Hill lauds successful GYSA golf tournament

Overcast skies full of rain clouds soaked Southern Wayne Country Club about 30 minutes before golfers teed off in the Grantham Youth Sports Association tournament Friday afternoon.

Yet, Mother Nature couldn’t deter 52 competitors (13 four-player teams) from tackling the always-challenging, par-71 course over the next four-plus hours.

“The bottom fell out after we were done,” chuckled Morgan Hill, newly-elected GYSA president and tournament coordinator. “It’s usually pretty easy to get participation in a golf tournament. It’s a good fund raiser.”

Hill and his playing partners — Matt Reeves, Kris Denning and David Bowden — emerged as the top team with a 16-under 55.

Two quartets shared second place at 14-under 57.

The team of Jonathan Putnam, Marvin Harrell, Christopher Reedy and Curtis Vinson won a scorecard playoff over the foursome of Trey Pate, Cody Davis, Levi Wise and Colton Davis.

Cameron Daniels claimed the putting contest.

Loren Zerkle recorded the longest drive of the day, while Vinson won the 50-50 raffle.

“We were unable to have it last year,” Hill said. “I was able to go out and get some sponsors. We almost doubled from the first year. The main thing is to make it an annual event, grow it year by year adding more players and sponsors. Everybody likes to play golf.”

Proceeds from the tournament benefit GYSA, which currently sponsors six sports – baseball, softball, T-ball, volleyball, soccer and basketball. Hill said baseball had more than 30 players on two in-house 8-Under teams and had a Tar Heel squad that competed against other programs in the county.

There were six T-ball teams.

Softball squads participated on the 8U, 10U and 12U scenes.

“We had good participation and it’s kind of grown each year,” Hill said. “We’ve got a good group of people on the [GYSA] board. We’re trying to do things to upgrade and beautify the facilities. I’m sure every community is like that. There’s always a need project that needs to be addressed.”

Hill said roofs need repairing on the softball field. There are plans pour concrete in the batting cages and put down astroturf. A recent straight-line wind storm damaged one of the scoreboards.

Drainage issues need addressing along with grass on the fields.

New lighting is also needed that carries a $20,000 price tag.

“There is a lot to be done,” Hill said.

Hill has been questioned about restarting the football program, which competed in the old Neuse River Youth Football League. The estimated start-up cost is between $12,000 and $15,000.

“We talk about it, but it’s a big expense to start with because of the equipment we have to buy for each kid,” Hill said. “All the pads we had before have expired. We had three age groups. It’s going to take some grants to build up funds. We have to pay insurance for each child and that varies from sport to sport.”

GYSA announced its new officers, directors and board members at a recent meeting. Chad Pierce is vice president. Amy Hooker is secretary, while Rhonda Sommer will handle treasurer duties. Jerimee Hooker is the concession director.

Hill and Pierce are the baseball and soccer directors, respectively. Aaron Archer is the softball director. Basketball has a committee, while no directors were named for volleyball and T-ball.

Long-time official Michael King coordinates the umpires and schedules for GYSA.

“We’d love to see some new faces at our meetings and new coaches, if anyone is interested,” said Hill. “We get different people out-reaching about putting in more sports. We want to be able to offer everything we can. The kids get that experience before they get to middle school and then go to high school from there.

“We lost some kids to other communities when we didn’t offer sports and now we’ve got some kids coming back in. We’ve got some great parents. Pretty much all of the businesses I the community have worked out good for us. I think it will get better in the future.”

Hill said the GYSA plans to meet the third Thursday of each month.