman for Sage Hill, he was
(06:42):
the twenty fifth employee at Callaway. He's played golf with
Jack Nicholas and some amazing legends. So players like that
who are in our league, who are coaches, was just
you know, you were able to soak up so much
from those type of players. It was really a privilege, was.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
That Daunte to take over as a head coach at
the high school level of a sport that you're familiar
with but still learning as well as you're going into
It was that part of the challenge maybe of accepting
that role.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I think so, I think it was a fun challenge.
I think a lot of the players in our league
luckily also get help from private PGA certified swing coaches,
and so you get when they have when they're paying
you know, one hundred and fifty dollars an hour to
modify their swings. They don't want the tweak too much.
(07:33):
I've found with golf it's really the mental aspect, and
that's where I feel I've really been beneficial to the kids.
Is really just kind of keeping them loose, cracking some
jokes and just trying to break the ice before they
tee off because they're so hard on themselves. They have
such high expectations and when in golf it's one of
(07:54):
the few sports where you can't compensate when your game's
not well. In hockey, you can go out there and
make it rate hit, you can make a good pass,
you can block a shot when you know you're you're
not clicking well. There's other aspects that you can fill in.
With golf, you're on an island, you're out there all alone,
so if you're not hitting it straight, there's nowhere to hide.
So I feel that really kind of keeping the kids
(08:17):
loose and letting them know through positive affirmations that you
know we're we're going to get there, and that we're
in this together.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And it's important because it's almost like the Ryder Cup
and that it's a team aspect. You're playing individually, but
your collective score is how you win or lose. In
team golf, now, certainly you can have players that go
out and put up great numbers, but again it's the
sum of all the numbers that come together to determine
if you're going to win against the other schools that
(08:46):
you're playing in that round of golf. Is that something
that's hard to balance and keeping the team aspect of
it and then also the individual aspect of the game
of golf.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I think what's beautiful about high school golf. This is
the first time that a lot of these kids have
played on a team format. Junior golf is so heavily individualized,
where they're playing in tournaments solo, they're making cuts based
upon their performance for that day, if they're moving on,
and so it is the first time that a lot
of kids have started to have that team aspect. But
(09:22):
like Ryder Cup that you brought up, it's very similar
in the sense where you're leaning on your partner and
there's certain days where maybe you don't have your stuff
and your partner. That chemistry between you and your partner
is so pivotal. And it's been really cool to see
some of our playing partners over the years not only
hang out on the course, but at school at lunch
(09:45):
when we're doing team bonding things. You see them out
in the community together and they've kind of grown that
relationship and I think it's because a lot of them
have really played an individual sport and it's the first
time that they're on a team. And so we have
such great golf players that a lot of the golfers
come in who have been successful playing various levels of golf,
(10:09):
but all of those had been individual tournaments in individual formats.
So it's been great seeing them work together and kind
of grow as a team.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, you don't have the golf background, you do come
from a hockey background. Talk a little bit about that
background in the world of sports.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, so my brother and I we grew up in
southern California and we got into hockey right when Gretzky
got traded and me too. You know, every every day
we were out there playing roller hockey together and there
it's just amazing. Now, you know, I live pretty close
to Great Park Ice and there's four sheets under one barn.
(10:48):
I mean, we would have killed to have a facility
like that. We were playing in tennis courts and we
had one rink in Coast to Mesa that we all
went to and it's it's been cool see the growth
of hockey and how great the teams for Orange County are.
But as far as us, my brother and I we
really gravitated towards hockey. We came into the game a
(11:11):
bit late, so you know, we we took it as
far as we could. We played college club hockey in college,
so aha. My brother played at UCLA, I played at
San Jose State. We played I played midget double A
growing up for the South Coast Sabers, and then we
kind of hit a point where we realized, if we
(11:32):
want to be around the game, it's probably not going
to be playing. So my brother actually went into officiating
and he worked his way up, did the American Hockey League,
got invited to NHL training camp, so he went really far,
a little farther than I did. As an official. He
was really strong official and he retired recently a few
(11:52):
years ago, but he's done, you know, over a thousand
pro games, and to be on the ice with players
of that caliber, it's so fun, I mean, it's just exhilarating.
So it's been really fun to also officiate hockey because
as a teacher, there's no better way preparation to than
(12:14):
being an official, because you're putting out fires, Coaches are
yelling at you, parents are yelling at you. You got
twenty two players on each side, so being able to
mitigate all the things that are happening on the ices
and official, I say, it's the best training to become
a teacher.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
We've had NFL referee Carl Cheffer's on the show, who's
you know, been the head referee in Super Bowls. He
was just refereeing Wow, a Raiders game a couple of
weeks ago that I was watching and saw him out
there on the field and it was a fascinating conversation
with him talking about officiating.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Because now we've had two officials on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Usually just talked to coaches and administrators, ads, So it's
great to have an official as well talking about that
because it is a different perspective. And you know, the
world we live in nowadays, secially at the high school
level outside of golf, you know, the basketball, football, baseball, lacrosse, soccer.
You know, officials are becoming harder and harder to find
(13:10):
at that level because of the abuse they take from fans, parents,
and a lot of them are just like, I don't
want to deal with this anymore, which is unfortunate, but
you know, it's it's it's sad to see that because
officiating is something we need certainly in sports, and good
officiating is something we definitely need.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yes, absolutely absolutely, and that's why I think golf is
sometimes one of the more amazing sports. It's the only
sport where you can call a penalty on yourself, you know,
so you can assess yourself at one stroke penalty if
you do something. So it's just a humbling game.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
How have you brought or have you brought some of
the hockey aspects of team bonding, team miss playing together
as a collective unit to the golf team into the
golf world.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Have you have you intertwined them at all?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah. One of my favorite things that we've done, and
we'll kind of get into the story of Jeremiah, but
one thing that's been my favorite piece has been the
game balls. And so after a match, we really struggled
with with what happened with Jeremiah, and one thing that
we did was we had we started with the coaches
(14:27):
just nominating a player for going all in on both sides,
and it really brought our league together and it was
just really beautiful to see where we were seeing something
that we wanted to represent and we wanted to recognize
in front of the team that team aspect, and as
we kind of went through the season, we had players
(14:48):
talk about other players, things that were going on on
the course. Ways they've kind of snapped them out of
their own head. Maybe they were having a tough hole
and they were able to get them to rebound, or
something that was happening out outside the fairway, you know
that was happening at school or you know, on or
off the golf course, and it's it. That was one
(15:09):
of my favorite moments. I really think hockey is a
unique sport because they talked to a lot of kids
at school and I'm like, all right, so football, are
you guys dressing together? Is that locker room aspect? And
they'll tell me, oh, no, we kind of get dressed before.
