February 8th, 2011 10:26am - Posted By: Tiffanie
Today, Nancy Logan (National Recreation and Park Association), and Terry Anton (SNAG Golf) announced a partnership to grow the game of golf through a national program called G-Ball, to be rolled out in Parks and Recreation Facilities over the next few years. Imagine how many of these children will want to play golf for a lifetime.
G-Ball will educate the next generation of golfers! Millions of children will learn to play golf in our parks! G-Ball will bring golf into mainstream team sports through Parks and Recreation Facilities. Golf, for the first time, will enter the team sport arena to be more competitive with all other sports.
February 8, 2011 Press Release:
The National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) has partnered with SNAG® (Starting New at Golf) to bring their G-Ball program to municipal parks and recreation facilities. G-Ball can best be described as golf’s version of T-Ball, focused on children 5 to 8 years old. It will be conducted by parent-coaches on soccer fields and selected open space within municipal facilities.
G-Ball has been several years in the making to ensure age-appropriate programming to develop a child’s golf motor skills as well as the culture of the game. Dr. Robert Pangrazi, author of more than 50 physical-education textbooks, and Dr. Vanessa Anton developed the curriculum and activities so that parent-coaches can deliver the content effectively. The program is intended to be activity based with progressive instruction to occur as the child develops. Play will be the focus of the program in a non-competitive format.
In 2011, the program will be piloted by 15 park and recreation agencies. An agency could potentially include eight to 300+ parks and recreation facilities. The program will then be expanded for 2012 and beyond. Player Development Products, LLC, the parent company of SNAG®, will offer several $7,000 grants to provide equipment and cover operational costs. NRPA will direct the grant process by selecting the appropriate agencies to pilot the program. The selected agencies will begin the program at a date to be determined this summer.
NRPA CEO Barbara Tulipane remarked, “NRPA believes this partnership with SNAG® is a fantastic opportunity to help enrich and expand park and recreation agency programs, while emphasizing our commitment to support health and wellness across the U.S.”
“We are proud to become partners with NRPA and hope to reach the shared goals of impacting over a million families with G-Ball,” said Terry Anton, the SNAGDADDY and co-creator of SNAG®. “We appreciate the encouragement and support we have received from the World Golf Foundation in bringing golf to our municipal parks and recreation facilities. We believe that many of these new
golfers will want to play the game for a lifetime.”
Steve Mona, CEO of the World Golf Foundation, continued, “The G-Ball program promises to bring golf into parity with other organized sports by having entry-level programming at the grass-roots level. We hope that the low cost of participation will bring families to the game that would not otherwise have an opportunity to participate.”
ABOUT SNAG & NRPA:
SNAG® is an easy and fun way to learn and play golf at non-traditional venues. SNAG® contains all the elements of golf but in a modified form. Falling somewhere between miniature golf and regulation golf, SNAG® allows for full shots, pitching, chipping and putting. It is a proven learning and training program for the entry-level golfer.
Currently, SNAG® is the skills-acquisition program used in our national schools golf program headed by the World Golf Foundation’s First Tee Program. There are more than 5,000 schools that are successfully introducing children to golf in the U.S. and over 8,000 worldwide. For more information: professionals visit www.snagpros.com; individuals visit www.snaggolf.com .
The National Recreation and Park Association is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing park, recreation and conservation efforts that enhance quality of life for all people. Through its network of 20,000 recreation and park professionals and citizens, NRPA encourages the promotion of healthy lifestyles, recreation initiatives, and conservation of natural and cultural resources. For more information, visit www.NRPA.org. For digital access to NRPA’s flagship publication, Parks & Recreation, visit www.parksandrec-magazine.org.
For the official Press Release CLICK HERE.
MORE ON G-Ball:
G-Ball was designed to be SNAG®’s first touch program for children 5 to 8 years old. Programming is divided between 5 & 6 year olds and 7 & 8 year olds. The younger children have activity focused programming and then progress to more instruction focused programming as 7 & 8 year olds. Both groups will enjoy a noncompetitive play environment.
G-Ball can be conducted on any open space, soccer fields or golf course fairways just to name a few. There is both an instructional component and an organized play component. All of the programming is designed to develop the necessary golf motor skills and an understanding of the game of golf. Most important at this age is to have fun and fall in love with the game of golf!
The most important part of the G-Ball program is safety. The children will be taught the best way to practice and play safely. Our safety mascot “Safe Tee” will make it easy for the children to make safety a natural part of their golfing experience. Everyone will need to reinforce all of the safety rules that the children are being taught to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience. Our goal with G-Ball is to help develop ladies and gentlemen that everyone will want to play golf with. The children will be guided by “Ettie &Kitt,” learning proper behavior and manners in a golf environment. This will enhance their golf experience for a lifetime.
The administrators and parent coaches will be committed to making the first touch G-Ball golf experience fun and exciting for both the children and their parents. All of the adults working with the children will be well trained in delivering the best programming for golf motor skill development and integration into the culture of golf. Thousands of hours have been spent with the best golf and physical education professionals in developing this experience for the children. Our goal is for the children and their parents to have fun and to develop a love for golf that will lead to a lifetime of enjoyment.
G-Ball will be administered by one or more individuals. These individuals are thoroughly trained in all aspects of the G-Ball programming. They will select and train the volunteer parent coaches who will work with the children throughout the term of the program.The administrator will assign both parent coaches and children to teams of 12. The parent coaches will conduct weekday practices and weekend play.
Coaches are trained to maintain a safe and fun environment. Safety is the highest priority for this program. They will introduce the children to the rules of conduct, course manners, golf motor development and how to play golf. The children will participate in one organized practice during the week and then participate in noncompetitive play on the weekend. Parents will be required to participate in a nonobtrusive role to insure that the children have fun. After all, this program is all about the children.
In G-Ball, the children participate in highly organized practice sessions conducted in stations where they learn the various strokes and swings with developmentally appropriate SNAG® equipment. The goal of the sessions are to develop the children’s golf motor skills and understand the various aspects of golf in preparing to play to the best of their ability.
G-Ball is where they can put all of the learning from the practice sessions into fun and exciting league play. Imagine how many of these children will want to play golf for a lifetime. SNAG® On!
Golf Professionals:
Lots of Golf Pros want to know how they can be invlolved...here's the scoop:
We are just starting our NRPA pilot program. The pace of the pilot program will be determined as we go along over this next year. During the pilot program the Park & Rec agency will determine the head coach at each park/facility. This head coach position can be filled by a parent or a Pro but it is a non-paying volunteer position. Later on Pros may have the opportunity to administer the program each park/facility but this won't take place until the pilot program has finished.
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