Aoife Devaney and Laniah Moffett have been golfing together since they were 5years old. By the time they finished eighth grade last year, they were ranked in the top 10 on the Connecticut Junior PGA Champions Tour, but as they headed to high school this year, they realized that getting a chance to play for their schools might not be an option.
“So my school has about 1,200 kids and you know, I’d expect at least like one person to have picked up a club and maybe, you know, wanted to play. Nobody,” said Devaney, who is a freshman at Kennedy High School in Waterbury.
Moffett is a freshman at Crosby High School.
“Nobody plays golf, nobody thinks of golf as a sport when they're in high school.”
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So the girls created their own opportunity on a boys team. Moffett joined the Sacred Heart boys team, making it a co-op. Devaney practices with them but she competes as a team of one, representing Kennedy.
“I was really nervous but after a while I'm more confident now,” said Devaney.
They said their opponents often don’t think much of them, until the step up to the men’s tees.
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“We tee off and they're like, ‘oh no, I don’t think we're going to win this one,’” said Moffett.
But Moffett and Devaney hope that their opponents aren’t the only ones watching. They want other girls and boys in Waterbury to know that golf is an option.
“You wouldn't expect golfers coming from Waterbury, especially like, teenage girls,” said Devaney.
“Having little kids or even high schoolers just try the sport only because i am, it's really nice,” said Moffett.