And I'm like, ah, that's that's unfortunate, because for me,
those locker room moments were some of the best times
in sports, and so trying to bring that into the
(15:32):
game where we're doing things together. Golf is such a
small group of kids. You know, you only need six
players to have a team, and so really you get
close throughout the season. So we'll go on these trips
where we went out to the American express for the boys,
and we saw the PGA. We're following around some of
(15:54):
the pros and you know, just doing things together and
having a good time. That's really kind of what it's
all about.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You brought up Jeremiah Kim, one of your former players
who tragically passed away a year ago. Just talk a
little bit about his story.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, so you know Jeremiah, he was one of us.
I'm a specialized teacher. He was in our program and
he reminded me of myself when I went through school,
or maybe he struggled a little bit and he just
loved golf and that's kind of what got him through
the day. And he was an amazing kid. We lost
(16:32):
him about a year and a half ago on my
brother's birthday, March fifth, twenty twenty four, and it was
really tough for the team because we had never been
through anything like that, and as being the adults and
the coach, I felt action was what we needed to do.
(16:53):
So he originally was playing in a tournament into Mecula
tournament and he had a cardiac arrest and he went
to Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego and he was
on an ECHMO life support system. For a couple of
weeks and so we thought, you know, he might be okay.
So we started out with these green wristbands that everyone
(17:15):
still wears to this day and on it had some
forty one thirteen and that was really talking about getting
him to We thought there might be a chance. And
really that one is the Lord sustains them on their
sick bed and restores them from their bed of illness,
and so we thought he you know, we're not health professionals.
(17:39):
But unfortunately the Echmo life support system didn't work and
we lost Jeremiah. So we started to do some amazing things.
We started a fundraiser with with some beautiful hats that
were created by our own Matt Ticano, and it was
a silhouette of Jeremiah and those just took off and
(18:00):
we were able to from that come up with these
game balls that I'll show you. And so we had
these green game balls that were made with his silhouette
logo that were made on him, and this is what
we use for the game ball speeches. The reason we
ch rose green was because Jeremiah never took a practice
swing and so our monstra for the season was to
(18:21):
go all in. Let's play green, and so that's kind
of why we chose the green letter. And so after
every game or every match, we'd had the away team
kind of kick off like a player they wanted to nominate,
and they got into it. You know, I thought, you know,
high school kids, the boys maybe at this level may
not be something that they would be into. But the
(18:42):
league really got behind it and it was really fun
to see kids recognize each other. We went from that,
we went to creating a legacy trophy in Jeremiah's name,
and yeah, it's a beautiful trophy. It was a model
of the jug because the Open Championship was Jeremiah's favorite major.
(19:05):
So every year we nominate a boy and a girl
who's gone all in and maybe on or off the course,
and so we've been able to recognize some fabulous kids
who are going on and all of them are in
college doing amazing things right now. We really struggled that year,
(19:26):
and so to go from the depths of despair of
losing a teammate that you were really close with, it
was difficult for the kids to kind of continue on
in the play. And so that year was very difficult.
And so through reflection and through being able to work
with the kids the fourteen months later for them to
(19:47):
go on. We were the thirteenth place team in Division four,
so we weren't a powerhouse by any means. But the
boys went on and shot a three seventy three team
score in CIF, which is an amazing it's thirteen over
par as a team scorer, and they won CIF by
four strokes. Our top player Eli all Good shot at
(20:11):
sixty five. He was seven under. He's never even come close.
So I really felt like someone was looking over us
from up above that day because it was just a
very special day. And to really see the kids go
from really struggling and seeing you know, going through going
through a funeral of a friend and all kind of
(20:34):
being there and you know, I spoke at the funeral
and just going from such a low points but kind
of rallying each other and for a common purpose and
being able to put it together on the same day.
It was just beautiful and they put in one of
the top twelve scores in CIF and two days later
they we went to Temechiola for SCGA qualifying and we
(20:57):
didn't have enough time to prepare at that course, so uh,
not our best around, but at that point we were
playing with the houses money, so we felt very fortunate
and we didn't lose anyone, and we have everyone coming
back this year. We're trying some new tournaments. We're going
all in this year. We're going to try and do
the best we can and and and really go for
(21:18):
it because we have a lot of seniors and a
lot of kids that have invaluable experiences that we've we've
shared together and I just I'm really looking forward to
kicking off the boys season.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
How was that for you?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I'm curious because you've got to navigate a team and
you've got to help get them through this tragedy, which
you know, high school kids aren't accustomed to, and you've got.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
To grieve as well and process what has happened.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yet you found a way to do it and you
helped navigate these kids, which is the important thing is
to to maybe find golf as an outlet through tragedy
and to to come up with the trophy, to come
up with the game ball or these that you know,
maybe just came to your mind that you wanted to
do with the things you had hoped to implement, and
this was the right time, right place to start that
(22:08):
just talk about, you know, your processing as this was
going through.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
It was it was a collective effort. I think the
program kind of helped with some of how to handle
certain pieces. And you know, the inside Out book that
we read the story of Joe Rman and some of
(22:35):
the things that he went through. He talked about his
coach at Sarah Hughes and there's a really good story
where the coach they had a rough start and he
put up on the board one eighteen twenty four and
it was some one eighteen verse twenty four, and he
(22:57):
talked about how this coach was such a transformational coach
and really what that represented was rather than coming down
hard on them that day, the coach just said, Hey,
this is the day the Lord has made, so rejoice
and be glad in it, and you know, play for
each other, pretend you love each other, and go out there.
