EE: In the 2024-25 fall sports season, girls golf advanced to the CIF Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs after winning undefeated 12-0 as the girls golf champions of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic league (SCVAL). They went on to place 5th in the CCS tournament with freshman Michelle Wang qualifying for a spot in the CIF NorCal and State girls golf championship. In this podcast, we’re sitting down with girls golf players sophomore Addison Lee and freshman Michelle Wang along with their coach Kenneth Gan to discuss their experience at CCS and onward. My name is Jami. And my name is Subin. And continue listening for more insight on the team’s journey.
AL: Hi, I’m Addison. I’m a sophomore.
MW: Hi, I’m Michelle and I’m a freshman.
KG: I’m Mr. Gan and I’m the coach.
EE: Okay, thank you guys for joining us today. Congratulations on placing fifth at the CCS Championships and winning the title of Girls Golf SCVAL Champions. How does it feel to have won these titles and did you guys expect the successes from this past season?
AL: I knew that our team was very strong. We had two incoming freshmen, and they’re both tournament players. We also have a great 4, 5 and 6 so…
MW: I think we expected to win, actually.
AL: Yeah I was really glad that we won our division, and we did well at CCS, despite the fact that many other teams like Stevenson and Valley Christian have very strong tournament players as well.
EE: Can you describe the journey the team has been on this season leading up to the tournament? How did you guys prepare for the tournament?
KG: As a coach, I didn’t feel that I needed to coach necessarily in the sense that I had really strong belief in my team and my players. I knew that everyone understood the goal that we wanted to achieve, and everyone was working either as a team or independently to make sure we reached that goal. And in the end we played, really, really well all throughout the season — we went undefeated, we went 12 and 0, and, like we said, we ended up winning our division and getting an automatic berth into CCS. So it was just really cool to see, as a coach, to see that dedication and the hard work that the whole team put in together for their shared goal of trying to go deep into the postseason.
EE: Yeah, and then Michelle mentioned team bonding and how that helps the team in general. So I wanted to ask, since this is a more individual playing sport, what role does team chemistry play in your success and how did you guys support each other, both on and off the course?
AL: Even though it’s individual, we play with a playing partner from someone in our team, and I think it’s really good if you just encourage them and help them look for their ball and you guys just have a great time and you also bond with the other team, so you get to know each other really well.
KG: It is, as Addie said, very much an individual sport but there is a team component to it. In a regular season match, you’ll have six players who play in the match and we take the top five scorers. So not only is it competitive in the sense that everyone is trying to shoot their best score and work for for their own individual, but it’s also making sure that you support the team in that sense, because you never know whether your score will count or not count, and so that brings in that team aspect at the end of the day as well.
EE: So moving on, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced this season, and how did you overcome it either as a team or individually? How did this translate into your performance at the CCS?
MW: I think for people like us, maybe the top three, challenges with our playing, we usually can overcome it by ourselves. But I think for number four and number five or people that are more new to the sport, a lot of the time the coach can help them out a lot.
EE: Was there anything within your guys’ individual playing that you wanted to work on for these upcoming tournaments.
AL: I think short games are really key for everybody. Because even though you can drive far, it doesn’t really matter as long as you missed the play, it doesn’t even matter that you drove far or hit it close to the hole. Yeah, putting is key.
MW: I think, maybe my mental game and definitely playing with someone from your own school really helped, because you can talk to them about it as well.
EE: What are some strengths that you’ve seen this past season that helped the team succeed in the tournament? Were there any specific strategies you implemented into your playing during the tournament?
MW: I think since most of the team played a practice round and basically that means learning about the course and what to do I think that helped us a lot. And since a lot of them were also staying there, they got into the mood of the tournament, and they were pretty focused.
KG: Yeah, to add on to that, out of the six players that we took to CCS, four of them had never played the course before. And so we were really fortunate that Laguna Seca Golf Range, the course that CCS was being played at, was offering early morning tee times to all of the high school players. They offered it at a discount to actually give the players an opportunity to play on the course. For us being a good hour away from the course, it’s not a place that we would play regularly versus other teams that are from the Monterey area. That’s their home course. So they definitely had an advantage in understanding what the course looks, understanding where they hit their tee shots and what the greens would look like, and we never had that. And so just having that opportunity, I thought was a really, really great opportunity and gave especially, as we said, that latter half of the group, our 3, 4, 5, 6 players the opportunity to really get a feel of the course in anticipation for a relatively big event in CCS.
