Running and Dribbling and Swinging

Ammon has been fortunate enough to play all 3 of his sports this summer. He's an athletic boy, so the camps and tournaments he went to were great opportunities for him!

At the beginning of June, he attended a 3-day basketball camp in Salmon directed by the Burgess's for boys and girls. He had a lot of fun, and he got some awesome prizes in some of the contests they had, like gift certificates to local venues. He is in the back row, 3rd from the left in the yellow shorts.

At the end of June, he went to a 3-day Cross Country Camp in Bozeman, Montana with his Salmon coach and a few other teammates. He enjoyed it so much and had a lot of fun! He got the award for "Most Outstanding Freshman" and he won a windbreaker. He really wants to go again next year.

The youth from Salmon in their camp T-shirts. He's 2nd from the left.

One of the activities at the camp was an obstacle course called
"the Amazing Race". In this picture, Ammon had to go over &
under obstacles while biting onto a spoon with an egg on it.

All of the 2014 participants at the campfire circle near the lake.

In July, he competed at youth golf tournaments in Eastern Idaho. This year, he was in the age division of 14-15 year olds. Each tournament is 18 holes and generally takes about 4 hours to complete. There is only one person in his age group that is from Salmon, and he never was never paired up with him at this year's tournaments, but he's been doing this long enough that he knows most of the boys his age that compete from Idaho Falls and Rexburg.

The first tournament was in Pocatello at the Juniper Hills course on June 30. There were 20 competitors in his age group. He didn't do as well on the front nine holes, but he did really well on the back 9 holes. Kanyon and I watched him on his first hole, then I watched him play the majority of the back 9. He got a score of 96, which he was disappointed with.

The funniest part about watching him golf at Juniper Hills was when we had to wait for some geese to cross a fairway before we could proceed! I've never seen that happen in Salmon!

The 2nd golf tournament was the very next day on July 1 in Blackfoot. He has golfed at the Blackfoot Golf Course before, so he felt a lot more confident. He played really well on the front nine, and not as well as on the back nine. Kanyon and I watched him play the first two holes. His final score was 95.

The funniest part that happened at the Blackfoot course was when Ammon hit a shot off the fairway to get to the green. The group in front of Ammon's group had just left the green and were walking to the next tee. When Ammon hit the ball, it looked like it landed in the tall grass next to a water hazard. But, as we approached the green, a guy who was walking with the group in front of us said Ammon's ball hit him on the top of his back. The guy was alright, but Ammon felt so bad! Thankfully, though, the ball ricocheted off the man to the left (closer to the green) instead of to the right (off the slope and into the water hazard)!!

Two weeks later, he played at the Sage Lakes course in Idaho Falls. He's also played there before: it's the course where districts were held last year. Jonah and Micah came with me, and we watched him play the last 5 holes. He finished golfing right before a storm blew in. He played very well, and got a score of 91. 

The funniest moment at the Sage Lakes Golf Course when when we were approaching one of the final greens, and a member of Ammon's golf group hit his ball from the fairway and it landed on the very edge of a pond. Instead of taking a drop, and an extra mark, he decided to hit it out of the water. We all stood back as he swung. He got completely soaked, we all had a good laugh, and it turned out to be a good shot getting him close to the green!

At the end of July, he participated in the 2-day district golf tournament in Rexburg at the Teton Lakes course. Josh took him to both days of the tournament, and he had driver's training before/after them each day in Idaho Falls as well. He scored a 92 the first day, and a 104 the second day. He loves golfing, but the pressure of competing is something he struggles with. These individual youth competitions are good practice for him as he will be on the High School Golf Team this coming year.