PORTSMOUTH, Va. — It was good combination of football and golf at Bide-A-Wee Golf Course in Portsmouth on Friday. The Norfolk State University Athletic Foundation holding its 3rd annual golf tournament to help Spartan student-athletes.
Over 140 golfers took part in the event that, for the day, was helping the football team. Among them, Spartan head coach Dawson Odums who says his program gets to grow within a community of alumni and friends that pushes his players to succeed.
"These funds will be utilized for our players in a variety of different ways", he says. "It just creates opportunities for us and just help with some things that we can buy outside of our budget."
Ashley Avery, who's on the foundation's board of directors, says having a fan base packing Dick Price Stadium will make all the difference. "The bottom line is, the home atmosphere is coming back to campus", he says.
"Our home atmosphere is what the key is to having a successful program. A successful life at Norfolk State. If the staff is happy, the kids are happy, we're all going to be happy."
Odums says enjoys a good round of golf whether he does well or not.
"You can be good on Monday and bad on Tuesday, but the one I try to learn from golf is that control your emotions", he says. "That's the biggest message is that I don't put in a lot of practice to be a great golfer so I should never get upset with a bad shot."
The Spartans open their season at home against Virginia State in the annual Labor Day Classic from Dick Price Stadium Saturday September 2nd at 2pm.