Winning On & Off the Course | Issue 2022

Franky Sumcad was the last golfer on the course when the Valley Christian High School girls golf team won the CCS Championship last November.
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“The rest of the team was there waiting for me, and everyone cheered when I finished,” Sumcad, now a senior, remembers. “We were all so happy and felt so united. We were so proud of what we did that day.”

One week later, Varsha Ramachandran was in one of the first groups to finish their round at the NorCal Championship…which Valley Christian also won.

“It was so much fun then watching my peers all finish that 18^th hole,” says Ramachandran, a sophomore. “All of that build-up to us winning the championship; it all felt so good!”

The dual celebrations capped off a historic year for the program, whose CCS title was its first since 2012, coming on the heels of runner-up finishes in both 2020 and 2021. The NorCal win was the program’s first since 2017.

Throughout the successful run, the one constant in girls golf has been its coach, Scot Hathaway, now in his 10^th season at the helm. Yet even as the team celebrates its victories, Hathaway appreciates that golfers like Sumcad and Ramachandran find just as much reward in the post-round joy they share with their teammates.

“Our girls have fun and have really bought into the team concept we push,” Hathaway says. “They will remember their relationships far more than the scores or awards they have received. That’s a big positive.”

In the long run, we want to succeed with our scores, but we really want to represent Christ in our attitude. – Scot Hathaway, Girls Golf Coach

In turn, Hathaway’s golfers appreciate both his sense of humor and the extent to which he can ready them for courses and situations.

“Coach puts so much effort into helping us,” says senior Annabelle Chen. “He makes notes or gets us coursebooks – we always feel so prepared.”

Notably, out of all the championships and clutch shots that Hathaway could have picked as his highlight from last year’s magical season, he opted instead to single out a match-up with league rival St. Ignatius. After the round, in which Valley Christian posted a much better score, the St. Ignatius coach approached Hathaway to remark that his own players could not stop talking about how enjoyable it was to play with the Warrior golfers.

“In the long run, we want to succeed with our scores, but we really want to represent Christ in our attitude,” Hathaway says. “They will remember us more for how we acted than how we played.”

“One of the things that I truly admire about the program Scot Hathaway has built at Valley Christian is that it is college preparatory in nature. Our girls not only learn the game with next-level instruction, but they learn what it means to be a student-athlete who can balance all aspects of their lives. Our girls learn how to excel in the classroom and manage school work while on overnight trips at prestigious tournaments. The success our alumni have had at the collegiate level is no accident,” says Eric Scharrenberg, VP/K-12 Director of  Athletics.

“We set high standards, both in golf and in the classroom,” he says. “Success breeds success, and the players really make the program. They play in tournaments and talk up their experience at Valley Christian. We just need to continue to work hard and represent the school in a positive way.”

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