Massillon High School creates school’s first women’s golf team

The new team in town from Brad Hamilton on Vimeo.

I had the honor of speaking to Brooke Morgan, Massillon’s first women’s golf coach, on the importance of funding sports at a high school level. Stay tuned for more. #JMCRPP

— princess ife (@ileifeo) February 15, 2018

 

Had a great time getting to know the newest team making noise in Massillon, the women’s golf program! Check the story out soon #JMCRPP

— Brad Hamilton (@Bhamilton1530) February 15, 2018

Words by Ile-Ife Okantah

Massillon, Ohio is known for football. Literally. In 1894 Massillon High School made history by playing America’s first high school football game. In 2017, the high school made history again, but not for football. The Massillon Tigers established the school’s first women’s golf team.

In a city where baby boys are given miniature footballs at birth, it’s hard for any other sports team to get attention. However, senior Gianna Hathaway, a founding member of the women’s golf team, is here to change that.

“I think it’s super important that girls get recognized in sports, especially at the high school level, because girls are always taught that they’re not going to be as good as boys in anything they do,” Hathaway said. “And a lot of time they’re just as good if not better than the boys. My friend Caleigh Pierce on the girls’ basketball team, she just scored 1,000 points for her senior year…I think she was the fourth girl to do it in our school’s history…and no one is talking about it…I just think girls should be recognized just as much as boys because sometimes they do better than the boys.”

After Hathaway, who previously played on the boys’ team, expressed interest in having a women’s team and found enough students to make up a team, the school’s athletic director hired Brooke Morgan as the first women’s golf head coach.

Morgan, who played golf through high school and college, is passionate about funding women’s sports as well as connecting with her players.

“In high school, the coaches and the people that are involved in the game were always a lot older than me and were always men so I think it’s essential to connect with the girls at this age,” Morgan said. “I’m closer to their age, I’m the same gender, so they can kind of relate and they feel more comfortable at matches.”

Since Massillon football attracts so much attention, much of the money the team brings in goes right back into football. The best way to illustrate how much money Massillon football generates is to look outside the school: the team practices in a $3 million indoor facility that’s bigger than the one the Cleveland Brown’s practice in.

“Our whole athletic department is driven through our ticket sales through football, basically. Because we do average about eight to 10,000 fans a game,” Brian Pachis, Massillon High School’s assistant athletic director said. “We are able to fund our athletic programs strictly through athletics alone. We don’t tap into the general funds or tax payer’s money. We totally fund ourselves.”

Although this makes Massillon athletics very unique, it leaves little room for other sports to thrive in the same way. The athletic department, especially when it comes to football, is also a stark contrast when compared to the average Massillon student.

“Our school is a free and reduced lunch school which means we come from lower economic households,” Morgan said. She also serves as the school’s college access coordinator. “All of the lunches are free, their application fees for colleges are waived, they have two free ACTs. So that being said kind of gives you a look at the demographics of the students here.”

Findings from the 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates showed that the median household income in Massillon is $40,842 leaving 19.4% of Massillon is living below the poverty line.

Hathaway spoke about the football team, stating that she remembers a Nike helicopter dropping off customized leggings to the football team. This, contrasted with Hathaway’s mom saying she’s willing to take out a second mortgage to ensure her daughter, who has a 4.6 GPA, is debt free after college shows the interesting dynamic of Massillon High School.

“Massillon is known as a football city,” Morgan said. “So, of course, all the support is going to be poured into football. That’s a boy’s sport and that’s what runs the school. So girl’s tennis isn’t going to get that much limelight. I think it’s just because of the history of Massillon. But I also see it at other schools as well, so I’m not sure how to get more attention, which would draw more funds, but it’s something that there is a problem with.”

For many of the students at Massillon, sports serve as both an escape and an opportunity. Because of this Morgan believes it’s important to fund women’s sports at a high school level.

“I think it’s important to fund women’s sports because sports build so many other things than athleticism,” Morgan said. “It builds character, it builds persistence. I think that’s essential for the development of women and girls, especially high school age. I think that girls are starting to shy away or don’t want to be associated with being athletic or sporty but I think we should embrace it.”

Currently, the women’s golf team has about $1,400 that they share with the men’s team. They provide one polo, one pullover and balls. The girls pay for their own club and Morgan often pays for expenses out of pocket.

“We still have to pay for tournament fees, food but a lot of the time when we go to the golf courses if the girls don’t have tees I’ll pay for it out of pocket, or if we when a match I’ll take them out to ice cream,” Morgan said. “So a lot of the times I don’t see the dollar amount. We cannot provide clubs, that’s not in our budget. So the girls do buy their own clubs. And clubs are really expensive, you’re talking about hundreds of dollars, so the fact that these girls are getting their own clubs shows how persistent they are in wanting to learn the sport which is so encouraging.”

Regardless of how much money goes where it is clear that the golf team has impacted the lives of these student-athletes. Morgan raved about how the minimum GPA on the team is a 3.5 and how each girl is persistent and driven. Hathaway especially glows with pride when speaking about the team.

“It’s impacted my life tremendously,” Hathaway said. “It’s changed the way I see the world. I always feel like it’s hard to make a difference, a true difference, in your community or anything like that. Ever since I’ve had this team I’ve kind of have seen how the girls who have joined have changed and grown up. And it’s really nice to see that even though it’s a small one I did get to make a difference during high school.”