 The
American Junior Golf Association and HP announced the 2004
HP Scholastic Junior All-America Team Oct. 26. The 2004
team, sponsored for the 10th consecutive year by HP, consists
of 10 young men and 10 young women who demonstrate the ability
to excel both on the golf course and in the classroom.
These outstanding individuals will be honored at the Rolex
Junior All-America Awards Banquet, held in conjunction with
the Polo Golf Junior Classic, Nov. 21 at Sea Island Golf Club
in Sea Island, Ga.
In order to be eligible for the HP Scholastic Junior All-America
Team, boy members had to place in the top 10 of an AJGA event,
while girls had to post a top-five finish. The selections
were then based on grade-point average, class rank, leadership
skills, community service and writing ability. Candidates
were required to submit an essay or poem no longer than 400
words that creatively focused on the game of golf.
This year’s essay winner was Ali Bode of Pittsburgh.
Upper St. Clair High School, Bode’s high school, will
receive a computer compliments of HP. The following is Bode’s
award-winning essay:
“The
Game”
by Ali Bode
He
proudly walks to the tee with a gait that only hints
of the battle he has fought these last two years.
Though his physical stature is now somewhat smaller
from the effects of his treatments, the largeness of
his presence is easy to feel as I stand in his shadow.
Gently, he places his tee into the ground, nodding a
silent acknowledgement to me that he is back.
Without worry as to the result he watches his ball fly
from the clubface and feels his unleashed passion for
the game soar into the air.
He looks back at me in obvious pleasure. The game begins.
We walk the fairways together, speaking of our love
for the game, not with words we say, but through the
unspoken competition that goes on between us.
We laugh as one another makes an unexpected putt, and
forget to write down the scores.
He shows some fatigue as the holes begin to pass, but
his determination to finish is evident.
I had feared this day might never come and now I wished
it would never end.
The round over, we sit for a few minutes and he tells
me he thinks I won this time.
I smile as I look back into his eyes. For me, it hadn’t
been about the strokes.
It was all about playing the game.
Dedicated
to my grandfather, Jim Keogh.
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