To prepare his golfers for their first tournament scheduled to take place on March 11, Cafeteria Manager and Head Coach Mitch Arnold has been holding team practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Navy Marine and Ala Wai Golf Courses.

“I make sure they work on every aspect of their games,” said Arnold.

The MHS Golf Team has attended ten consecutive state championships dating from 2000-2010. Short game coach Bobby Dang, who has been with the team for the past two seasons is taking a break and will not be returning this year. The team has suffered losses to its lineup as several players opted not to play this year due to personal reasons.

According to Arnold, many students expressed interest in joining the team this year but failed to follow up. With only three boys, Oliver Lam (12), Wen Hao Luo (11), and Tony Cho (11), MHS does not have enough players to compete for the team title which requires a minimum of five boys. The same holds true for the girls team. Four players are required but MHS will only have one female, Yeajin Oh (9), representing MHS this year.

“These boys are all used to competitive play and have displayed a lot of talent,” said Arnold of his players. “[Oh] is also showing a lot of potential even though she’s new [to the team].”

Aside from team practices, some of the players also spend time during non-practice days to work with personal coaches.

Arnold is hoping to perform just as well, or even better than last year when the team secured two individual OIA championship medals. His goal for next year is to acquire enough players to win the OIA Championship team title.