And that's kind of the mantra of what the program
(23:20):
had is what I tried to do is really to
have these experiences where kids could kind of recognize each other.
And at this point, we lost a member of our family.
Like winning and losing matches was not a priority, so
really being there for each other. I think we communicated
(23:40):
quite a bit, and there was a lot of a
lot of text messages going on between the kids at
various times because they were struggling with it. You can imagine,
you know, I'm in my mid forties, they're teenagers. They've
never gone through this, so they went through a lifetime
of experience in those fourteen months, and so it was tough.
(24:00):
And the parents were there, but I think no one
really knew how to operate. There's no rule book or
guidebook right that you can go to, so you just
you feel it out, you do what you think is right,
and I think we got I think we did a
pretty good job of recognizing him. And what was really
(24:21):
beautiful is Jeremiah's got a sister and she's in our
program and she was I don't want to get in
too much of the specifics, but she she's in the
mod to Severe program at her school, and the girls
were just beautiful at accepting her and having her come
to be part of the team. And you know, this
(24:43):
this is a kid who who hasn't swung a club
too much, but you know, really checked on her and
being there for as much as they could when she
would come out. I think it was a very difficult
situation for the family, as you can imagine to lose
a sixteen year old, which it's just devastating. But I
(25:03):
think there were some moments of beauty where she would
come out and the girls would make her feel a
part of something that maybe she wouldn't have been able
to feel a part of had she just gone out
for a tryout. So there was moments like that. There
was moments for the boys where we tried to be
(25:25):
there for each other and we really grew and we
started playing golf together a lot. We started playing various
courses with the parents too, Like we got some great
parents who are into golf. So I think by having
that connection it really opened up the healing process. And
(25:47):
it may not have always been words. It might have
just been action of playing this beautiful game that we're
able to play together.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I mean, as you mentioned, there's no playbook on how
to handle something like this that you can go to
and flip through and get it advice. With that being said,
you are leaning on life lessons people around you, people
you've gleamed off of, as far as mentors in different
aspects of your life. From from previous spots and sports
or not sports. When you reflect now upon that, did
(26:18):
you did you lean on some of that that you know,
previous coaches, mentors in your life that were important people
to who you are now.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Absolutely, I think I've been blessed to kind of come
into a coaching position where I can't think of a
league where there are stronger coaches who I can text
this moment and they might be in the middle of
class and they're gonna they're they're gonna find a way
to respond to me within an hour or two, and
(26:50):
and I think we're pretty close where we've been able
despite my lack of experience in golf, we were kind
of able to come up with some ideas together and
kind of, hey, why don't we try this because what
was really cool was bringing in other teams and had
them be a part of the healing process like we had.
(27:14):
We had some posters made with Jeremiah on it, and
we didn't want teams to feel awkward having Woodbridge stuff,
so we created posters for UNI for Beckman and all
the kids signed it. And this was when Jeremiah was
still in the hospital and we were able to get
those posters to his room. So he saw that hey,
(27:34):
not only our own golf team, but other teams are
here to you know, pulling for you, man, Like we
were here and we love you. So, you know, mister Tikeno,
who's our digital media arts teacher at Woodbridge, he was
one that I really kind of leaned on because he
had some great ideas. He he used to work for
(27:57):
rip curl before he was a teacher, so he kind
of you what would work and what wouldn't When we
were designing the hat and the hack came out just beautifully,
and he had some ideas for like, you know, I
just suggest something and he's like, hey, why don't we
try this with with the other team. And so having
those people in your life that kind of would would
take an idea or a suggestion and just put it
(28:20):
to action. And I think when you have a tragedy,
people are people are there to really support and to
really help the team kind of get through it. So
I think that was the beauty is that everyone was
all hands on deck, let's do this. So I think
that's why we were able to get through so many
(28:41):
amazing things.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
We wanted to get to a couple more things here,
one culture in a program. How important was it for you?
And talking to you, you know, you've established that culture
in a team bonding in a team environment, but how
important is that to have it in the world of
golf and that culture that no new players coming in
they know what to expect when they come into your
(29:04):
golf program.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
I think it's huge. I think every coach is a
little different. Some are going to be a little stricter
with what they allow. I'm a fairly easy going person
for the most part, So what I really tried to
preach was, Hey, let's let's not get down on each
other that we're we're pushing each other here to try
(29:29):
and be elite and so really being there for each
other and trying to develop something where we're constantly trying
to get better. And I think that's what the program
was really strong at, was you know, what do you
want to be remembered as as far as a coach, like,
what do you what do you want people to walk
(29:50):
away from their high school experience? And when you when
you kind of look at a coach from that perspective,
winning is not the most important thing, and it's should
be more about developing that culture and so I'm not
gonna lie. I came into coaching golf from a transactional perspective.
I'm like, hey, I get to I get to play
golf with some kids. It sounds awesome. And I think
(30:12):
the program and the experiences I went through kind of
led me to be more of a transformational coach where
you're trying to really make a difference in the kids' lives.
And you really do have more of an impact on
these kids' lives, and a teacher will be because you're
you're sharing something that they absolutely love doing, and so
really trying to be a positive mentor as much as possible,
(30:35):
and to you know, golf is going to eat you
up at times. It's it's gonna be hard on you.
I don't know if you've ever played, but like it's
it eats you up. It's a tough game. And so
I don't think you need to be as hard on
the kids from a game perspective, because they know when
(30:56):
they're they're games not on. They know what they need
to do, and so there's little tweaks, little adjustments in golf.
