The Niles West boys varsity golf team teed off for the first time this year last week and got their season off to a great start. The boys placed second in the Maine-Niles Shootout after placing sixth in their first tournament at Fox Run. The second-place finish has really shown the boys what they can do this year and they hope to keep that same energy up throughout the season.

“We’re looking really good, we’ve all mostly been together for three years now and we’re really excited to see what we can do this year,” junior Kyle Gibson said.

Almost all the boys have played together for more than a year and they know they can be even better than before and build off of each other.

“We look like an experienced group that’s ready to put up some good numbers and compete in the conference better than the last few years,” senior Andrew Pabst said.

The boys also have a common goal this season of being the best in the conference and they know they can do that if they play the way they have for the last few matches.

“We want to be the best in the conference of course, and that is definitely something that can be achieved if we give it all our best throughout the season,” Pabst said.

With the team they have and the skill the athletes all bring to the table, winning our conference is something that should almost be a guarantee.

“Obviously our main goal is to take home the conference title for the first time in a long time, and it’s something that is very achievable for this team,” senior Matthew Schieffer said.

In order to achieve their goals, all they need to do is trust themselves and their teammates and by doing that, clinching the conference is something that can easily be done.

“Some of our goals this year are to stay composed and not give up on ourselves. We have unbelievable talent on our team. A personal goal I have it to stay focused and not lose confidence after a bad shot or two,” Gibson said.

With every season though, come obstacles and challenges that teams need to face in order to reach their end goal and for the boy’s golf team this year, that challenge is believing in themselves through the thick and thin and doing what they do best.

“An obstacle we will face is consistency, a lot of our guys are good but not perfect so after a bad shot or two, we just have to stay composed and go after the next shot,” Gibson said.

The CSL south conference is known for its competitiveness but the boys have no doubt that they can run with the big dogs and finish the season on a high note.

“We’ve got a lot of challenges to face this year, we play some tough teams like Evanston, New Trier, and Maine South but we definitely feel like we can compete with them,” Schieffer said.