A local program for girls aged 11 to 17, called Smashing Girls, is looking for applicants who are interested in learning how to golf, build relationships with women mentors, develop skills that go beyond the game, and who wouldn’t otherwise have access to golf.
Five-time Canadian Women’s long drive champion and former golf touring professional Fareen Samji called her youth program Smashing Girls after her original Smashing the Grass Ceiling programs aimed at adult women. Both programs aim to build up the confidence and networking skills of women and girls so that they can be successful in whatever their chosen profession. Smashing and Smashing Nines (individual and group programs, respectively) were designed to help women break into those networking opportunities that so often happen in professional circles on the golf course. Samji, who goes by “Far,” noticed that golf was used as a relationship-building bonding exercise among professional men, often leaving women out of the equation. To even up the playing field (well, golf course), Samji wrote a book called Smashing the Grass Ceiling: A Women’s Guide to Mastering Golf for Business Success and began the Smashing programs to get women more comfortable on the course and building the skills necessary to embrace any professional opportunities that may get their start during a round on the green.
Smashing Girls, then, is looking upriver, to build confidence, resilience, interpersonal skills, and teaching strategies to face challenges and embrace opportunities before young women have entered the professional world. This is the second year the program has run. With funding from the Golf Canada Foundation, this program sponsors up to four girls to give them each four professional golf lessons, equipment, golf accessories, a shirt, and a mentor. Smashing Girls will begin in November, at an indoors location in Burlington.
The mentors are professional women looking to help young women by sharing their career path and life experience, and modelling good sportsmanship and interpersonal skills. Mentors go with the girls to their lessons, then play two rounds of nine-hole golf with their mentee, and accompany them to a Smashing Nines event — an opportunity for the young participants to learn that ever-important skill of networking.
To be eligible for the Smashing Girls program, there must be a financial need: that is, this program is for girls whose families wouldn’t otherwise have the ability to fund these lessons. Girls must also be able to travel to the golf course. To apply, fill out this form or contact Far Samji, either through her website’s contact page (click here) or via email: longdriver@farsamji.com; Samji is looking for applications to be in this week for the November start.