You're only supposed to coach between the green and the
tea box. That's the only time you can talk to
a player, and so in that short amount of time,
you're not really going over like their swing mechanics. You
might say, hey, I see you kind of swinging outside
(31:17):
in you might want to take it more inside out,
but really trying to just get them to lighten up
and not be so hard on themselves, because they will
really take themselves out of their own game if you
let them go.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, golf is more mental than it is physical. Yeah,
no doubt you' you're a busy man, and yet you've
got time to go back and pursue that Masters from
Concordia University, Irvine, the Masters and Coaching and Athletics Administration program.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Perfect person to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Busy schedule, teaching, coaching, but you've got the time to
do it, and it's a program that really fits everybody's schedule.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Talk about your involvement with the program and where you're
at right.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Now with it. I've been blown away with the professor
and their experience and everything that I've picked up to read,
I think has been awesome. I think it's a great
program for someone a working professional who is kind of
looking into possibly becoming maybe an athletic director. Or to
(32:19):
move into a administrative position. I think it's really strong.
It kind of gives you the tools, and it gives
you the knowledge to really work in what we do
at a higher capacity. I just can't say enough about
the professors. I think when I've shared my experience with them,
(32:41):
they have been amazing with some of the things that
they've talked about in their own experiences. And you know,
the professors I've taken three classes, and all of them
have coached at various levels, have been administrators or athletic
director actors for some powerhouse schools and a lot of
(33:04):
them in our area. So it's been it's been amazing
working with them and learning from them because a lot
of the classes are asynchronous, and my experience with that
from other schools has not been as strong as it
has been at Concordia. And I would say the vast
(33:26):
experience of the professors I've been blown away.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
With well, Andrew, we appreciate the time sharing your story,
getting to know you better, talking some golf, and certainly
just the background from the last few years and what
you guys have had to go through and how you've
helped lead these young men and women and these kids
there at Woodbridge through a tragedy and it's nothing anybody
(33:50):
should ever have to go through. And you've been there
and probably the perfect person at the right time to
navigate these kids through that time and beyond, and certainly
they'll never forget. And we really appreciate you you coming
on and talking with us on the podcast, getting to.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Know you a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
And hopefully this golf season is as successful as it
was for you guys last spring.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
So again, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been a blast.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Well there he goes Andrew Parker, the girls and boys
golf coach at Woodbridge High School here in southern California.
Congratulations to them on the CIF championship last spring. Certainly
tragedy hitting that program with Jeremiah Kim passing away fourteen
months ago. They have rallied as a program, as a
golf community, and Andrew Parker a big reason why they
(34:35):
have come out on the other side.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
He continue to.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Honor Jeremiah and his legacy and also continue to educate
and teach these young student athletes. Again, I hope you
enjoyed the podcast. Thank you for listening. If you want
to find out more about the Masters in Coaching Athletics
Administration Program at Kencordia University, Irvine, go to CUI dot
edu slash coaching Andrews coaching. He's teaching and going through
(34:58):
the program as we speak. You can to find out
more at CUI dot ed u slash coaching c u
I dot ed u slash coaching. Until next time, Tim
Kate saying thank you for listening to episode eighty three
of the Masters in Coaching podcast.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
So long everybody,
Through tragedy, he helped coach a high school golf team
to a CIF championship. We talk about the challenges on
and off the course that he had to navigate his
students through. He is Andrew Parker, head golf coach at
Woodbridge High School here in southern California, and he joins
us now on episode eighty three of the Masters in
(00:20):
Coaching podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's go.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, welcome into episode eighty three of the Masters in
Coaching Podcast here on iHeartRadio or wherever you happen to
get your podcast. We certainly appreciate the listen. Make sure
you give a like as well. So excited to talk
to this this week's guest. The head girls and boys
at golf coach at Woodbridge High School here in southern California,
won a Division championship last season, the Coach of the
(00:45):
Year in twenty twenty five. He is currently right now
going through the Masters in Coaching and Athletics Administration program
at Concordia University, Irvine, so we'll get into that as well.
He is Andrew Parker, and he joins us now, Andrew,
how you doing.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I'm great, Thank you guys so much for having me
I'm excited to be on absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So where are you guys at with the golf program?
Are you at the driving range a couple of days
of the week. What's going on right now in the
fall as far as the golf program is concerned.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, we're currently in the girls season right now. The
girls are battling for a league championships. So we played Portola.
We're number two, they're number one. So we play them
on Thursday tomorrow and if we beat them, we get
a share of the league championship and then we have
league finals the following week and everything's kind of picking up.
It moves from a nine hole to an eighteen hole
(01:32):
for CIF So it's really kind of that fun time
in the season.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So girls going fall, the boys play in the spring. Yes,
so I imagine that keeps you busy all year round.
When do you guys start up for the fall and
the girls? Do you guys start back during the summertime
in preparation for the season.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, we start in early August. We do some fun
rounds based upon who's around and who's available to play.
We had a lot of fun scrimmages with others schools
at various sites so it's been a lot of fun
kicking off the girls season and getting them going. We
have six new players on the team this year, so
he kind of lost a lot of our seniors last year,
(02:12):
and it's been fun for them. It's been fun seeing
what they've been able to accomplish this year.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Usually with golf, the kids will start it very early
because of a parent or into the sport at an
early age.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You don't see a lot of kids take it up
in high school.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Is that challenging for you to find new players at
this time in their life when they're going through high
school and dealing with everything else and maybe playing other sports,
and you know you want them to play golf. How
challenging is that to get a team together?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
It is tough in Irvine specifically because we have different
demographics where certain schools are stronger because they have certain demographics.
