PAXINOS It's safe to say that few high school athletes have ever had the kind of season Bryce Fiamoncini is having.
Right now, the Mount Carmel Area senior is the only competing golfer in the immediate area. Not only that, but he doesn't even compete for his own school.
As part of the Mount Carmel-Lourdes Regional cooperative agreement, Fiamoncini is competing for Lourdes.
While we're at it, Lourdes coach Bill Chesney is having a rather odd debut season, too, with Fiamoncini his only golfer.
Actually, there is another Red Raider, Matt Avellino, but he has been battling sickness issues the last couple of matches, so for now, Fiamoncini is it. Not just for his school, but for the area.
As of now, Shamokin Area and Southern Columbia, which both had golf programs, do not, and Line Mountain has not had a golf team since the mid-1970s.
Fiamoncini held up his end of the bargain pretty well Tuesday, shooting a career-best 80 at Indian Hills Golf Club against Jim Thorpe High School.
"I've always been part of a team, but this has really been good for me," Fiamoncini said. "I'm improving in a major way."
Who wouldn't, with what amounts to a personal coach.
"For my first year, I couldn't ask for a better player to have," said Chesney, who played golf at Lourdes, before graduating in 2008. "He loves the game of golf and he's eager to improve. He's been bringing his score down a stroke or two every match. I've
been able to give him a lot of time to help him, especially with the mental aspect of the game. It takes a lot for him to come out every match knowing we can't win, but we're looking at him for districts."
Fiamoncini said he missed the cutoff to advance to the regional tournament by three places.
"I don't remember exactly, but I was close," he said.
Fiamoncini is in his third year of golf.
"My dad's a good player and he got me into it and inspired me," he said.
He inspired him to the point where he was playing "three or four times a week" this summer in preparation for the season.
Chesney said he thinks the lull in Lourdes program may only be temporary.
"Next year could be good," he said. "Matt's only a sophomore and from what I understand, there are four or five eighth graders who are interested in playing next year."
Chesney said the downturn in golf in an economically depressed area is understandable, even if it happened fairly quickly.
"We always had eight or 10 players when I was in school," Chesney said. "But when it comes to golf, you have to spend some money. You have to buy clubs, then you have to buy balls, then you have to have a course fairly close to you and a ride to it. It's not like basketball, where you can just walk down to a court and practice by yourself.
"Then, if you have all that, it will still cost you $30 or $40 a round to practice. A lot of kids just can't afford it.
"Plus the season competes with football and soccer. You almost have to have a situation where a bunch of kids come to high school at the same time and can play with each other in the summer."
There are golf associations which sponsor leagues and tournaments for young golfers to compete in, but again those cost money.
Chesney said schools would do well to come up with some of kind of way to have kids practice their game without actually having to spend the money to play it as much.
"Maybe if some kids who liked to golf got together and put up some kind of netting in a yard or something," he said.
In the meantime, Bryce Fiamoncini carries on, with help from his opponents, who have all been understanding of the situation.
"I've been amazed at the cooperation we've gotten from the coaches and players around the (Schuylkill) league," Chesney said. "Look at these guys (Jim Thorpe). They had to drive an hour and a half to get here, knowing they were only going to golf against one guy."
"The other players have been great," Fiamoncini said. "It would be bad if other players were jerks."