In May, First Tee – Cleveland opened the new Woodworth Activity Center at Cleveland Metroparks’ Washington Golf Course, offering an opportunity to expand current programming and even develop new offerings for Northeast Ohio youth ages 6-18.
The former Cleveland Metropolitan School District environmental sciences high school building was fully renovated into a bright, high-tech facility that will allow for all their golf programs to run through the winter months and during bad weather any time of the year. “We needed more space to be able to have year-round programming,” said Pat LoPresti, First Tee – Cleveland’s executive director. Up to this point, the 6-week sessions only took place three times a year. Now, a fourth session will be added in the winter months.
First Tee aims to build strength of character, healthy habits and develops skills that empower kids to tackle life’s challenges through golf-centered youth development programming.
The sessions build one on the other in both learning golf and life skills. LoPresti explained, “You’ll have different experiences through our total curriculum. You start with basic life skills, golf skills, but then you can grow into, you know, how do you manage through controversy? How do you handle and create your own goals? How do you apply for a job or college?”
New facilities expand possibilities
The 12,000-square-foot building includes a 4,500-square-foot activity area, learning studio, three Full Swing golf simulators, a huge screen projector for community movie nights, a teaching kitchen for the Fit to A Tee culinary program, community room, office space and an outdoor pavilion.
The new building is more family friendly. LoPresti said that, “When we would have classes next door, kids would come and check in, and a parent or guardian would go sit in the car or leave. There was no place for anybody to go.” Additionally, there are new meeting spaces with audio and visual capabilities available for community partners, boards, and other collaborators to use. “We’ve never had a space like this!” said LoPresti, adding, “So when you look at this space, you’ll see a lot of really cool designs, and that’s all First Tee. Our designer actually took the branding from First Tee and took it to a whole new level.”
First Tee – Cleveland plans to expand the Fit to A Tee culinary and nutrition program in the new, large commercial-grade kitchen. “Before, we could never do it when we had programming going on. Because if it rained and kids were inside, we had one little room,” said LoPresti.
Partnership with Cleveland Metroparks
The Woodworth Activity Center project was funded through First Tee – Cleveland’s $3.5 million More Than A Game Capital Campaign and is an extension of a partnership with Cleveland Metroparks, which began in 2003. It was then that the nine-hole Leonard Krieger Golf Course, practice facility, clubhouse and the Iris S. & Bert L. Wolstein Life Skills Education Center was created. Cleveland Metroparks operates the Washington Golf Course and First Tee – Cleveland takes care of all the youth programming.
“We’re so blessed with the Metroparks relationship” said Mary Patton, First Tee – Cleveland’s development and marketing director.
“The other piece that’s really cool, we’re an Audubon International Gold Sanctuary. Certified Sanctuary,” added LoPresti. “That’s very rare, we were one of the first in Ohio. But what’s cool about that is often when the kids first come for a field trip, maybe they’ve never been on a golf course, our coaches first take the time to walk through the course, tell them what they’re looking at, and there’s a lot of great, unique trees that are all little signs about the wildlife. That’s also a big piece. You know, it’s respect for yourself, others and your environment.”
Greater impact
LoPresti emphasized three ways that the new facilities will change First Tee – Cleveland. The first and most important is the greater capacity to serve more kids year round. The second is the ability to develop and grow community. “I think it’s also going to be a beacon in the community that we can work with other community youth development programs,” said LoPresti.
And the third way is how the facility offers opportunity to work with organizations. LoPresti said they will organize golf centered corporate team building events and are now partnering with local golfer Sharon Hollis, who used to play on the LPGA Tour, to put on women’s clinics for female executives who she said “are maybe a little uncomfortable in joining or going to a golf outing”.
LoPresti’s biggest goals for youth who take part in First Tee – Cleveland programming is for them to “become confident young people in making a positive contribution in society where they feel heard, they feel that their presence matters, and that they can stand up for themselves and they can navigate through all the challenges that life brings.” She added that the kids are “here because (they) want to have a fun outdoor activity or in-the-kitchen activity that really can help you build your character and your confidence. And that’s what we do. And it’s so cool to watch.”
Two alums of the program, Antonio Jofferion and Brice Peake, both now coach the kids programs and stay active at the facility. While using the Full Swing simulators, Jofferion said, “They’ve blessed us with the opportunity to come in and practice. We try to take advantage.” Both coaches are now in their early 20s, and both Jofferion and Peake started playing golf more than ten years ago. Jofferion said, “Personally, when I started, I didn’t enjoy it. It was just like, yeah, it’s an old, rich, white man’s game. No one really wants to play it.”
But, he added, when the First Tee coaches came to his gym, “they had this little set up and everybody’s like, ‘oh, wow, what is this?’ And everybody started getting into it and I started enjoying it. I was like, ‘This is kind of fun.’ And next thing I knew, I was part of the first team. I took a little break from golf and then I got back into it and I’ve been in love with it ever since.”
“Golf is a great platform for a seamless integration of all these life skills. It’s easy to do on a golf course,” said LoPresti, who is excited about what her program and what the game offers.
LoPresti’s goal is for her program to be the best First Tee chapter in the country. With the new Woodworth Activity Center, she’s well on the way to make that happen.
The current summer session at First Tee – Cleveland runs from June 17 – August 3. Participant fees are $60 for ages 6-11, $65 for ages 12-12 and $70 for ages 14-18. Financial aid is available. To register or for more information go to firstteeclevelend.org or call 216-641-7799. First Tee – Cleveland is on Instagram at @firstteecleveland.
We're celebrating four years of amplifying resident voices from Cleveland's neighborhoods. Will you make a donation to keep our local journalism going?
