Thompson commits to Canisius
Most people would be hard-pressed to find a silver lining in regard to the COVID 19 pandemic but Blessed Trinity’s Cole Thompson can credit it with helping him land a Division 1 golf scholarship at Canisius.
The 17-year-old Beamsville resident competed in hockey and baseball growing up but turned to golf in 2020 when the pandemic shuttered those two sports.
“I started playing golf because the golf courses were still open and I instantly felt in love with it,” the Grade 12 student said. “I spent the entire summer at the golf course that year. I would play close to 36 holes and I would be practising all the time too. My parents would drop me off at sunrise and pick me up at sunset.”
He was a natural athlete but it still took him awhile to conquer the sport of golf. He started golfing at Sawmill and didn’t play any tournaments his first year.
“I joined the Sawmill Performance Team in my first year and I was the youngest on the older team. All the kids were a lot better than me, hit the ball farther and were bigger and stronger and that motivated me to try and keep up with them,” the Lookout Point member said. “That is where I learned to practise diligently and work my butt off. I think those habits stuck with me and it led me to want to be like other players and compete in Golf Ontario and Golf Canada events.”
He joined the Niagara District Junior Golf Tour in his second year and eventually ended up competing on the Maple Leaf Junior Tour and taking part in Golf Ontario and Golf Canada events.
In his first tournament, he shot 115 and by the end of his second summer he carded an 89.
“That was my first big achievement and by the end of the next year I broke 80. The year after that, I broke 70. Now to shave even half a stroke it’s more about the small little things that make the difference.”
The former Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations’ silver medalist and Niagara District Champion of Champion junior boys winner began to realize that golf could lead to an education.
“The whole idea of going to a school in the States, whether it was Division 1, 2 or 3, probably started about a year and a half or two years ago.”
His decision to commit to Canisius was based on a number of factors.
“My end goal is to be a physiotherapist whether that’s working in a physio office or training with a sports team or something like that. First of all, I really liked the program there. It’s called sports and exercise health science and that was really appealing at first.”
He talked to a few other schools during the recruiting process but he was pulled to Canisius because it was close to home.
“I will be commuting back and forth. They have a Snowbird program where I can stay there and still get the on-campus experience. I know when I went for my visit it was really nice and I liked the school and they have a couple of cool golf courses that they get to play. I see it as a place where I can really work on my game and come out of school with a physiotherapy degree that usually takes six or seven years to get at other schools.”
He is excited to get started on his freshman season.
“I can’t say if I am going to play or not because obviously tryouts haven’t started or anything but I am hopeful if I keep working hard during the winter I can get my game to a high a level as possible going into the 2025 season.”
He will have plenty of experience to draw on as he moves up to Division 1 golf.
“It is going to be the same attitude I have had my entire career, just work as hard as I can. Now I am going to an atmosphere where these guys are older than me and have more experience than me and it’s like I am going back to my roots at Sawmill,” he said, “My attitude is not going to change and I am not the big dog there. I have to keep working and work my way up as far as I can.”
