Giving Back to the Community
The Academy is committed to building community and recognizes the importance of giving back through the game of golf. Here are a few of the programs we've been involved with.
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Inner-City School Programs
In 2022, the Fraserview Golf Academy formed a partnership with Vancouver teachers, retired principals, two inner-city highschools and generous funders, to bring the experience of golf to more than 50 disadvantaged youth. Each student received five group lessons covering the basics of golf. Building on the foundation of basic skills, our five-year goal is to provide students with opportunities to continue in golf, possibly taking competitive level players towards post-secondary education. For the short term, the Academy is focused on providing as many disadvantaged students as possible access to learning and playing the game. "Most of our families are single-parent, indigenous and low income, "says Britannia Secondary School teacher Justin Borsato. "Our students rarely have the opportunity to partake in field trips and activities which require substantial funding. In 2022, we arranged 10 field trips to Fraserview Golf Academy and we plan to continue what we’ve started into 2023 and beyond." With this community-centred partnership, we're seeing encouraging results as we build towards a more comprehensive and lasting golf program for disadvantaged kids in Vancouver's downtown. 
Partnering With The First Tee
The First Tee is a well recognized international foundation with more than 150 chapters around the world, working to enhance character-building opportunities for all youth through the game of golf. In 2022, four of the Academy coaches donated two full days of personal time to attend and complete a certification course to better understand the curriculums and outcomes that First Tee – Canada provides to people in our community. In 2022 - in addition to the estimated 750 juniors enrolled in our Academy programs - Fraserview Golf Academy hosted nine First Tee programs and coached 54 children following their curriculum. |
International Women’s Golf Day
Launched in 2016, Women's Golf Day celebrates girls and women in golf on a world-wide stage. Closer to home, Fraserview has hosted several Women’s Golf Day events prior to the interruption caused by Covid-19. Scheduled for every June 7th, this event includes groups of more than 75 women gathering annually for a one-night extravaganza of networking, golf clinics, drinks, meals, fashion shows and listening to exciting guest speakers. Fraserview Golf Academy professional coaches run golf clinics for the women and brought in some of the Academy’s Junior girls to be a part of the celebration and to encourage learning about the importance of volunteering. Stay tuned as we hope to participate in this important event again in 2023! 
Outreach to India
One of FGA's most unique community golf partnership is our association with Harcharan Bajwa, a retired Colonel with the Indian Army, who has strong family ties in Vancouver. We met Colonel Bajwa in 2018 when his grandson attended several of our junior golf programs. Being highly motivated to bring positive opportunities home with him to the Punjab province, he invested his own money and time in starting a youth golf program on the rooftop of the building where he operates a computer business. Since then, Fraserview Golf Academy has participated by supplying golf clubs, shoes, gloves, and technical advice for the start-up programs in India. Today, some six years after meeting, we continue sharing teaching videos and passion for helping all people learn the game. Technology and the internet have helped this sharing of game-building ideas to keep both Harcharan and his golf programs progressing and growing for children experiencing poverty in India. As Fraserview Golf Academy expands its partnership with Vancouver’s Inner-City School program, we are exploring ways to include Harcharan as a volunteer so he can take home even more ideas for the benefit of juniors in the Punjab, India. |
Family Services of Greater Vancouver
One of our first community programs was to connect with a local branch of Family Services, a non-profit organization that helps empower people to create positive change in their lives. Prior to Covid-19, we engaged with youth who had experienced homelessness, family trauma, domestic violence and other challenges. Many of the children appreciated the freedom of being outdoors and having agency through learning new skills in a golf setting. It was very rewarding to see the smiles and positive mindset that comes with personal success such as following instructions that leads to demonstrable improvement or discovering new athletic skills that kids didn’t realize they had before. Golf is more than just a sport - it's a community builder.
