Play Golf

Hello everyone! I’ve been out of the “blogosphere” for too long and am jumping back in, full force! It’s been a busy and demanding winter with lots of exciting transitions and achievements. I look forward to growing The Urban Golf Academy this spring and expanding through my own work with children, and, of course, sharing what they teach ME here with all of you.

In the process of branding my name I came up with this tagline: Play Golf.
I wanted to kick off my spring blog by talking a little bit about what that means for me, and how important I think the term “play” is.

Children learn through play. What does that mean? It means that when we make something enjoyable, dynamic and interactive, the information in the lesson is retained. When children are having fun they are open and when they are open, they learn. People often say that what you love in school usually ends up becoming a part of the career you pursue and I’ve always lived by the motto: do what you love and success will follow. The reason I love the tagline “Play Golf” is not because I want my children to become professional golfers, but because I want them to have fun and through having fun, I want them to learn!

This applies to adults, too. At a certain point in our academic careers we begin to associate learning with a “have to.” We have to go to school, we have to sit in desks, we have to stay quiet, we have to listen to the teacher. It becomes constricting, limiting and above all else, our internal nature rebels against it. Now I’m not suggesting all of school be a free for all, far from it. I am constantly monitoring my students to see what they need and when. Is there energy that needs to be dispelled? Great, let’s do something super physical. Are they feeling quiet and contemplative? Great, time to talk through some of the nuts and bolts of our activities. What I AM saying is that learning is a dynamic, holistic process. Children are not simply input/output machines but human beings with complex needs, desires and learning styles. What play does is it allows us to get out of the “right” and “wrong” of things. It allows us, as adults, and children alike to have a bit more freedom and space in the learning process and feel our way, organically, to the end result of achievement.

The goal is not to slap some sticker on ourselves for a job well done but to actively enjoy our lives, to explore with purposeful understanding and limitless joy at the wide expanse of unknown. There is so much to discover for children. The world is so new and so wide open. But I think that if we, too, took a bit more time to play we’d see how much we have to discover. Life moves onward and we live each and everyday. Why not Play towards success? You have to get there somehow…might as well enjoy it.

PLAY golf,

Kate