There are some success stories who I'll talk about in
a moment with Jeremiah where he picked up COVID all right,
He picked up golf during COVID with his father and
started going out and playing and actually worked his way
(03:02):
into a starting role. But yeah, most of the players
have been playing most of their lives. Every once in
a while you get a new player who's new to
the game and you really want to take them on,
and so we try to do the best weekend because
golf is unique. It's a one sport where we're using
someone else's facility, and at the end of the day,
a golf course is a business, so we got to
(03:24):
make sure that we're keeping the patrons happy, that we're
not slowing up the field to play too much. So
there's different elements with golf than there are with other
high school sports.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
We're going to get into your philosophy, the team aspect
in a team sport, but yet an individual sport in
golf as well. Coming up in just a little bit,
But want to cut back to your story in education
for twenty years teaching but coaching for seven years. What
first off got you into the education part of your profession.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
It was actually my brother. He was a special ed
teacher before I was, and I was working in business
and he was, you know, we were kind of approaching
that two thousand and seven time where things kind of
changed drastically, and he said, why don't you come come
on back to southern California And why why don't you
(04:16):
be an instructional assistant for a year to see if
you like it, see what it's like, because you know,
becoming a teacher is quite a bit of work, and
it was great. I was in Ia for a year
with him in his district, and he kind of showed
me the ropes. And then I went back to Long
Beach State and did their district intern program, which allows
you to teach and also get a pay check, which
(04:37):
is nice because not everyone can, you know, work for free.
And you know, I just been doing special life for
quite a bit. I myself kind of struggled a little
bit in school, and so helping other kids out had
kind of struggled similarly where it was kind of a
passion of mine and I was always drawn to sports,
and so that's kind of what kept me going, and
(04:58):
so I really gravitate towards those kids who are in
a similar predicament that I was, where maybe not the
best student, but you know, the sports kind of kept
you going.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So teacher twenty years in education, but coaching just for
seven years, Yes, what sparked that interest in coaching and
in golf.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
So I did middle school for quite a bit, and
when I came to Woodbridge. We had, you know, kind
of a Hall of fame golf coach with Tracy Roberts.
And he's actually, I believe an adjunct professor, teaches a
class over summer there at Concordia, and you know, he
was amazing. I mean, he won a state championship, he
(05:37):
won multiple league titles. They won CIF and Tracy had
to leave coaching kind of quickly and our ad stepped
in and he was there for a bit, but he
really needed someone to kind of take over right away,
and so it actually just kind of happened spur of
(05:58):
the moment, and I said, yeah, I'm willing to do it,
and so it was very interesting. I took over right
during COVID where the boys and girls actually played together
and you know, you're playing out outside and there was
a lot of rules and stipulations and we all went
through it, but we got we came out stronger. So
it was a great experience. And I have to say
(06:19):
the coaches that are in our league had been fantastic.
I have to give them so much credit because they've
really shown me the game golf is. I played one
year in high school, but I wouldn't say I'm an
expert in golf, and they really showed me the ropes.
And a lot of them have played college golf or
were the coach Bruce Loman for Sage Hill, he was
(06:42):
the twenty fifth employee at Callaway. He's played golf with
Jack Nicholas and some amazing legends. So players like that
who are in our league, who are coaches, was just
you know, you were able to soak up so much
from those type of players. It was really a privilege, was.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
That Daunte to take over as a head coach at
the high school level of a sport that you're familiar
with but still learning as well as you're going into
It was that part of the challenge maybe of accepting
that role.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I think so, I think it was a fun challenge.
I think a lot of the players in our league
luckily also get help from private PGA certified swing coaches,
and so you get when they have when they're paying
you know, one hundred and fifty dollars an hour to
modify their swings. They don't want the tweak too much.
(07:33):
I've found with golf it's really the mental aspect, and
that's where I feel I've really been beneficial to the kids.
Is really just kind of keeping them loose, cracking some
jokes and just trying to break the ice before they
tee off because they're so hard on themselves. They have
such high expectations and when in golf it's one of
(07:54):
the few sports where you can't compensate when your game's
not well. In hockey, you can go out there and
make it rate hit, you can make a good pass,
you can block a shot when you know you're you're
not clicking well. There's other aspects that you can fill in.
With golf, you're on an island, you're out there all alone,
so if you're not hitting it straight, there's nowhere to hide.
So I feel that really kind of keeping the kids
(08:17):
loose and letting them know through positive affirmations that you
know we're we're going to get there, and that we're
in this together.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And it's important because it's almost like the Ryder Cup
and that it's a team aspect. You're playing individually, but
your collective score is how you win or lose. In
team golf, now, certainly you can have players that go
out and put up great numbers, but again it's the
sum of all the numbers that come together to determine
if you're going to win against the other schools that
(08:46):
you're playing in that round of golf. Is that something
that's hard to balance and keeping the team aspect of
it and then also the individual aspect of the game
of golf.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I think what's beautiful about high school golf. This is
the first time that a lot of these kids have
played on a team format. Junior golf is so heavily individualized,
where they're playing in tournaments solo, they're making cuts based
upon their performance for that day, if they're moving on,
and so it is the first time that a lot
of kids have started to have that team aspect. But
(09:22):
like Ryder Cup that you brought up, it's very similar
in the sense where you're leaning on your partner and
there's certain days where maybe you don't have your stuff
and your partner. That chemistry between you and your partner
is so pivotal. And it's been really cool to see
some of our playing partners over the years not only
hang out on the course, but at school at lunch
(09:45):
when we're doing team bonding things. You see them out
in the community together and they've kind of grown that
relationship and I think it's because a lot of them
have really played an individual sport and it's the first
time that they're on a team. And so we have
such great golf players that a lot of the golfers
come in who have been successful playing various levels of golf,
(10:09):
but all of those had been individual tournaments in individual formats.
So it's been great seeing them work together and kind
of grow as a team.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Well, you don't have the golf background, you do come
from a hockey background. Talk a little bit about that
background in the world of sports.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yeah, so my brother and I we grew up in
southern California and we got into hockey right when Gretzky
got traded and me too. You know, every every day
we were out there playing roller hockey together and there
it's just amazing. Now, you know, I live pretty close
to Great Park Ice and there's four sheets under one barn.
