You Should Know: Blake Manhart

As part of a new weekly feature, Patch is introducing you to community members making a difference. This month, we're highlighting leaders in Glenview youth sports. Here, Patch chats with Operations Manager Blake Manhart.

Know someone else we should talk to? E-mail us -- joanna@patch.com 

Q: Why do you love golf and why is it so beneficial for youth to participate?  

A: I love the game of golf for a number of reasons that I hold very near and dear to my heart. The first reason is the memories. Most of my fondest childhood memories came from time spent with my mom and dad on the golf course.  From great personal achievements to just general enjoyment of quality time with my parents, primarily my dad as he started me in the game at age 4, golf has been the only game that has delivered those memories throughout my life.

The second reason is that I love the individual challenge. In golf, it is just you, your thoughts, and the golf course. Nobody can help you and nobody can “pick you up” when you are having a bad day. You must conquer your own fears and frustrations to be successful at the game. You will hear many people say that golf teaches you a lot about life and in my opinion, golf teaches you a lot about being a productive individual. Life and golf will give you many ups and downs and your individual ability to persevere will be a direct contributor to your quality of life and the quality of your golf experiences.

Q: Tell us about your youth golf programs and how local kids can get involved.

A: I believe our youth programs to be on the cutting-edge of training young athletes. We have partnered with the expertise of the Kinetic Performance Center and are offering a program that is second to none in the entire country. Our focus is on two areas of long-term development in young athletes, Fundamental Movement Skills (i.e. hopping, sliding, running forwards and backwards) and Fundamental Sport Skills (skills specific to rotational sports such as baseball, hockey, and of course, golf).   

Our program is designed to work with young athletes year-round and be the baseline athletic development course for all interested, young athletes in the community.  We are outside at the Glenview National 9 Golf Club for our Spring, Summer, and Fall sessions and indoors in the Winter.  If you are interested in more information on the program or signing-up for the program, please contact me at blake.manhart@glenviewparks.org or  (847)657-1637.

Q: What upcoming events/classes/opportunities are available?  

A: As of Monday, we are currently registering for our Summer series. We offer weekly classes for kids ages 3-5 (Active Start), 6-9 (Fundamentals), and 10-13 (Learn to Play/Compete).  I recommend visiting our site for the summer schedule to see which opportunity fits your family best.

Q: What's your favorite part about working with youth sports in the Glenview community?  

It would have to be the passion of the parents to give their kids an opportunity to succeed. With the variety of opportunities in the area, parents are great about exposing their kids to these opportunities.  

We have an opportunity here with our program to make every child better at whatever they want to do in sports and we encourage variety. Specializing a young, developing athlete into one sport at too early an age is detrimental to that child and with our program we aim to build exceptional, well-rounded athletes. Research indicates that kids should be well-rounded in their athletic development to avoid injury and burnout in the future.  

Just as important as the parents’ excitement, is the kids FUN!  If kids are not having fun in a program, the program is failing the kids.  A comment we often hear is that the kids are racing to get into the car and come here because it’s fun and they want to be here!  

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