By Marty Henwood (May 2009)
No one can ever say Kingsley Rowe isn’t doing his part to change a little corner of his world.
Nearly a decade has passed since Rowe, the founder and driving force behind the National Junior Golf Academy, put into plan his vision of using golf to lend a helping hand to children from some of the most underprivileged, crime-ridden areas of Toronto.
And now, just a few months shy of the NJGA’s tenth anniversary, Rowe takes a moment to reminisce on the past while looking forward to how many more will benefit in the coming years.
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| Kingsley Rowe |
“I am very happy and feel extremely fulfilled,” says Rowe. “The purpose of this program was to give these kids a better alternative. A lot of them don’t have a father figure, and their mothers work all the time. Peer pressure can be so overwhelming at times, and that is how these kids get into trouble.”
“Having played golf from a young age, I appreciate the discipline it brought to me, the difference it made in my life.”
While searching out a community to serve as the NJGA’s pilot project back in 1999, Rowe didn’t tiptoe his way around town, launching the program in the notorious Jane-Finch area, considered to be one of the roughest postal codes in Canada. Rowe saw an opportunity to use golf as a way of getting to youngsters in their early years with positive change and options, things many of them weren’t often afforded.
“It’s sad to say, but most of these parents don’t even know where their kids are,” adds Rowe.”Unfortunately, that area has inherited the reputation, the stigma, of being a very bad area. Some of the kids just need help with choices, to make the right choice.”
Rowe, who came to Canada from his native Jamaica more than three decades ago and became a successful businessman, looked at the deteriorating state of the Jane-Finch corridor and, like many, felt a sense of dismay.
Only he decided to do something about it.
Junior golf clinics and schools are commonplace these days but, in Canada, you’ll be hard-pressed to find one like this. A not-for-profit, volunteer-driven organization, Rowe has the dream of one day going national. There have been calls from major cities including Winnipeg and Vancouver but, for now, he is focused on making a difference in the GTA. Infrastructure costs alone mean national expansion is not yet on the front burner, but Rowe sees his program one day reaching youngsters coast-to-coast.
“We’re not a golf school in the literal sense but we are using the sport to instill life skills to help these kids,” Rowe adds. “And the influence has been astronomical, not only on the kids but on the parents as well.”
One of the NJGA’s earliest success stories was young Dominque Claxton who, at 14, was selected as one of 20 youngsters to fly to Alabama and work with Tiger Woods and his father during one of Tiger’s golf clinics.
Rowe says the experience changed Claxton’s life. Not only did the youngster go on to become vice-president of his student council, but Claxton moved on to college and continues to be an ambassador with the NJGA.
“He was a changed kid, he really was. It was like he was transformed to a young man full of confidence and self-esteem,” says Rowe of Claxton’s visit with Woods. “What Tiger has done is transcended racial and social barriers and given kids at every level the belief they can succeed. He epitomizes what can be achieved with hard work.”
But Claxton is just one of the NJGA success stories. More than 2,000 youngsters have graduated from the program and Rowe has no intention of slowing down. The NJGA has recently expanded into the Maybelle area of Etobicoke and has unveiled the Capital One National Junior Golf Academy Scholarship, benefitting five students annually with $4,000 scholarships for each year of their tuition.
The NJGA will hold its 5th Annual Invitational at Scarboro G&CC on August 31st.
There’s little doubt the NJGA has caught the attention of many. The City of Toronto has become an integral community partner by offering the use of community centres and public courses. The RCGA lends its support and spearheads its popular Walk With A Pro initiative while the USGA sends four sets of week-long passes to the U.S. Open each year. Larry Armatage has opened his Family Golf Oakville doors to NJGA members and is inviting heads pros at GTA courses to support the Invitational this summer.
Numerous businesses and individuals are lending their support, but Rowe admits there were many detractors in the early days, months and years of the program.
“When we first started out, we heard the echoes, and there were a lot of harsh statements directed at us,” remembers Rowe. “People were saying these kids just didn’t belong. That’s just the way it is. But that’s the beauty of golf – it breaks down economic and social barriers. Our kids can interact with Bay Street kids, with kids from the corporate sector, and just love the game, no matter where it is you call home.”
“We tell our kids, it’s not how well you play – it’s how well you behave.”
And so Kingsley Rowe soldiers on in his quest to change lives by implementing the virtues, the lessons, from the game of golf.
Self-esteem, integrity, honesty, decorum, sportsmanship and, most of all, hope.
“I’m getting more enjoyment out of this than the kids themselves,” admits Rowe. “To see the smile on the face of a kid that has hit a ball, and hit it right, is just something special. At times, it can be a tear-jerker, and that makes it all worthwhile.
“Giving back is the main thing. You have empathy - I think that is part of being human - but you also have to step back and ask yourself ‘What is it I can do to make a difference?’”
Kingsley Rowe has already answered that question.
To learn more about the NJGA or to register for the 5th Annual Invitational at Scarboro G&CC on Aug. 31, please visit www.njga.ca
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