(10:48):
I mean, we would have killed to have a facility
like that. We were playing in tennis courts and we
had one rink in Coast to Mesa that we all
went to and it's it's been cool see the growth
of hockey and how great the teams for Orange County are.
But as far as us, my brother and I we
really gravitated towards hockey. We came into the game a
(11:11):
bit late, so you know, we we took it as
far as we could. We played college club hockey in college,
so aha. My brother played at UCLA, I played at
San Jose State. We played I played midget double A
growing up for the South Coast Sabers, and then we
kind of hit a point where we realized, if we
(11:32):
want to be around the game, it's probably not going
to be playing. So my brother actually went into officiating
and he worked his way up, did the American Hockey League,
got invited to NHL training camp, so he went really far,
a little farther than I did. As an official. He
was really strong official and he retired recently a few
(11:52):
years ago, but he's done, you know, over a thousand
pro games, and to be on the ice with players
of that caliber, it's so fun, I mean, it's just exhilarating.
So it's been really fun to also officiate hockey because
as a teacher, there's no better way preparation to than
(12:14):
being an official, because you're putting out fires, Coaches are
yelling at you, parents are yelling at you. You got
twenty two players on each side, so being able to
mitigate all the things that are happening on the ices
and official, I say, it's the best training to become
a teacher.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
We've had NFL referee Carl Cheffer's on the show, who's
you know, been the head referee in Super Bowls. He
was just refereeing Wow, a Raiders game a couple of
weeks ago that I was watching and saw him out
there on the field and it was a fascinating conversation
with him talking about officiating.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Because now we've had two officials on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Usually just talked to coaches and administrators, ads, So it's
great to have an official as well talking about that
because it is a different perspective. And you know, the
world we live in nowadays, secially at the high school
level outside of golf, you know, the basketball, football, baseball, lacrosse, soccer.
You know, officials are becoming harder and harder to find
(13:10):
at that level because of the abuse they take from fans, parents,
and a lot of them are just like, I don't
want to deal with this anymore, which is unfortunate, but
you know, it's it's it's sad to see that because
officiating is something we need certainly in sports, and good
officiating is something we definitely need.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yes, absolutely absolutely, and that's why I think golf is
sometimes one of the more amazing sports. It's the only
sport where you can call a penalty on yourself, you know,
so you can assess yourself at one stroke penalty if
you do something. So it's just a humbling game.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
How have you brought or have you brought some of
the hockey aspects of team bonding, team miss playing together
as a collective unit to the golf team into the
golf world.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Have you have you intertwined them at all?
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah. One of my favorite things that we've done, and
we'll kind of get into the story of Jeremiah, but
one thing that's been my favorite piece has been the
game balls. And so after a match, we really struggled
with with what happened with Jeremiah, and one thing that
we did was we had we started with the coaches
(14:27):
just nominating a player for going all in on both sides,
and it really brought our league together and it was
just really beautiful to see where we were seeing something
that we wanted to represent and we wanted to recognize
in front of the team that team aspect, and as
we kind of went through the season, we had players
(14:48):
talk about other players, things that were going on on
the course. Ways they've kind of snapped them out of
their own head. Maybe they were having a tough hole
and they were able to get them to rebound, or
something that was happening out outside the fairway, you know
that was happening at school or you know, on or
off the golf course, and it's it. That was one
(15:09):
of my favorite moments. I really think hockey is a
unique sport because they talked to a lot of kids
at school and I'm like, all right, so football, are
you guys dressing together? Is that locker room aspect? And
they'll tell me, oh, no, we kind of get dressed before.
And I'm like, ah, that's that's unfortunate, because for me,
those locker room moments were some of the best times
in sports, and so trying to bring that into the
(15:32):
game where we're doing things together. Golf is such a
small group of kids. You know, you only need six
players to have a team, and so really you get
close throughout the season. So we'll go on these trips
where we went out to the American express for the boys,
and we saw the PGA. We're following around some of
(15:54):
the pros and you know, just doing things together and
having a good time. That's really kind of what it's
all about.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
You brought up Jeremiah Kim, one of your former players
who tragically passed away a year ago. Just talk a
little bit about his story.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah, so you know Jeremiah, he was one of us.
I'm a specialized teacher. He was in our program and
he reminded me of myself when I went through school,
or maybe he struggled a little bit and he just
loved golf and that's kind of what got him through
the day. And he was an amazing kid. We lost
(16:32):
him about a year and a half ago on my
brother's birthday, March fifth, twenty twenty four, and it was
really tough for the team because we had never been
through anything like that, and as being the adults and
the coach, I felt action was what we needed to do.
(16:53):
So he originally was playing in a tournament into Mecula
tournament and he had a cardiac arrest and he went
to Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego and he was
on an ECHMO life support system. For a couple of
weeks and so we thought, you know, he might be okay.
So we started out with these green wristbands that everyone
(17:15):
still wears to this day and on it had some
forty one thirteen and that was really talking about getting
him to We thought there might be a chance. And
really that one is the Lord sustains them on their
sick bed and restores them from their bed of illness,
and so we thought he you know, we're not health professionals.
(17:39):
But unfortunately the Echmo life support system didn't work and
we lost Jeremiah. So we started to do some amazing things.
We started a fundraiser with with some beautiful hats that
were created by our own Matt Ticano, and it was
a silhouette of Jeremiah and those just took off and
(18:00):
we were able to from that come up with these
game balls that I'll show you. And so we had
these green game balls that were made with his silhouette
logo that were made on him, and this is what
we use for the game ball speeches. The reason we
ch rose green was because Jeremiah never took a practice
swing and so our monstra for the season was to
(18:21):
go all in. Let's play green, and so that's kind
of why we chose the green letter. And so after
every game or every match, we'd had the away team
kind of kick off like a player they wanted to nominate,
and they got into it. You know, I thought, you know,
high school kids, the boys maybe at this level may
not be something that they would be into. But the
(18:42):
league really got behind it and it was really fun
to see kids recognize each other. We went from that,
we went to creating a legacy trophy in Jeremiah's name,
and yeah, it's a beautiful trophy. It was a model
of the jug because the Open Championship was Jeremiah's favorite major.
