NEWS FILE PHOTO
Medicine Hat College's golf team, with coach Trevor Moore, talks prior to a practice at Desert Blume Golf Club Sept. 14, 2016.
srooney@medicinehatnews.com@MHNRooney
After nine years of coaching college golf, Trevor Moore has called it quits.
Moore made the announcement Thursday, thanking staff and students both past and present.
“I have loved every minute of my time in this position and would love nothing more than to maintain my current role with these teams,” he wrote in a statement. “However, at this time, I feel it is best for all involved, for me to move aside.”
Moore said he will continue private coaching, speaking engagements and his career in entertainment, of which his magic shows have made him a regular at local festivals.
Put simply, his always-busy life had got to the point something needed to give. He chose his wife and three kids; now he’ll be able to help even more with his youngest daughter who’s shown an interest in golf and a son who plays hockey.
“It was time,” said Moore via cellphone. “I’ve had this around my mind for a while… For a lot of reasons it’s a chance for me to make sure that I can dedicate the time I need to my kids and my family.”
Moore’s Medicine Hat Rattlers’ women’s team won silver at nationals on their home course last fall and he’s taken either men’s or women’s teams to nationals in six of his nine seasons. When he first took over the program in 2010 the recently-revived golf program didn’t even have women playing yet.
He took the women’s team to an additional national-level competition last month, where they finished last at the Canadian University/College Championship in Ontario.
“The program is in better shape than I found it,” he said. “It’s time to give the ball to someone else and let them run with it.”
The Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference golf coach of the year in 2015 and 2018, Moore worked extensively with recruits throughout the summers, knowing the college season is forever a short one; it currently comprises of three conference tournaments plus nationals if teams are able to place well enough at the conference level.
He singled out a national fair play award in 2016 as well as “the many relationships I have maintained with my current and former players over the years” as highlights of his tenure. “Many of them are like an extended family to me and my children who have grown up in their shadows,” he wrote.
College sport and wellness manager Terry Ballard said the search for a new coach would begin immediately.
“I’m very sad to see him go, I think our whole program is sad to see him go,” said Ballard. “He was instrumental in having his athletes be students, work on their games as well as give back to the community. That’s what we want; he bought in totally and we couldn’t ask for more.”
