Rzewnicki finds some bumps on road to coaching Leechburg’s first golf season
by Dan Rzewnicki, Staff Writer
Two years ago Leechburg Area High School launched its golf club based on a poll about sports students would like to have added at Leechburg. In its first year as a club, the team members would not participate in any matches. They would simply learn about the game, receive lessons and learn what it would mean to be on the team.
But this year, the LAHS’s golf team took off as Dan Rzewnicki was tapped as the coach for the new team. Coach Rzewnicki, a health and physical education teacher at Apollo Ridge High School, is no stranger to golf or to coaching.
However, coaching or teaching was not his dream. He attended Slippery Rock University as biology major, and he planned to transfer to the University of Pittsburgh to become a physical therapist. But he said things didn’t exactly work out. He failed to make it into Pitt’s program and changed to a physical education major.
Once onto the high school scene, Rzewnicki burst onto the coaching scene. He took coaching classes in a variety of sports: bowling, golf, racket sports and volleyball. At Apollo Ridge, Rzewnicki coached girls’ volleyball, boys’ basketball and baseball.
Rzewnicki is no stranger to golf either. He began playing as a young boy with his father and two brothers. He spent many summers giving golf lessons. He even holds two club championships at Willowbrook Country Club.
Leechburg’s new golf team, consisting of six players, played 12 matches in its first season. Although Rzewnicki said he was disappointed with the number of players on his team, he said the advantage is that each team member got a lot of playing time.
“The fact that our players coming back have more experience, as well as upcoming freshman, are some positive outlooks for next season,” Rzewnicki said, even though the team finished 0-12, losing to Apollo by only five strokes.
While the team finished with a disappointing record, Rzewnicki said it played in one of the toughest conferences in the WPIAL, featuring Vincentian and Sewickley Academy, the WPIAL champions three years running. But Rzewnicki also said he thinks the program will grow larger as the years go on. Rzewnicki definitely wants Leechburg golf to keep swinging next year, just not as many times.
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