(19:05):
So every year we nominate a boy and a girl
who's gone all in and maybe on or off the course,
and so we've been able to recognize some fabulous kids
who are going on and all of them are in
college doing amazing things right now. We really struggled that year,
(19:26):
and so to go from the depths of despair of
losing a teammate that you were really close with, it
was difficult for the kids to kind of continue on
in the play. And so that year was very difficult.
And so through reflection and through being able to work
with the kids the fourteen months later for them to
(19:47):
go on. We were the thirteenth place team in Division four,
so we weren't a powerhouse by any means. But the
boys went on and shot a three seventy three team
score in CIF, which is an amazing it's thirteen over
par as a team scorer, and they won CIF by
four strokes. Our top player Eli all Good shot at
(20:11):
sixty five. He was seven under. He's never even come close.
So I really felt like someone was looking over us
from up above that day because it was just a
very special day. And to really see the kids go
from really struggling and seeing you know, going through going
through a funeral of a friend and all kind of
(20:34):
being there and you know, I spoke at the funeral
and just going from such a low points but kind
of rallying each other and for a common purpose and
being able to put it together on the same day.
It was just beautiful and they put in one of
the top twelve scores in CIF and two days later
they we went to Temechiola for SCGA qualifying and we
(20:57):
didn't have enough time to prepare at that course, so uh,
not our best around, but at that point we were
playing with the houses money, so we felt very fortunate
and we didn't lose anyone, and we have everyone coming
back this year. We're trying some new tournaments. We're going
all in this year. We're going to try and do
the best we can and and and really go for
(21:18):
it because we have a lot of seniors and a
lot of kids that have invaluable experiences that we've we've
shared together and I just I'm really looking forward to
kicking off the boys season.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
How was that for you?
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I'm curious because you've got to navigate a team and
you've got to help get them through this tragedy, which
you know, high school kids aren't accustomed to, and you've got.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
To grieve as well and process what has happened.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yet you found a way to do it and you
helped navigate these kids, which is the important thing is
to to maybe find golf as an outlet through tragedy
and to to come up with the trophy, to come
up with the game ball or these that you know,
maybe just came to your mind that you wanted to
do with the things you had hoped to implement, and
this was the right time, right place to start that
(22:08):
just talk about, you know, your processing as this was
going through.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
It was it was a collective effort. I think the
program kind of helped with some of how to handle
certain pieces. And you know, the inside Out book that
we read the story of Joe Rman and some of
(22:35):
the things that he went through. He talked about his
coach at Sarah Hughes and there's a really good story
where the coach they had a rough start and he
put up on the board one eighteen twenty four and
it was some one eighteen verse twenty four, and he
(22:57):
talked about how this coach was such a transformational coach
and really what that represented was rather than coming down
hard on them that day, the coach just said, Hey,
this is the day the Lord has made, so rejoice
and be glad in it, and you know, play for
each other, pretend you love each other, and go out there.
And that's kind of the mantra of what the program
(23:20):
had is what I tried to do is really to
have these experiences where kids could kind of recognize each other.
And at this point, we lost a member of our family.
Like winning and losing matches was not a priority, so
really being there for each other. I think we communicated
(23:40):
quite a bit, and there was a lot of a
lot of text messages going on between the kids at
various times because they were struggling with it. You can imagine,
you know, I'm in my mid forties, they're teenagers. They've
never gone through this, so they went through a lifetime
of experience in those fourteen months, and so it was tough.
(24:00):
And the parents were there, but I think no one
really knew how to operate. There's no rule book or
guidebook right that you can go to, so you just
you feel it out, you do what you think is right,
and I think we got I think we did a
pretty good job of recognizing him. And what was really
(24:21):
beautiful is Jeremiah's got a sister and she's in our
program and she was I don't want to get in
too much of the specifics, but she she's in the
mod to Severe program at her school, and the girls
were just beautiful at accepting her and having her come
to be part of the team. And you know, this
(24:43):
this is a kid who who hasn't swung a club
too much, but you know, really checked on her and
being there for as much as they could when she
would come out. I think it was a very difficult
situation for the family, as you can imagine to lose
a sixteen year old, which it's just devastating. But I
(25:03):
think there were some moments of beauty where she would
come out and the girls would make her feel a
part of something that maybe she wouldn't have been able
to feel a part of had she just gone out
for a tryout. So there was moments like that. There
was moments for the boys where we tried to be
(25:25):
there for each other and we really grew and we
started playing golf together a lot. We started playing various
courses with the parents too, Like we got some great
parents who are into golf. So I think by having
that connection it really opened up the healing process. And
(25:47):
it may not have always been words. It might have
just been action of playing this beautiful game that we're
able to play together.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I mean, as you mentioned, there's no playbook on how
to handle something like this that you can go to
and flip through and get it advice. With that being said,
you are leaning on life lessons people around you, people
you've gleamed off of, as far as mentors in different
aspects of your life. From from previous spots and sports
or not sports. When you reflect now upon that, did
(26:18):
you did you lean on some of that that you know,
previous coaches, mentors in your life that were important people
to who you are now.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Absolutely, I think I've been blessed to kind of come
into a coaching position where I can't think of a
league where there are stronger coaches who I can text
this moment and they might be in the middle of
class and they're gonna they're they're gonna find a way
to respond to me within an hour or two, and
(26:50):
and I think we're pretty close where we've been able
despite my lack of experience in golf, we were kind
of able to come up with some ideas together and
kind of, hey, why don't we try this because what
was really cool was bringing in other teams and had
them be a part of the healing process like we had.
