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07/18/2023 12:01 PMThe game of golf requires much patience and persistence through several peaks and valleys throughout not only a given round, but also a given hole–something Christian Basmadjian demonstrated quite well as an exemplary and even-keeled captain for the North Haven golf team.
The North Haven senior captain got into the swing on the links with his father as a child yet grew up playing baseball through middle school before joining the golf squad his sophomore season.
As the lone captain and senior for the Nighthawks on the links this spring, Christian helped lead the squad to a 15-1 regular season and SCC Tier II crown, plus ninth and 13th place finishes at the SCC and Division I State Tournaments, respectively–the first time North Haven qualified for postseason play as a group since 2018. For his leadership efforts on and away from the course, Christian came away with the team’s Sportsmanship Award honor.
“I just kept going with golf and it got more fun for me. The better you get at golf, the more fun it becomes,” says Christian. “With golf, you have to be open to criticism; it is important. Things can get worse before they get better with golf if you keep doing the same things, and the criticisms can help you improve.”
Christian surmises that his opening swings have certainly taken on marked improvements–pulling the ball on a more narrow trajectory towards the fairway and, ultimately, the always sought-after greens.
“The biggest development in my game has been my drives and off-the-tee shots,” Christian says. “When I started out as a sophomore, I struggled to keep them in play. But after some help from my coaches and teammates, I am now hitting those shots further and straighter. It has really helped me become a more well-rounded player.”
When it comes to the war that can wage inside one’s mind as a high school golfer, Christian details one cannot keep a rolling tally in their head throughout their round. He adds the piecemeal approach can alleviate any potential pressure and aid towards playing more proficiently.
“In golf, it is so important to move on quickly from and forget a bad hole,” says Christian. “I try not to keep a running score and just go one hole at a time, because if you start doing the math and trying to figure out your score, you can put more pressure on yourself and it makes it harder to do well.”
As the sole senior and leader for the Nighthawks this past spring, Christian recalled he saw first-hand how impressionable he can be to his younger colleagues on the course.
“Being the only senior and captain was very rewarding, and it helped me, because I saw how my influence could really help my teammates and the whole team,” Christian says. “From my sophomore year through this season, it was a completely different team, and it feels nice to think a lot of it was because of me.”
Speaking more to the Nighthawks’ transformation and ascendancy up the SCC ladder during his three-year tenure, Christian and North Haven simply showed their competitive fire as an entire entity–whether on the links against opposing schools or versus each other internally.
“Everyone bought into the idea this year that we would be able to compete and that we wanted to compete,” says Christian. “We held each other accountable, we grew more confident as a team, and we just kept going forward.”
North Haven Head Coach Kevin St. Pierre pines on how highly-coveted a club leader Christian was given his studiousness towards the game and his schoolwork—leaving nothing but positive ramifications on the Nighthawks.
“Christian is one of those players you want on your team,” says St. Pierre. “He not only leads on the course, but he is also a stellar student. He bought into the team as a sophomore and never looked back; the entire team looked up to him. His traits of what it takes to be a leader will continue through the team for years. The future is bright for him and though he will be missed at North Haven, I know he will have great successes in the future.”
As Christian looks to remain on the course throughout the course of his college career in some capacity, in his tenure as a Nighthawk, he saw the true ramifications of being a squad member as a student-athlete and how it is more than just simply swinging for your school.
“I hope to play some form of golf, even intramural golf, in college,” says Christian. “Until I played for North Haven, I did not see how big of an impact being a member of a team could be. You are not only representing yourself and your school out there, you are representing a large part of your community.”
Christian learned a lot about life by being on the links. He discovered that it is about being present in the moment and appreciating it, because time certainly does fly when one is having so much fun.
“I learned to never try and rush through anything, whether athletically or academically,” Christian says. “My senior year flew by, and I would just try to get to the next vacation or break, and it now feels like a blur. I also learned that the more you put into something, the more you get out of it, and to also appreciate each match or practice individually.”