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LEFT Kevin Wicker coaches Durham Academy Upper School students Evelyn Guyer, Chloe French and Riley Kim at the Duke University Golf Club. BELOW Jenna Kim practices on the course.
Linked In � Durham Academy’s girls golf team defends its first NCISAA championship title this season B Y A N N A - RH E S A V E R SO L A P HOTO G RA P H Y B Y JO HN MICHAE L SIMP SO N
J
enna Kim, 14, says being part of
a championship team feels good, but the key word is “team.” “It’s a really good experience to be on a team because golf is a pretty individual sport,” she says. This year, the Durham Academy girls golf team will do their best to repeat their championship performance at the next North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament
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in late October. Jenna was a seventh grader when she joined the varsity girls golf team. Last year, she was the youngest student to ever win the NCISAA girls golf championship as an individual. Coach Kevin Wicker says he was recruited by founding coach Greg Murray, who retired in 2022 after 43 years at the school, to continue building the program, which focuses on character, integrity and self-reliance. “Every person who goes out there, they have to play their own ball for the next 18 holes, which is about 4 ½ hours,” Kevin says. “There’s no timeout. There’s no substitutions. That’s all them.” Kevin, who works at UNC as a fiber-optic technician, begins his days early so he can meet the players after school for practice and matches. He played golf in high school and college, then coached for 18 years at Northern High School. He says helping the players build positive mindsets and healthy interpersonal relationships is more rewarding than winning. “After matches, we go out to eat dinner,” Kevin says. “You want the team to be close. When they’re at the table and they’re talking about golf shots, or even when they’re talking about life, it’s fun to hear these young adults. It keeps me excited to come back and do it all over again the very next day.” For Saia Rampersaud, 16, playing with a team changed her perspective on the game.