By CHRIS LACLAIR
Eagle Times Staff
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — The most successful sports programs don’t happen without passionate people that put love, sweat and tears into making sure the foundation is a solid one to build on. Stevens Cardinal Golf Head Coach Ryan Seaver happens to be one of those people.
Newport’s very own pro golfer and Newport Head Coach Vince Molesky and Sunapee Head Coach Mike Kennedy were the two who initially created the tournament that only included Newport and Sunapee 12 years ago.
Seaver has been with the tournament since its conception and has spearheaded the tournament for nine years. When he took over the tournament, only 12 teams had entered the tournament. After Saturday’s completion of a two-day event due to weather cancelling the second half of their first attempt, the tournament ended up with an astonishing 59 teams overall.
“So, we had 29 teams the first day of the tournament and we had to cancel the second half which ended up being on Saturday, which had another 30 teams that day,” said Seaver. “So, we finished with 59 total. This was the 12th year of being a part of this tournament and it was my eighth or ninth year running it. It was like 12 teams when I took over.”
Renting courses for golf practices and matches can be very expensive for a high school and middle school program. This tournament provides financial relief for several programs in the area.
“We are raising money for middle school and high school golfers the players on Fall Mountain, Windsor, Stevens, Newport, Kearsarge, Lebanon, Hartford and Sunapee,” said Seaver.
“A lot of the money that we raise goes right towards our corporate memberships. And we have those at JP Larkin, Newport, Claremont, Crown Point and obviously that’s where I want to head with the tournament to get more courses involved. We also host eight or nine middle and JV matches that cost a good amount to rent these courses at low-rate green fees. After those matches, which are usually about 36 kids, we put on a dinner which can consist of pizza, cheeseburgers, hotdogs, French fries and chicken fingers. It all depends on what the night is. We always use a restaurant that donates to the tournament, so we give right back to the community.”
Seaver also hosts a silent auction that is a vital part of the fundraising process.
“Our silent auction raises about $11,000 and that is all in foursomes donated by private golf courses all over New England.”
In addition to raising money for the programs, there are prizes for the participants.
“Overall, for the full tournament, we are going to hand out 36 teams prizes valued over $120. Most of them are valued over $200,” said Seaver. “As far as raffle prizes, we had 92 in the morning and 92 in the afternoon for a total of 184 all valued over $20 each. I would say a good tournament usually has about 20 raffle prizes. We handed out $1,200 in competition prizes on the course which include closest to the 150 marker, longest putts, closest to the pin for both men and women on each par three, and men’s and women’s long drive competitions on two holes. It was a total of 48 prizes on the course and most tournaments only have four.”
“In reality, my goal is for at least 200 of the 236 players to come away with some sort of prize. because there is no better feeling than winning something at a golf tournament.”
The tournament raises close to $30,000 for the programs which is no small feat. There are really not many tournaments, if any, in the immediate area in any sport that raises the amount of money that Seaver has managed to raise.
“If there is something going on with youth golf, we want to be a part of it. It is really tough to put a number on how much we make, due to the number of prizes that we hand out,” said Seaver. “If I had to guess, I would say it is upwards of $30,000. I don’t know of any scrambles anywhere bring in this many teams, prices, silent auction items like we do.”
Although Seaver is the person who runs the tournament, he wouldn’t be able to find the success that he has without the help of a lot of people.
“I may be the face of the operation, but there are hundreds of people I work with from March 1 till June 22 on getting this thing together,” said Seaver. “And my volunteers are those people that save the day all the time.”
Former Lebanon Golf Head Coach Matthew Dancosse, who had to step down after the birth of their second child, is one of the people who support Seaver in more ways behind the scenes that people will ever know.
“Matt puts a ton of hours into tournament,” said Seaver.
Seaver also receives help from other high school coaches in the area.
“Currently the other seven coaches help get a couple items and gather teams,” said Seaver. Bubba Williams at Kearsarge, Pat Allen at Windsor, Steve Roberts at Lebanon, Scott MacNamee at Sunapee. I added Hartford to be the eighth team after the first half of the tourney this year.”
Ryan concluded the tournament reflecting on the help that he gets from several others.
“We have the greatest network of people around, and I am the luckiest person in the world to get to work with them all.”
In addition to the tournament that Seaver runs, there are two additional fundraising golf tournaments hosted at the Claremont Country Club that helps fund youth golf in the area. Stevens High School 1977 graduate and Crown Point Cabinetry owner Brian Stowell took over these tournaments that had success with the help of Dody’s Kids Golf Program and Marie Allen which paved the way. The program is now called First Tee of NH.
“I know that the Stevens team puts two teams into each one of our youth golf tournaments that Claremont Country Club runs so we are trying to give money back to the programs that start before middle school,” said Seaver. “The First Tee golf program is now run by Brian Stowell, which is preparing these kids for middle school golf. All the kids on each one of those programs can play golf for free at those four golf courses and we have some Bellows Falls kids, Green Mountain kids that are on the list, as well.”
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of Ryan Seaver, head coach of Stevens Golf, this was another very successful fundraising tournament,” said Stowell. “The annual event was sold out, and thanks also to generous sponsors, generated much needed funds to support local high school golf teams. The event was actually a second half of the original date, which got rained out back in June before the second wave of golfers could play.”
“As a volunteer that helps with the high school golf team, I can tell you that the Stevens High School golf program would not be what it is without this tournament,” he said.
Because golf is a game that presents unique challenges every time you play, it gives the kids a chance to learn how to deal with adversity and overcome bad breaks on the course and in life. And because golf is a game you can play for life, these skills will still be with you long after you leave the golf team behind.”
