Golf team to travel for tourney
Spring break itinerary includes four days on various courses

ALLENTOWN - The alarms will sound early on the first day of spring break for members of the Allentown High School Redbird golf team.

On April 4, the team will start its first of four days with a tight itinerary of travel and golf. The Redbird Duff squad will represent the high school and community in the 2007 Palmetto High School Golf Championships in Myrtle Beach, S.C., according to Bruce Novozinsky, co-chair of the Allentown High School Parent Golf Association (AHSPGA).

The idea to travel for the tournament was hatched by player parent Bill Morris and put into effect by Bob Korn, whose son Michael Argondizza earned honorable mention for the Colonial Valley Conference in his first year on the team, Novozinsky said.

"The idea became reality when aggressive fundraising was put into place by the golf team and their parents under the guidance of the AHSPGA Foundation," Novozinsky said.

The team will be split into three squads and compete in a flight mode round-robin competition. Traveling by bus, the team's first stop will be Campbell University in Buise Creek, N.C., according to Novozinsky.

"This is where team captain Joe Colletti and his father, Dominic, and junior Matt Novozinsky during a campus visit convinced the golf director of the school to allow them to play a practice round at the Keith Hills course - home of the Fighting Camels," Novozinsky said.

From there the team members and chaperones will travel to North Myrtle Beach and right away compete in a skills competition. They will then have three successive days of golf against over 90 schools from the United States and Canada, including three from New Jersey, according to Novozinsky.

Doug Hunt and Joseph Monticello will serve as head coaches, and several team parents will travel with the team as chaperones and assistant coaches, Novozinsky said.

Novozinsky said the team realizes that this is much more than a school field trip and that the community is putting them on the bus.

"Uniform shirts, an abundance of balls and food were donated by generous benefactors to the AHSPGA Foundation for the trip, and the team made sure that 10 percent of the dollar value of everything that came in was donated back to the community - in this case, to the Allentown/Upper Freehold Little League in the sponsorship of the AHSPGA Pink Sox softball team, and to the ongoing food bank restock commitment made in 2006," he said.

Aside from the team being on the course during the days, the event planners have several other activities planned for the trip. The team will have team skills competitions where members will compete for gift cards, balls and other golf gear. The team will have a team dinner on Thursday and will be home early Easter morning.

For those who are interested in tracking the team's progress, the Palmetto High School Golf Championship Web site offers real-time scoring at golfholiday.com/palmetto.