Everyone stopped golfing. Amy cut off her lessons with Acuff. The family didn't play together for about two months. The ride had ended. Amy and her parents talked often about what was next. Amy regularly asked Jenny where she was going to college, but Jenny had to explain that not everyone went to college.
Joe and Jenny were looking at all options. They discussed a job-training program, but it would've required Amy to move out. That wasn't feasible.
"We were really struggling," Jenny said.
Then Joe and Jenny found the guidance they needed during Amy's final individualized education plan meeting of high school.
Amy's teacher and counselor, Paul Roads, told them Amy was "one of the most unique students" he's ever had. But then he added three words that started to change their minds: "She's not finished."
Roads suggested they look into enrolling Amy at Paradise Valley Community College, which, he explained, had a department for students with disabilities.
Amy was quickly accepted.
Joe and Jenny also remembered that PVCC had a women's golf team. Joe wrote the coach, Matt Keel, an email in April 2018, explaining Amy's situation, sharing videos, her stats and résumé, and asking if she could join the team and participate in any way possible.
Keel wrote back with a scholarship offer.
"I didn't believe it until the morning of the letter signing," Jenny said. The NCAA and the National Junior College Athletic Association said they don't keep records of whether somebody with Down syndrome has received a college athletic scholarship, but it's widely believed Amy's the first.
A teaching pro, Keel knew a good swing when he saw one. His first instinct was to sign Amy and then figure everything out. And there was plenty. Amy had to get certified with a disability, which led to the NJCAA allowing her to take six credits a semester to stay eligible. Caddies aren't allowed in junior college golf, but Keel got around that by hiring both Joe and Acuff as unpaid assistant coaches. They can't push Amy's cart or swing a club, but they can do everything else.
"I wasn't trying to hoodwink anybody," Keel said. "I wanted us to make a commitment.
"I didn't want her to be a token player. ... I wanted her to be a contributing member to the team."
Amy still lives at home but has adapted academically. She took one academic class in the first semester, which was a challenge, but has since taken classes such as modern dance, jazz and Zumba.
Despite articles and a video of Amy signing her scholarship, Keel wanted to keep her out of the media. He didn't want it to feel like he was exploiting Amy for the benefit of his own program, so he didn't tell the rest of the team until a few days before their first practice and didn't tell opposing coaches until the first tournament.
"It kind of caught me off guard," PVCC freshman Lacie Skelton said. "It was a surprise. I guess I just thought like she'd just be another teammate, but I thought we would have to help her out more.
"She's more independent than you expected."
Amy broke 100 for the first time this past spring, and her season average for 18 holes was 108.5.
Playing golf seemed to be the easiest part of Amy's transition to college. She also instantly hit it off with her teammates.
"She's always like a support system to the whole team," said former teammate Nidia Valenzuela, who graduated this spring. "We can laugh all day in the van on our way to tournaments or on our way back to school. She was always cracking jokes."
Skelton thinks twice before doing things, wondering what Amy would say.
"Whenever any of us girls are upset or mad, she's like, 'Don't be mad, don't be upset, I love you. It's OK. Life's going to be OK, because I love you.'" Skelton said. "She always says, 'I love you.' I think it's just so uplifting.
"It changes your day. It puts a smile on your face."
Yes, Amy's swing and overall golf game have improved immensely since they first started working together, but to Acuff, that's not the measure of what golf has brought to his pupil.
"The thing that she's been able to improve so much is she's been able to build these relationships, these experiences," Acuff said. "She's met the girls from the other teams that she's been playing with in college.
"She's been able to go from the person that was probably not able to qualify to the person that did qualify, the person that has excelled, the person that has earned the right to be there and now is looked up to instead of being an outcast or pushed to the side."
Fonte do artigo:estatísticas lotofácil