The Ronan golf team took a little time this past Saturday to give back to the golf course that lets them practice on it.

On a bright and sunny afternoon, the team headed out to the Mission Mountain golf course to do some spring cleaning.

This is the third year that the team has done a community give back day. Head coach Matt Olson and a few others came up with the idea. “We started this three years ago, just to give the kids a sense of community,” he said, “They give back to the community that supports them.”

On Saturday afternoon the kids met at the clubhouse and were met by new golf pro Joey Esh, who got them organized to start cleaning up the course. After thanking them for their help, the groups split up to get to work.

First year assistant coach Payge DeLaurenti took off on a four-wheeler with golfers Kaitlyn Woirhaye and Brooklyn Olson. “I think it’s good for the kids to get out here and work on their day off,” she said as they picked up branches.

Over at the driving range, junior Chance Deneault and a few others picked up balls. “It’s awesome because they let us use the range for free, they let us use everything for free,” he said of the give back day. Participating in his first year of golf, Deneault said he chose the sport because it’s a life-long sport and because of the coaches. “Matt is super cool,” he said.

The give back day is not a required activity for the team. However, that hasn’t had any effect on the turn out. “I’ll have maybe one or two kids missing and they have a good reason,” Olson said, “Nobody tries to get out of it.”

Some of the kids on the team also compete in track. Olson said they were going to come out after the meet to help. “I get the best kids. I don’t know why, but I do. It’s awesome,” he said.

The idea has caught on and spread in the Ronan school. The other spring sport athletes will have their community give back day later this month. “We’ve got 100 percent support from parents and the administration,” Olson said.