For Love of Game, Hudsonville Ace Plays Thru Injury to Finish Season at Finals
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
October 20, 2021
HUDSONVILLE – Ella Thomasma’s love of the game was worth the pain.
The Hudsonville junior persevered through a serious knee injury to finish her season among the best golfers in the state.
Thomasma competed at this past weekend’s MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals as an individual qualifier and placed 47th overall. She carded rounds of 89 and 90 at The Meadows at Grand Valley State for a two-day total of 179.
And Thomasma made the field, and then played those back-to-back 18-hole rounds, with a torn right knee ligament suffered six months ago.
“It was so rewarding to finish the season, and it’s pretty cool to be able to say I made it the entire way,” Thomasma said. “No one would probably do what I did, that would be my guess, but I just love golf and I didn’t want to miss my junior year.”
Thomasma suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in March during high school soccer tryouts and was done for the rest of that season.
Doctors encouraged Thomasma to have surgery, but she opted out due to her desire to play golf this fall.
“The doctor told me I should do it when the injury happened, but I told him that I couldn’t do that,” Thomasma said. “I had to wait until golf season was done because I knew I wanted to play golf.”
Hudsonville girls golf coach Joe DeSmit knew Thomasma was committed to playing despite the injury.
“When it happened, she said she wasn’t getting surgery until after the season so she knew right away she was going to try and go as long as she could,” he said. “She even went out West with Young Life and had to do hikes. We talked about getting a medical clearance to use a cart, but she didn’t want any part of it.”
Thomasma emerged as the Eagles’ top golfer this fall despite the overwhelming pain she experienced often.
“It’s been pretty bad, and it hurts all the time, but I wasn’t going to stop golfing,” Thomasma said. “I think walking was the hardest part for me. It wasn’t hitting the ball, it was walking all the courses – and some of them were tough to walk. It just made it tougher.”
Thomasma wore a brace on the knee to alleviate some of the pain.
“When I was swinging (the club), it was fine, but I would hit my shot and then be like, ‘Dang, I have to walk to the next shot now,’” Thomasma said. “It was tough, but I did it.”
DeSmit was proud of Thomasma for her grit and determination.
“I just think it’s awesome what she did this year, and she’s just a grinder,” he said. “I could tear up about it because she just gutted it out all year.
“It’s a testament to her for grinding through it and putting her team ahead of herself and saying that she was going to play to help the team.”
Hudsonville competed at the Regional earlier this month at Crystal Mountain and finished fifth as a team. The top three teams from Regionals advance to Finals.
Thomasma, however, qualified as an individual after firing a 92 to tie for ninth – and earn the third of three qualifying spots for golfers whose teams do not advance as a whole.
“I knew if I was going to wait to have surgery, I wanted to make it as far as I possibly could and I did it,” Thomasma said. “The conditions at the state finals were tough, but I didn’t play awful so I’m not complaining. I wish I would’ve played better, but I didn’t end up too bad.”
Thomasma received a special honor at the end of the season.
“She was given the Eagle Award, which is given to an athlete that you want to replicate (from) our program,” DeSmit said. “Not many kids would do that, and she’s just tough.”
Thomasma, who said her meniscus was probably torn as well because of the delay, was scheduled to have surgery this week.
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for four years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Hudsonville’s Ella Thomasma sends a drive during Saturday’s second round at The Meadows. (Middle) Thomasma, playing the Finals with a torn ACL, puts a putt close to the cup. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
Performance: TC West's Anika Dy
October 25, 2017
Anika Dy
Traverse City West junior – Golf
The now two-time reigning Lower Peninsula Division 1 champion claimed her second straight MHSAA individual title and led West to its second team championship in three seasons Friday and Saturday to earn the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
Dy shot a two-day 141 to best the field at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University by eight strokes, leading off with a first-round 69. Her 141 tied the fourth-lowest 36-hole score in MHSAA Girls Golf Finals history, and she became only the 11th golfer to break 70 for an 18-hole Finals round. West’s team score of 626 was 22 strokes lower than the field and ranked third all-time in Lower Peninsula/Class A Finals history. Next season Dy will play to become only the fourth in MHSAA history to win three Lower Peninsula girls golf individual titles – and she also finished runner-up as a freshman by only a stroke.
