Madeline: Can you explain the tour’s scholarship process? Kelly: As soon as you are a junior in high school, you are able to apply for scholarships through our foun- dation and a number of other partnering foundations. We’ve given out an average of about 25 scholarships per year. They range from $ 1,000 to $ 5,000. An appli- cation has to be filled out with rationale describing why you feel you are deserving. We do look at grade point average as a qualifier, but it’s not the only thing. If somebody’s not great in school we don’t penalize them for that, but if somebody does really well in the classroom we do consider that to be a plus. We’ve also considered financial need in the case of a few children over the years who had family hardships, which we felt made them eligible to get some colle- giate assistance. To date, we’ve given out 157 schol- arships valued at $ 350,000. Madeline: This must be a thrill for everyone involved. Kelly: Yes, we have worked hard to partner with local organizations that support our vision and get great satisfaction from assisting deserving junior golfers. We fund the scholarships annually and give them out to the players at our banquet at the end of each season. There are a lot of smiles at the ban- quet, on both sides of the table. Madeline: Is there anything else you’d like to share about the tour? Kelly: What we’re really trying to do is teach kids to be involved in the community, using golf as a platform. That’s the best thing we can ask for. If you play golf for the rest of your life, understand what it’s given to you and try to return that in some way to your community. It will always come back to you in brilliant ways. For more about the Kelly Gibson Foundation, visit kellygibsonfoundation.org. Madeline Gordon, a Business major at Lehigh University and an outstanding young golfer in her own right, is the Special Features Correspondent for Junior Golf magazine. She can be reached at madeline@juniorgolfmag.net Junior Rising Star Jaden Soong 7 years old – Los Angeles, California • 14 Local U.S. Kids Tournament Wins • U.S. Kids Los Angeles Boys 7 Spring Tour Champion 2017 • Palm Springs Open Champion 2016 • Arizona Desert Shootout Champion 2017 • Tied for 5th in U.S. Kids World Championship • 3rd Place L.A. City Golf Championship 7-9 Division 2017 • Two-time Optimist Regional Champion Jaden, who carries a 1.7 GHIN handicap, has already been featured on ABC Sports and in numerous publications and Internet sites. You’re in the zone, Jaden! July 2017 | 7 Subscribe today at juniorgolfmag.net Madeline: How did you come up with the idea to use peer mentors and encourage participation from all age groups? Kelly: Our tour has participants aged from nine to 22. Rob Noel, my long time instructor, came up with the idea of having them interact, with the older play- ers guiding the younger ones. We want our scholar- ship-eligibleplayers,thoseinhighschoolandcollege, to be role models for our younger players. And so far this mentorship program has worked brilliantly. The initial response from the older players was great and it’s only gotten better. We focus on rules, etiquette and pace of play. Madeline: How does taking parent caddies out of the game benefit the tour? Kelly: The golf course is a great place to grow up and learn about life. You learn how to get along with peo- ple, how to stay within the rules, you learn etiquette and social skills. When you keep the parents on the sidelines, I think kids act more positively to advice, especially when coming in a constructive manner from other, more experienced kids. When the par- ents are out there, kids react in different ways. Some kids might not want to actually play; they might be scared if they hit a bad shot because their parents are pulling too hard for them. When the kids are out there with the mentors, they are a little more relaxed and not so worried about what the parents are going to think. Sometimes the parents slow the kids down unintentionally, just from being too deliberate. We also see parents who are intimidated by other par- ents because one might know the rules and the game better,while one is just out there trying to get theirkid involved in a sport. So it’s great fun to observe the so- cial interactions with the mentors teaching the kids. And it’s great for the parents — they get to relax a bit more, sit back on the sidelines and see their children have success with the game of golf. Mentors form a solid bond with the tour's youngest kids Save 50% off the Cover Price of JuniorGolf Today! Tosubscribe,visit juniorgolfmag.net/subscribe