Agostini: First Tee second to none in schooling kids on golf

By Ron Agostini
ragostini@modbee.com

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The First Tee of Modesto ushered in its sixth year Tuesday with 40 volunteers, 260 students and a fresh bushel of awards.

"It's the change in the kids that makes it so special," said Sandra de Alcuaz, the executive director of the Del Rio Country Club Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the local First Tee chapter. "To enhance their future is what we're all about."

The First Tee, 206 chapters strong and scattered throughout 49 states and five countries, has introduced golf — along with core values and life lessons — to 2.9 million participants. Closer to home, Modesto Municipal teems with energy as the local First Tee headquarters. Nearly 5,000 children have benefited from The First Tee's life-through-golf outreach.

Before the year is done, de Alcuaz expects to approach or top the 550 students who took part in 2008. Her full-time staff now includes program director Chris Mendes and program manager John Griston.

It was de Alcuaz, however, who acknowledged the applause two weeks ago during The First Tee's biennial network meeting in San Jose. de Alcuaz was one of only five directors in the country to receive the World Golf Foundation Chairman's Award for overall excellence.

"I was surprised and pleased to receive it in San Jose in front of friends and supporters," she said. "It was only the second time the convention was held on the West Coast, so that was also a big deal."

The First Tee also picked up another Ace award for chapter recognition. Modesto is one of only 12 chapters to have annexed Ace honors in each of the last three years. Chris Dewar, an original First Tee staffer, has fortified The First Tee of Northern Nevada in Reno.

Modesto's First Tee, dedicated in October of 2003 during opening ceremonies which included Los Altos' Juli Inkster, always has overachieved. The Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, a Champions Tour stop, has featured Modesto entries in four of its five tournaments — Julianna Uhrik, Marina Martinez, Katie Canadas and, last year, Fredrik Palmer. They've been supported each time by busloads of sign-waving Modesto First Tee classmates as they've walked the grounds of one of golf's most spectacular venues.

The First Tee's mission statement, to provide learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development through golf, has not changed. A new approach, however, has featured First Tee classes and lessons at various schools and youth agencies. About 3,000 children have heard The First Tee message at area schools from Patterson to Turlock to Sonora to all parts of Modesto.

"Instead of growing chapters, we've used the chapters to grow the program," de Alcuaz said.

Predictably, fund-raising has become more difficult in an ailing economy. The First Tee needs about $200,000 a year to stay afloat.

The organization's two best allies remain the same: 1. Golf, and 2. The life lessons learned through the game.

"The First Tee gives kids a sense of place, a sense of purpose, something to believe in," said Gen. Colin Powell, the keynote speaker at the San Jose meeting. "More than ever before in our history we need to surround our children with the sense of the possible. We need to fill them with confidence and the ethic of hard work and honesty."

HOLES-IN-ONE — Julianna Uhrik, Modesto, 140-yard seventh at Legacy CC, Phoenix, 9-iron. ... Robert Jimenez, Modesto, 86-yard 17th at Jack Tone Golf, Ripon, pitching wedge. ... Ron McGee, Tracy, 117-yard 15th at Jack Tone, pitching wedge. ... Kevin Schenk, Ripon, 127-yard eighth at Jack Tone, sand wedge.

Bee sports columnist Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.