On Saturday morning, the Duluth East girl’s golf team held a clinic at the Ridgeview Country Club, giving young girls the opportunity to learn sport surrounded by support.

“I think it’s just great to promote girls in golf, and especially younger generation,” said clinic instructor Karin Hill.

For Duluth East girl’s golf assistant coach Kaitlin Zenner, seeing the enjoyment in girl’s eyes is what coaching is all about.

“My kind of approach to the whole game is let’s make it fun. Let’s follow the rules and let’s be safe, but let’s just have a really fun time. And so out here we had sandcastle contests. We had stuffies that they could win. They played; they made friendship bracelets. They did a lot of fun stuff. So just kind of get them introduced to the game, but in a fun manner. So, fun first, golf second is kind of our strategy,” said Zenner.

Instructors of the golf clinic, including Hill and Alex Balthazor, have been in the shoes of the girls they teach, so being able to give back to younger generations brings them a sense of joy.

“I’ve been thinking all day how much fun I would have doing this as little kids, so I’m glad that I can be someone that helps them with this,” said Balthazor.

While many did not come in knowing each other, friendships were formed throughout the golf clinic.

“Everybody’s kind of, like, friends, even though they don’t know each other. Yeah. Everybody’s just like– They’re kind of great. It’s like we’re competing against each other. It’s like we’re really nice. And it’s fun to make friends. It’s like we’re all one team, but we’re in different teams,” said one of the girls in attendance.

And fun was had for all ages.

“Definitely just seeing people, like, them happy. Like, I heard one of them run up to Zen and be like, “I want to do this for 100 days.” Like, that’s what it’s all about, just seeing them smile and them connecting with other little girls and having fun around golf,” said Hill.