Lucas Punkari
For 13-year-old Tyson Morrisseau, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime.
A Grade 8 student at St. Francis School here, the Couchiching resident has been accepted into the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head Island, S.C.—and could become the first First Nations’ student to ever attend it.
“It’s sort of weird really that I’m the only Native American who applied for the program or that was accepted into the program,” Morrisseau admitted.
“But now that I’ve been accepted into the Haney Academy, maybe I can become a role model for a lot of first nations people,” he reasoned.
That feeling also is shared by Morrisseau’s dad, Kyle, who is just as excited as his son is about the opportunity.
“Golf is something that’s really growing among our group of people, especially with the course at Heron Landing,” he enthused.
“When the course was built, there was some controversy around it at first, but we are seeing the fruits of the labour today as one of our own has a chance to go to a really special school,” Kyle Morrisseau added.
“I think it really speaks loudly for the commitment of our community to support something like this, and I think this is a good thing for kids in other sports to just take that chance because you never know what is going to happen.”
Tyson Morrisseau, who has been playing golf for 10 years, originally sent in the application form back in June after being shown it by his sister-in-law. He found out he was accepted at the end of August.
“I couldn’t really believe it when I found out I got in,” he said. “I didn’t think that I would get picked to be part of the academy, especially out of all the people that applied.”
“I knew that he loved golf and I knew that he had filled out the application, but I didn’t know that he had sent it in until we got the phone call from them,” his dad added.
“I was totally flabbergasted that he even got in there and that he even applied on his own to go there.
“But as we have been talking more and more with the people down there, you begin to realize, ‘Wow, this kids has a chance of doing something that is a little bit different than anybody else around here has done,” Kyle Morrisseau noted.
While Tyson Morrisseau, who placed first in the Thunder Bay junior championships earlier this year, is excited about the fact he potentially could be learning from the former swing coach of Tiger Woods, his dad is very intrigued about the opportunities for schooling the academy includes.
“One of the things that I like about the academy is that they have really good academic programs and they heavily stress that,” Kyle Morrisseau explained.
“It’s a good chance for someone like Tyson to get a chance for a higher education and to also do something that he really loves to do.
“And if he can do that, that is something really special for a person’s life,” he reasoned.
The current plan is for the teen to head down to South Carolina next March for two weeks to take part in pre-course activities, then return there in September to begin attending the program full-time, which will see him move away from home.
“I’m sure that I will miss my parents, all of my friends, and my home,” Tyson Morrisseau conceded. “But I would be doing what I want to do and I guess I just have to deal with it.”
One of the biggest issues that faces the Morrisseau family is the funds needed to attend the academy, with a bill of $65,690 required to take part in the full-year course there.
“We’re applying for the Dreamcatcher Fund and hoping to get a positive response from that,” Kyle Morrisseau noted.
“From there, we’re hoping to help pay the remainder of the tuition through fundraising activities and things like that,” he added.
“But we are still getting everyone and everything together at this point on those tangible things that we can be doing.”
For those interested in helping out Tyson, contact his dad, Kyle, at 276-0837 or mother, Mona-Rose, at 275-9812.
