Aiden Konold ’26
Chief Sports Editor
When freshman golfer James O’Connor first arrived on Holy Cross’ campus this past summer, concern coursed through him. It’s natural for a freshman to feel a little overwhelmed when they first arrive at college. Especially at Holy Cross, as the Good Time marching band starts playing, and upperclassmen start shouting “welcome to Holy Cross” as first year students arrive on Easy Street with their families.
But for James, there was added anxiety. He was set to be the only freshman on the Holy Cross men’s golf team, and he wasn’t quite sure how he would fit in, especially socially.
He texted other members of the team throughout the summer, but there were no other freshmen teammates for him to talk to.
“As the only freshman, I was a little bit concerned at first,” James says. “Because I know that a lot of these guys are rooming together, things like that, based on class year.”
But once senior Grant Passi moved James into his dorm, he started to feel more comfortable. And then senior captains Nolan Schuermann and Owen Egan texted James to check in on him. Steve Napoli, the Holy Cross director of golf, constantly checked in with the youngest player on his roster to see how classes were going or how he was adjusting to college life.
Once practices began shortly after James settled into his new home on the Hill, Coach Napoli started pairing him with different teammates. James played a lot with Nolan and Owen at first, and then he started playing with some of the sophomores.
“[I] just kind of got to know everyone better and realize that, like Owen just said, they want to be close with me,” James says. “It’s kind of like having a second family, so to speak. I’m the youngest in my family too, so I feel like it’s kind of the same thing.”
It’s the community James was searching for throughout his college recruitment process. Given the significantly smaller roster sizes in golf compared to other college sports, James knew that he wanted to go to a school where everyone on the team was an encouraging person with the same goal in mind.
“With such a small team, if you have one bad kid or one bad apple, [they] can kind of throw the rest of the team off and kind of make it a bad team chemistry,” James says. “So it’s good to see everyone here is on the same page.”
It’s something that James noticed on his first visit to campus almost a year ago. During James’ visit, the team remained together throughout the day. Even outside of mandatory meetings, teammates ate meals together and traded jokes in the Kimball Dining Hall. Now, as a member of the team, James is a part of those team meals and even the team’s bowling alley trips.
“You get pretty close with the guys,” Owen says. “And they turn into brothers.”
In the days and hours leading up to James’ first collegiate golf tournament at Bucknell University’s home course in Lewisburg, Pa., Nolan and Owen walked their new teammate through the course. They showed him the spots where he could layup, and the spots to avoid.
Moments before James teed off on a balmy October 13 Sunday in Lewisburg, Nolan and Owen told him to “be yourself, play hard, and do what you can.”
Leading up to James’ first round, his stomach was in knots. He was more nervous than he ever had been before for a round of golf. But Nolan and Owen’s reassurance inspired James to fire an even par 70 in his first collegiate golf round.
The encouragement Nolan and Owen offered to James before his first collegiate golf round comes from the top down.
“We teach freshmen what we expect, we hold them accountable, we support them,” Napoli says. “I’m never blowing a whistle at practice, yelling at a kid. It’s more, ‘Here, let me show you.’ ”
Napoli wants to make sure that his players know why they should make adjustments to their swing, or why they are expected to act in a certain way.
“We want James to come in and understand what we do, why we do it, how we think, how we travel, what we eat, when we eat, what we do when we first get back from the golf course,” Napoli says. “The first hour is, you know, get your school work done… because the natural tendency is to hang out with your friends when we’re on the road.”
Napoli knows that in order for freshmen like James to buy into the culture he has established, they first have to understand why this culture is so important. And they also have to be a part of the conversation. This year, as team captains, Owen and Nolan lead the conversation, and show their teammates what is expected of them.
“I think trying to showcase to some of the older guys, the juniors that might be rising seniors, if we’re staying disciplined to what we’re saying that everybody should do, they’re going to notice what we’re doing,” Nolan says.
“And I think that they’ll be ready, you know, in the coming years, to take [on] more of a [n] [official]position of leadership.”
And for team newcomers, Nolan and Owen try to first establish trust. It’s key not just to helping freshmen like James adjust to collegiate golf, but it’s also a key component to the team’s success.
“I would say, trying to become more personal with each other, kind of building trust and respect with one another, I think is super important, especially if you’re trying to win as a team,” Owen says. “I think that’s necessary because we’re not playing against each other. It kind of took me a long time to realize that, yeah, I might want to beat Nolan out there, pretty badly, but at the same time, you’ve got to learn that we’re on the same team. We want to win as a team, and it’s important to realize you’re playing for a team and not just individually.”
Featured image courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics
Web Edited by Zexuan Qu ’28
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