Written By: Delaney Cordes, Staff Writer
SPECIAL: Poly’s golf team includes athletes who are related by blood and share a special bond.
The second semester of the 2024-25 school year is in full swing, which means that winter sports have finished and spring sports are already underway. Track, swimming, baseball, lacrosse, stunt, softball, boys volleyball, tennis, and golf are the many sports that are beginning their seasons at the end of February and the start of March. In particular, the boy’s golf team for this school year is reaching new heights as the team of 11 players is at a level that hasn’t been seen before, especially in the last four years.
Head Coach Mr. Chavez and Coach Schulte, the assistant coach, are math and AVID teachers who have been coaching for four years here at Poly. They each explained the unique characteristics that this year’s team possesses and the rising standards that are being exceeded. When asked about the season so far, Coach Chavez said that they “just have a really strong team and are excited about this season.” Likewise, Coach Schulte commented on how the athletes are “actually holding themselves maturely” during practices and at matches. Because golf is more of an individual sport than a team one, a big struggle the coaches have had to help with is walking the boys through not being so harsh on themselves and not judging themselves for the hole they just played. As the season has progressed and the skill levels have risen, the athletes have gotten better at coming together as a team to help each other through the individual challenges and obstacles that may be faced.
Besides the team’s ability to extend to new standards, over half of the athletes are familially related to each other: there are a set of twins (Michael and Jonathan Viene), a set of brothers (Dane and Hunter Dubuisson), and a set of cousins (Sam Bonzement and Jack Wasserman). Each set of relatives has a unique bond and connection that is shared that not everyone on the team shares.
Let’s start with the cousins. Sam Bonzement, a senior in his fourth year on the team, described that his relationship with his cousin Jack Wasserman (12) “definitely has some specialty to it.” Because both of them have been on the team their whole high school career, they’ve had multiple experiences playing together and with other team members. They found it interesting how when the coach puts them together for a match, it can actually help or hinder the way they play on that specific course.
Now the twins. When talking about his perspective playing alongside twin brother Jonathan, senior, Michael Viene explained that “it’s been a really fun experience” because they do “share [that] different type of connection.” When asked about the dynamics between the two, Michael described how they both know they always have each other, but that they can still go off and interact with the other players on the team.
Even though Dane and Hunter Dubuisson haven’t been playing on Poly’s team for four years, they have been playing golf with each other for a long period before high school. And Dane (10) is excited to “spend the next two and a half years with Hunter (9) playing golf” as they both attend Poly at the same time.
Because there are multiple relatives with either the same set of parents or different ones, the coaches brought up how it’s been interesting to see and watch how each of their parents interacts and then the competition that has been made from it of whose kid is going to win for that day.
Even though the boys golf team has related athletes, the other team members still contribute to the familial vibe that is expressed throughout. And overall, how the team “definitely has a family-type feeling” (Coach Chavez) to it. The boys’ golf team is one of the many teams that display the family feel that Poly has to offer, both athletically and academically. They make us all proud to be Poly Bears. Go Bears!