Anthony Wilkins Blog

(July 2014) –As I was growing up in the suburbs of northern New Jersey golf was never really on my sports radar.  Outside of hitting a few balls at the range for free where my friends worked, I didn’t have much exposure to the game.  It just wasn’t something my friends or my friend’s friends took part in—especially when the major sports of the time had no problem drowning golf out.  Was that a socioeconomic thing?  Maybe.  Was that a lack of interest thing?  Could be.  But one thing that I know for sure is that since there were no players in golf that I could readily identify with, it was quite easy to continue to overlook it.

Even though I had become more acquainted with the game as I got older, I still hadn’t developed anything more than a passing interest in the game of golf.  As I was growing up, I had heard so many stories about how the game of golf was not for African Americans, and, that so many that have even attempted to play the game were met with outright racist actions.  Now, hearing stories like these, one can imagine how stereotypes have formed (like rocks) around golf and deterred so many from even attempting to learn how to play.

Fortunately for me, and countless others, Tiger Woods burst onto the scene as someone for me to look up to and identify with.  His presence alone made me feel that golf was not only a game that could be enjoyed by all but that it was also cool to be seen as a golfer.  I also quickly learned that not everyone felt the same way about not only his presence, but his dominance of the game.  It was a valuable lesson for me to see that not even becoming a worldwide superstar could insulate Tiger from the hate that people would show him for simply pursuing his love of golf.  His continuous drive and determination towards the top drove me to follow his career and sparked my interest in golf even further.

Ironically, it wasn’t until as an adult, I moved out of the northeast and into the stereotypically racist south, did I start getting more exposure to golf and began liking it.  I have been blessed to have gotten to know some truly genuine people who have happily shared their love of golf with me.  I have to count myself as one of the lucky African American golfers that have—honestly—never openly experienced a racist act while golfing.  But I have to wonder how lucky I would have been if I had not been able to learn the game under the same circumstances.  Would I have been subjected to blatant racism while simply trying to learn the game and have some fun at the same time?  I can truly say that I love golf and cannot wait until my son can play right alongside me during a round.  Now, would I have developed that love if I were racially discouraged from ever getting into the game?

I haven’t personally met anyone who has been subjected to racism while playing golf and I hope to never have to.  Which I do not believe will be the case.  But, if I am ever faced with such a situation, I will do my best to help this person see the beauty in the game of golf and to never give up.  After all, playing golf with no distractions is mentally challenging enough without having to worry about the outside pressures of whether or not some stranger thinks that you should even be playing in the first place.

Well, until next time,

Anthony

Anthony L. Wilkins is a national Academy of Sports Medicine & Titleist Performance Institute Certified Personal Trainer an avid golfer from New Jersey who currently resides in the metro Atlanta area with his wife and son. 

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Character, Academics, and Golf

(June/July 2014)

I write this blog with deep emotions and frustrations. For the new readers, 90% of my writings are about how Huntsville’s Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development, use the sport of golf and its intrinsic values to introduce and develop youth ages 6-18 academics, athletic and life skills using golf as the context.  But for our regular and new readers, I ask that you endeavor with me into something that has everything to do with golf and youth development, but not in the traditional way. Read my blog on Family Structure and Historical Normshttps://www.africanamericangolfersdigest.com/howardbankheadblogFeb2012

Let me share a brief story with you. I remember a few years ago, I had a meeting with several individuals… a diverse group of men and women that I assume was knowledgeable about a variety subjects. Well, I made a comment on how we use golf to help students understand and develop their math, academic and character skills. This one individual that always talked about how he was going to whip me on the golf course said what does math have to do with golf in a sarcastic way! The nine other individuals looked at me as if they agreed with the question or how I was going to respond. I respected this man and still do. And thanks to God, at that time I had a life lesson and a teachable moment. First, never judge a book by its cover (which is one of the oldest saying ever) and always smile and think before you respond to an unexpected situation. Of course, I used the opportunity to explain and/or make aware (educate) that our program is not junior golf, but a developmental program that uses golf in nontraditional ways. I went on to share that golf terms such as par, birdie and bogey are scoring math words in golf, like addition, subtraction and fractions…0, -1, +1, angles and distances is arithmetic.

Of course, I have been told that people in this southern community think that I am crazy doing what I do. What I do is use the art form of jazz music and the sport of golf in a non-profit program to help develop the lives of young people and entertain adults. And of course being crazy is a relative thing. But I must admit I am driven by an extraordinary urge to be relevant yet unassuming in this beautiful world that God created. “Space is the place” is a jazz album by Sun Ra, one of my jazz favorites.For years of my life, even as a youth, I would find myself alone in spaces and places…with God!

These deep emotions and frustrating awareness that I am writing about has several dimensions. And when I cannot explain where these feelings come from, I put them on God…God is my only answer when I can and cannot explain things in life.

