SCH freshman Kara Kniezewski lines up a shot at the Inter-Ac League tournament.

by Tom Utescher

In the sporting realm, Kara Kniezewski was best known as a basketball player when she was at Norwood Fontbonne Academy, and that was still considered her primary sport when she entered ninth grade at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy last fall. Her twin sister, Mari, opted to attend Mount St. Joseph Academy and focus on field hockey.

At the same time, though, Kara was making rapid strides in a relatively new sport for her, golf. This spring she excelled for the SCH varsity team, leading the squad in four of the eight official Inter-Ac League matches, and posting the second-best score in the other four outings.

The cut-off for qualifying for the individual league championships was an average score of 50 or better for a golfer’s six best rounds. Kniezewski stayed below that number all season long, and although she feels she didn’t play her best at the Inter-Ac champs, she finished eighth with a round of 49 at Gulph Mills Golf Club (par 35).

She had no strong family background in the sport. Her father plays recreationally and she gave golf a try at Blue Bell Country Club heading into her eighth-grade year at Norwood.

“I needed a break after Nationals, and I just sort of picked up on it,” she recalled.

It proved an effective respite from the hoops scene because of the different nature of the two sports.

“Golf is more individual than basketball, and you depend more on yourself and you push yourself,” the Blue Devils freshman remarked. “If you make a mistake in basketball, there’s always something else going on a few seconds later and you can get right back into it. I think golf is more of a mental game. You have to learn to deal with frustration and move past it when you have problems. You really have to persevere.”

SCH had struggled somewhat in golf in recent years. With the youngster out of Norwood joining the Blue Devils this spring, they finished 3-5 in the league, They swept Baldwin School, and after winning their first match against Agnes Irwin, they lost to the Owls in the rematch by two strokes.

At the end of the regular season, a home match against eight-time Inter-Ac champion Academy of Notre Dame brought out Kniezewski’s best. The Irish won comfortably, but the SCH rookie shot a season-best 41 at par-36 Sunnybrook Golf Club.

“I had a lot of fun being on the team this year,” she said. “I didn’t play my best a lot of the year, but I came back and played well in our last match. I was off a little bit in the tournament, but I had fun there, too. My goal was to make the Inter-Ac tournament sometime during my four years, and I was able to do it my freshman year.”

Notre Dame junior Meghan Fahey was the individual league champion with a one-over round of 36, while Agnes Irwin sophomore Kaitlyn Lees was runner-up with a score of 40.

Springside Chestnut Hill’s Kniezewski plans to keep playing scholastic and AAU basketball (with the Renegades), but she also wants to increase her exposure to junior golf this summer.

“I’m keeping it balanced between golf and basketball,” she explained. “I’m going to enter some AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) tournaments, and some junior tour ones, too. I want to get tournament experience in golf and keep my options open for when I decide what I want to do in college.”

Away from the court and the course, she’s enjoyed her first year at Springside Chestnut Hill.

“I love it,” she remarked. “I like the interaction with the teachers, and I really enjoy the arts program. I’m taking photography right now, and I’m taking ceramics next year. It’s more like a college experience, in a way.”

Asked about her immediate goals on the golf course, she said, “I’m working on just relaxing before matches. I’m trying to improve all of my golf skills, and not worry too much about any one portion of my game.”