(27:14):
We had some posters made with Jeremiah on it, and
we didn't want teams to feel awkward having Woodbridge stuff,
so we created posters for UNI for Beckman and all
the kids signed it. And this was when Jeremiah was
still in the hospital and we were able to get
those posters to his room. So he saw that hey,
(27:34):
not only our own golf team, but other teams are
here to you know, pulling for you, man, Like we
were here and we love you. So, you know, mister Tikeno,
who's our digital media arts teacher at Woodbridge, he was
one that I really kind of leaned on because he
had some great ideas. He he used to work for
(27:57):
rip curl before he was a teacher, so he kind
of you what would work and what wouldn't When we
were designing the hat and the hack came out just beautifully,
and he had some ideas for like, you know, I
just suggest something and he's like, hey, why don't we
try this with with the other team. And so having
those people in your life that kind of would would
take an idea or a suggestion and just put it
(28:20):
to action. And I think when you have a tragedy,
people are people are there to really support and to
really help the team kind of get through it. So
I think that was the beauty is that everyone was
all hands on deck, let's do this. So I think
that's why we were able to get through so many
(28:41):
amazing things.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
We wanted to get to a couple more things here,
one culture in a program. How important was it for you?
And talking to you, you know, you've established that culture
in a team bonding in a team environment, but how
important is that to have it in the world of
golf and that culture that no new players coming in
they know what to expect when they come into your
(29:04):
golf program.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
I think it's huge. I think every coach is a
little different. Some are going to be a little stricter
with what they allow. I'm a fairly easy going person
for the most part, So what I really tried to
preach was, Hey, let's let's not get down on each
other that we're we're pushing each other here to try
(29:29):
and be elite and so really being there for each
other and trying to develop something where we're constantly trying
to get better. And I think that's what the program
was really strong at, was you know, what do you
want to be remembered as as far as a coach, like,
what do you what do you want people to walk
(29:50):
away from their high school experience? And when you when
you kind of look at a coach from that perspective,
winning is not the most important thing, and it's should
be more about developing that culture and so I'm not
gonna lie. I came into coaching golf from a transactional perspective.
I'm like, hey, I get to I get to play
golf with some kids. It sounds awesome. And I think
(30:12):
the program and the experiences I went through kind of
led me to be more of a transformational coach where
you're trying to really make a difference in the kids' lives.
And you really do have more of an impact on
these kids' lives, and a teacher will be because you're
you're sharing something that they absolutely love doing, and so
really trying to be a positive mentor as much as possible,
(30:35):
and to you know, golf is going to eat you
up at times. It's it's gonna be hard on you.
I don't know if you've ever played, but like it's
it eats you up. It's a tough game. And so
I don't think you need to be as hard on
the kids from a game perspective, because they know when
(30:56):
they're they're games not on. They know what they need
to do, and so there's little tweaks, little adjustments in golf.
You're only supposed to coach between the green and the
tea box. That's the only time you can talk to
a player, and so in that short amount of time,
you're not really going over like their swing mechanics. You
might say, hey, I see you kind of swinging outside
(31:17):
in you might want to take it more inside out,
but really trying to just get them to lighten up
and not be so hard on themselves, because they will
really take themselves out of their own game if you
let them go.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Yeah, golf is more mental than it is physical. Yeah,
no doubt you' you're a busy man, and yet you've
got time to go back and pursue that Masters from
Concordia University, Irvine, the Masters and Coaching and Athletics Administration program.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Perfect person to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Busy schedule, teaching, coaching, but you've got the time to
do it, and it's a program that really fits everybody's schedule.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Talk about your involvement with the program and where you're
at right.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Now with it. I've been blown away with the professor
and their experience and everything that I've picked up to read,
I think has been awesome. I think it's a great
program for someone a working professional who is kind of
looking into possibly becoming maybe an athletic director. Or to
(32:19):
move into a administrative position. I think it's really strong.
It kind of gives you the tools, and it gives
you the knowledge to really work in what we do
at a higher capacity. I just can't say enough about
the professors. I think when I've shared my experience with them,
(32:41):
they have been amazing with some of the things that
they've talked about in their own experiences. And you know,
the professors I've taken three classes, and all of them
have coached at various levels, have been administrators or athletic
director actors for some powerhouse schools and a lot of
(33:04):
them in our area. So it's been it's been amazing
working with them and learning from them because a lot
of the classes are asynchronous, and my experience with that
from other schools has not been as strong as it
has been at Concordia. And I would say the vast
(33:26):
experience of the professors I've been blown away.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
With well, Andrew, we appreciate the time sharing your story,
getting to know you better, talking some golf, and certainly
just the background from the last few years and what
you guys have had to go through and how you've
helped lead these young men and women and these kids
there at Woodbridge through a tragedy and it's nothing anybody
(33:50):
should ever have to go through. And you've been there
and probably the perfect person at the right time to
navigate these kids through that time and beyond, and certainly
they'll never forget. And we really appreciate you you coming
on and talking with us on the podcast, getting to.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Know you a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
And hopefully this golf season is as successful as it
was for you guys last spring.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
So again, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Thank you so much for having me. It's been a blast.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Well there he goes Andrew Parker, the girls and boys
golf coach at Woodbridge High School here in southern California.
Congratulations to them on the CIF championship last spring. Certainly
tragedy hitting that program with Jeremiah Kim passing away fourteen
months ago. They have rallied as a program, as a
golf community, and Andrew Parker a big reason why they
(34:35):
have come out on the other side.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
He continue to.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Honor Jeremiah and his legacy and also continue to educate
and teach these young student athletes. Again, I hope you
enjoyed the podcast. Thank you for listening. If you want
to find out more about the Masters in Coaching Athletics
Administration Program at Kencordia University, Irvine, go to CUI dot
edu slash coaching Andrews coaching. He's teaching and going through
(34:58):
the program as we speak. You can to find out
more at CUI dot ed u slash coaching c u
I dot ed u slash coaching. Until next time, Tim
Kate saying thank you for listening to episode eighty three
of the Masters in Coaching podcast.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
So long everybody,
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