Her numbers this entire season were similarly incredible. Dy averaged 69.6 strokes for 18 holes and shot no worse than par in any of her rounds with only two double bogies the entire fall. Outside the high school season, she made the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship semifinals this summer and played in the United States Golf Association Women’s State Team Championship in New Mexico alongside her sister Anci, a freshman on West’s team this fall who tied for sixth at last weekend’s MHSAA Final. Anika Dy already has committed to continue her golf career at University of Michigan, and she carries a 4.0 grade-point average.
Coach Karl Gagnon said: “She works harder than any golfer I have been around. She will practice at 7 a.m. before school just to make sure she gets her practice time in. And as good a golfer as she is, she is a better person. She is humble and never fails to tell the kids she plays with she enjoyed playing with them. She encourages everyone she plays with. At the same time, she has that competitive fire in her. The first day of state finals, she came off the course so upset with her round. She felt anger she didn’t play better. I asked her what she shot. She gave me her card … 69. I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ But that’s Anika. Always wanting to do better.”
Performance Point: “It’s still kind of a shock. Honestly it was a goal to go there and win, but I still can’t wrap my head around it – especially since it’s our second win as a team in the last three years,” Dy said. “I was on a roll (during the first round). I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just kept going with it. The second day was a different story. I struggled a little more. But that first day was really, really, really fun. (Putting) definitely lowered my score a little bit because my long game wasn’t there to back it up. … (The championships) were all special in their own ways, but this year was maybe a little more special because my sister was on the team, so it was fun to share that experience with her. And doing it a second time around just really lets me know what I’m doing is working. It’s really helped my confidence going through this year and for next season too.”
Ready to represent: “One of our seniors really, really stepped up, Megan Jenkinson. I’m so proud of how she played; those were probably her best two rounds this whole season (Jenkinson tied for ninth). We prepared really well, and we just came together as a team. We were in such a good mindset, and it just worked out in the end. We always like to joke about representing the northern Michigan side of things because we’re so far away, and not many other teams know that we’re up here sometimes. So when we come down, we like to show them what we’ve got and make a run for it.”
Sister act: “Just growing up together (with Anci) playing golf and everything is really fun, and we never got to actually play on a team before in a competitive setting. So just to be able to do that and experience it for the first time was fun and exciting and new. Neither of (our parents) play golf. I got into it because of my dad, but he only stuck with it for a year and quit, but I kept going with it. It’s funny because people are always like, ‘Neither of your parents golf?’ and I’m like, ‘No, it’s just us two.’ To be honest, I was more interested in the golf carts before I was interested in golf, but eventually my dad got me clubs and I just kept with it because I loved it so much, just competing.”
See a different game: “I just love watching golf, whoever is playing, just because those are the best people, on the TV. And obviously there’s a reason why they’re the best. So you can always learn something from their long game, short game, mental game, whatever it is; those are the best players and you can definitely learn something from any of them. I think I watch to see their strategy and what they do so I can kinda imitate them and see what works for me, because obviously it works for them – so maybe it will help get my game to the next level as well.”
Golf and grades: “My parents are always school first and then golf, so in order for me to do what I love I have to do well in school as well. They’re pretty strict with my grades and school and all of that. They understand though that I’m really busy with golf and school, so they kinda cut me some slack sometimes. I think (golf and academics) go hand in hand. They both teach you discipline and time management, which is important for college because you do also miss a lot of school when you go to tournaments, so I think it’s preparing me well for that college experience.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City West's Anika Dy watches one of her drives during last weekend's LP Division 1 Final at The Meadows. (Middle) Dy tests the strength of the wind before an approach shot. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)