EE: So you mentioned that the area that we live in gives us a little less access to more professional golf courses. Do you think that affected your abilities or like experiences going into these wider tournaments with a lot of teams that had a lot more access to these things?
MW: I think for me and Addie specifically, since we played a lot of other tournaments we already have a lot of access to these golf courses and we’re pretty used to playing, but for the other players, I think, since they like golf more, it’s more about your skill and not about the course Since they’ve put a lot of work in throughout the season and practiced a lot, I think that influenced it more, and the course has less influence on it.
EE: How do you handle the pressure of big matches like the SCVAL championships? Do you have any pre-match rituals or mindsets that help you stay focused?
AL: Yeah at leagues, I think we’re just all practicing on the driving range and just talking and just having a good time and planning out what we’re gonna do after and I think we ate pho after something. We just had fun, but I think we just make sure it’s just not that much pressure. It’s just like any other golf day, I guess. So you don’t need to put that much stress on yourself.
MW: I basically agree with what you said, just treat it as fun. And most importantly, we focused a lot on what we were gonna do after and also before we played, a lot of our coaches provided us with a lot of food, and that really sparked us with happiness and interest. So we were pretty relaxed when it came to the CCS for the league.
KG: I’m really glad that my players recognize that. I think for my assistant coach and I, we really wanted to focus on that aspect that, we already know that we have the skills to play well. I knew that Addie and I knew that Michelle could score well, and they had that ability, and there wasn’t anything that I was going to be able to teach them in the hour before the tournament started. But I knew that if I could get them into a mindset that it was just a regular match, just anything else and that it was not a live or die situation, and that we can go into it with this understanding that this is meant to be a fun game, it’s meant to be something to been enjoyed. And ultimately, it worked out really well for us. We already made plans to get pho after the match, I knew many of them were thinking about that because ultimately as a coach that’s what I want is that it doesn’t necessarily matter about the wins and losses. It’s just about the experiences that we were able to create together as a team.
EE: This is for everyone to answer. What does playing in the CCS tournament mean to you personally? How does it feel to compete at this level?
MW: I think the opportunity to play at CCS is really fun and I think most of all, it was really fun to see all my friends from other schools and this tournament is pretty cool. It’s cool that it’s the first time our team has gone there.
EE: So you mentioned this was the first time that you guys were able to play in this tournament. Was it CCS in specific?
KG: It was our first time since 20….
MW: 1975?
KG: No, we went to CCS the first year I was coach. That was five years ago, but we didn’t play as well. So this is definitely to have a top five finish, the best result we’ve had in recent years. I think when we went five years ago I think we placed like 11th out of 12 or something like that. So, we definitely weren’t one of the stronger teams as we were this year.
EE: Was there anything in specific you guys really honed in on to be able to succeed at this level?
MW: I think a big part is just your mental game, just believing in what you can do in your capabilities is definitely one of the most important parts.
EE: So Michelle, you earned an individual qualifying spot to CIF NorCal Championships and now you’re progressing to CIF State championships. What does this opportunity mean to you? And how are you preparing for this tournament?
MW: This opportunity means a lot to me and I feel just competing on this level is just really fun and I just feel it’s going to be a really good experience. And preparing for it — I think mostly just doing what I usually do: keep the same routine and have fun.
MW: I just wanted to add thank you so much to all the coaches for all the support that they provided and it really helped us throughout the season.
KG: Golf is a very wonderful sport to play and if anyone is ever interested in learning golf, I’d love to give you the opportunity. So, come next fall, reach out to me. I’m happy to teach new people the game that, at least, that I love and hopefully that all of my players love as well. And shout out to the rest of the team. As a coach, I think this has been large and by far my favorite season I’ve coached, no shade of the other graduated players from my program. But this has been one of the best seasons that I think we’ve ever had and just the experiences that I’m able to take away are pretty awesome. So, thank you all.
EE: Ok, sounds good! Thank you so much.
KG: Thank you for giving us this opportunity.
MW: Thank you so much.,
EE: And that’s the wrap on conversation with girls golf team
EE: You can listen to more of our conversation with our school’s athletes and sports teams on our website.
EE: Thank you for listening!
