This year, the BSM Girls Golf team has welcomed a new head coach to their program. Physical education teacher, Mike Johnston, will now help lead the girls’ team on the golf course this spring season.

Johnston has been playing golf all his life but playing in high school was definitely a favorite for him. “I played all throughout high school and I was pretty good. I was an all-conference golfer in high school. So I really enjoyed my experience playing high school golf,” Johnston said.

After being a boys’ JV coach for the past two years, Johnston wants to make sure the girls are given the same opportunities the boys’ teams have been given in the past. “I wanted to be able to give the girls the same resources, like playing at the clubs that the boys play at, having the better tee times, getting into the better tournaments. I really wanted them to have the same experience that the guys were having,” Johnston said.

Senior captain, Abby Garvin, has had a new head coach for all four years of her golf experience here at BSM. “It’s obviously an adjustment to make, but I feel like we’ve all gotten pretty good at adjusting to new coaches. I feel like it’s also nice because we’ve all known him because he’s already been around as our gym teacher in the past,” Garvin said.

Because there has been so much shifting in the coaching staff over the past couple of years, Garvin and the team are happy that they have a coach that will be with them for a while. “I think it’ll help the overall team in the long run because he’ll be the coach for the next few years. It’s hard to only have a coach for one season, so I think it’ll be nice to know he’ll be the coach for the next few years,” Garvin said.

Johnston is very excited to finally be able to start coaching and working with the girls this spring. “This is what I’ve wanted. I wanted to take over last year but I had my daughter so I couldn’t take on a full-time position, but it was still available this spring, so I felt very lucky to be able to slide into this role. I’m really excited to work with the girls that are on the team right now. They have been together for a long time and I’ve known them for a while so it will be fun this spring,” Johnston said.

Because Johnston is a teacher at BSM, there is some balance that needs to be maintained between teaching and coaching. “I have a really great partner in my [department] with [physical education teacher Casey Hanson]. We coach a lot of things so we’ve gotten good at having a good balance of understanding. We help each other out when we both have to go and coach. But I do miss a lot of school,” Johnston said.