photo credit: Stella Kulesa
Picture a golf course on a dreary, overcast day, trudging along but knowing that with each of the last holes, the competition has grown ever-further ahead. Knowing that to have any chance, the team’s play would need to turn around immediately, but being unable to help the twinge of hopelessness infecting every swing.
And then, out of the blue, the ball curves, catching the air just right, landing within putting distance, and in the next shot, it rolls and rolls and rolls before dropping perfectly in the hole, and in that moment, it is as if the clouds part and the color rushes back into the world.
According to senior golfer Adeline Ricker, that’s one of the best feelings in golf. And she would know; Ricker has always had a passion for the sport.
“My dad raised me golfing. I’ve golfed since I could walk,” Ricker said.
This passion has taken her to great heights.
“I’ve been the varsity two-man for all four years. I was able to shoot a PR of 69 (three under) during a match, and I was First Team All-State senior year,” Ricker said. “I just verbally committed to play college golf at Xavier [with a full scholarship] too!”
However, her coaches say Adeline’s leadership capabilities are even more remarkable than her golf accomplishments.
“[Adeline] is like the mental and vocal leader of the team,” Varsity Girls Golf Coach Todd Helline said. “And the mentor to the younger girls coming in. She’s like the big sister to a lot of these girls, show[ing] them how to take notes on a course, how to control yourself, how to act on a course, how to play and how to do school and everything.”
As luck would have it, one of those new girls is Adeline’s own sister, Amelia Ricker, who, even in her freshman year, was quick to have an impact.
“Amelia came in hot,” Helline said. “You can see all the time and effort she has put in these past few years and especially these past few months. It is really clicking at the right time for us.”
Her coach partially credits this success to her competitive nature.
“[Amelia is] ultra competitive in everything she does. It doesn’t matter what you’re playing. If you’re playing golf, she wants to be the best, [but also,] if you’re playing tic-tac-toe, she’s gonna wanna beat you,” Helline said.
But there’s more to Amelia than just her need to win; her fiery competitiveness is coupled with unparalleled composure.
“I’ve only seen her flustered one time,” Helline said. “If I’ve seen Amelia have a bad hole, I don’t have to go chase her to the next hole and talk her down off the ledge. I know that she’s going to be great on the next one. And that’s not the case with 90 percent of high school girls playing the sport.”
Yet, Amelia does not consider herself to be superior to any of her teammates. In fact, as far as her role on the team, she was described by her coaches as the glue.
“Amelia’s kind of like the life of the team. She brings the fun to everything we do,” Helline said. “She [also] gets along great with everybody. She connects very well with older girls. She’s great friends with the younger girls. She’s almost like a liaison between them; she’s the connection piece.”
But don’t be led astray; this doesn’t mean Amelia always plays nice, especially when it comes to her sister.
“[The Ricker sisters] trash-talk each other. In a fun way and like a back-and-forth kind of way, but they do talk trash to each other about beating each other on certain days or on certain holes,” Helline said. “I love that they want to beat each other; we need that in a way where the girls can handle it. All of the girls do it, but it’s even more so definitely with the sisters.”
Looking back, the girls’ season, which concluded on Oct. 6, was a historical one for them and the school.
“We played 21 statewide tournaments against the best competition in the state, we had the most wins the school’s ever had and we had the most tournament victories that the school’s ever had,” Helline said.
But ultimately, the pressure of the notoriously uber-competitive district competition was too much for the team. They placed fourth in the contest of the best local teams, but needed to place within the top two spots to advance to state competition.
Yet, Coach Helline believes things are looking up for the team, and even that a dynasty is in the making.
“The future of the team looks great, between Amelia and then the other freshman Amelia Butner. They will be the No 1 or 2 on the team for the next three years and there’s going to be girls chasing them, looking up to them and wanting to be friends with them, [including] a couple eighth grade girls [we have] coming in that are pretty good as well,” Helline said. “Last year, Skyler Dean going to Ball State was the first scholarship we’ve had in a while, but we’re going to be on a run for the next 10 years of girls here earning those college scholarships.”