I have much to write about including the failure of some of our communities, our schools, families and individuals…self-included! But again thanks to God, we have more successes than failures.

Certain emotions start to flow when I see a kid, teenager or young adult walking around with their pants not sagging, but barely hanging on around their knees, with tattoos all over their backs, arms, necks, etc. and most of the music they are listening to, has negative lyrics such as, kill the n****r, f##k the bitch…I hope you know where I am coming from!

On the other hand which seems rare, other emotions arise when I hear or see a younger individual carrying themselves in a more civil and/or decent way. A matter of fact, the other day as I was leaving the market (Kroger), I stopped and spoke to a young man that I thought was in my classroom when I was a high school at-risk instructor a few years ago. He was employed by the store and I asked his where did I know him from and he said with a smile, hey Mr. Bankhead I was in your class at Sparkman High. I remember when we talked about his goals after high school; he was adamant about not going to college and getting into the bling-bling world. His reasoning baffled me because he was a respectful and pleasant student. We laughed because of seeing each other again, and I asked what was happening with him? He said that he was headed to the navy in a few weeks and was looking forward to his venture. I asked him about going to college and traveling the world through the military, his reply was YES SIR, Mr. Bankhead Yes Sir I am! We embraced and I encouraged him to keep God in his life. For me that was a good experience, but they seem few and to wide.

In 2011, 2012 and 2013, the great State of Alabama is number one in Football and number one in Golf in 2013 and 2014, but last in 8^th graders math scores. Something is wrong here!

Alabama eighth graders ranked dead last in national math scores! Where is the outcry from our community leaders and educators…or as a “so called” civilized society, do we really care? Today, public schools are more segregated than they have been at any other point over the past 40 years and students of color are still trapped in the poorest performing schools.  60 years after the Brown decision, four out of five African American fourth graders read below grade level and they are twice as likely as their white peers to drop out of high school.

I know for the State of Alabama, our nation and humanity as a whole, if a high percentage of our youth are not proficient at math, more than lately they have issues with reading. I believe that these academic inefficiencies lead to character flaws, meaning that some students act out for attentions. Some of our students and adults (parents) do not know how to say help me, I need help or I don’t understand this math concept and word question.

We know that thousands of our youth are not receiving and do not have access to various educational and training resources that will benefit their academic development. However, given needed and adequate support, together we can turn this negative statistic around in a few years! Through our program, we emphasize the math, science, reading and character in the art form of jazz music and the sport of golf.

My concern is for the 8^th grade students that are having a difficult time understanding 6 grade math concepts. This is not meant to be a negative indictment on the educational systems that our students attend. The educational systems produce more successes that failures. But we cannot afford to leave no child behind! As it is known, education and government officials and certain business entities, project how many prisons to build is based on 3^rd grades reading levels. I dare say that poor reading score is not the only indicator that can predict the outcome of a person’s life. I believe the influences that the negative side of pop-culture, truly negatively affects the psyche of our young people’s brain. I am not anti-rap music and against some of today style of clothing. But there is a sub-culture that seems to feed on self-hate music (kill the n****r, f**k that bitch).  I stand for positive music because the mind and brain operates in the affirmative…the I-can and I-will attitude. Positive attitudes help to foster and produces good values and strong work ethic. In today fast moving world of technology, science and 24 hours news coverage, I estimate that 85% of media coverage is attracted to blood and guts. It is said that the negative news drive up ratings, and the higher the rating numbers, the more money is made. It’s all about money.

Huntsville’s Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development, Summer Youth Enrichment Experience (SYEE) will tee off in July 2014 and carry on throughout the school year with afterschool programs.

Qualified staff members, and volunteers will deliver the academic and golf & life skills curriculum. What makes this program an experience is the material the participants learn in the classroom will be carried and applied on the golf course and eventually in other areas of their lives. This includes understanding and working with word problems, fraction, whole number, negative and positive integers. Geometry and the science of golf will also reinforce our participant’s academic skills. The sport of golf offers life intrinsic values such as, perseverance, respect, integrity, honesty, and judgment, just to name a few.

Let me be clear, Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development, Summer Youth Enrichment Experience is not an athletic sport program like basketball, baseball or football. This program is an academic exercise designed to develop youth math, reading, science, writing and character skills using golf as the context.

In addition to our youth golf development programs, we are presenting the 28^th Annual Jazz-N-June Festival. Activities include:

• Youth & Adult golf clinics and a youth Tennis clinic
• Health & Jazz for seniors
• Kids jazz concert
• Youth Blog, Science & Arts Symposium
• Jazz Education Symposium
• Jazz Master-class
• Jazz Concert
• Jazz-N-June Festival on the Mountain.

The Tennessee Valley Jazz Society believes that the art form of jazz music and the intrinsic values that golf offers can benefit the minds and images that influence our youth.

For Jazz-N-June Festival info visit www.jazznjune.org