NICE APPROACH
Grand River student White has alot on his mind when he plays
PETERSBURG — For most golfers, the focus is on hitting long, straight drives, accurate iron shots and draining putts.
Kayden White has something else to think about.
The Grand River Collegiate student is a Type 1 diabetic who checks his blood sugar levels throughout his round and acts accordingly if his monitor tells him to do so. The pocket gadget is attached to a glucose monitoring system that is inserted into his thigh and tests his levels every five minutes.
White jumps into action when his numbers are high or low, which requires him to either fuel himself with sugary snacks or high-carb foods or inject himself with insulin when the numbers are low. For this reason, his golf bag is loaded with pop, nuts, sandwiches, protein bars and vegetables. Dehydration can also be an issue which means, depending on the weather, he needs to consume between six and eight bottles of water during a fourhour round.
“The first year was kind of tough but now it’s kind of normal for me,” said the 15-year-old White, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in December of 2015.
“It doesn’t usually affect me but when it does, it’s harder to swing, you get the sweats and start to shake. It’s pretty bad, you’re head’s not in the right place and it affects your mental game a lot.”
White’s condition wasn’t a factor Wednesday as he wrapped up the two-day Waterloo County (WCSSAA) golf championship at Rebel Creek with a 10th-place finish in the boys division at 13-over 157 (74-83).
Bennett Ruby of Waterloo Collegiate won the boys individual championship at 2-over 146 (7373) to finish three shots ahead of two-time champion Dylan Henderson of Bluevale (76-73), and six better than Zachary Hart of Waterloo-Oxford (80-72) and Nolan Wilson of Galt (78-74). In the team competition, WCI finished first, ahead of Bluevale and Grand River.
In the girls division, Kyra Vandervoort of Preston finished first at 19-over 163 (82-81), good for an eight-shot win over Victoria Gates of Huron Heights (87-84) and a 21-stroke advantage over Olivia Sargla of KCI (86-96).
While it wasn’t a factor this week, White’s condition hit him hard last month while playing a Tee-It-Up junior tour event at Guelph Lakes. His blood sugar was low and he was struggling badly during his first nine holes. He was unable to walk a straight line, he had difficulty speaking and it took everything he had to focus on hitting the ball.
Fortunately, he chugged two cans of pop at the turn and his levels gradually returned to normal.
The episode highlighted White’s greatest challenge as a golfer with Type 1 diabetes. Unlike other sports, where he can sit on the bench and wait for his numbers to regulate, he must soldier on. In some cases, that can mean playing 15 to 30 minutes with shakes, sweats and a lack of coordination or mental focus that comes with the episodes.
“Since you can’t take a break, you just try to make contact, that’s it,” said White, a Grade 11 student who missed last year’s WCSSAA tournament because of a broken finger.
White’s condition hasn’t stopped him from being successful. A member of the Galt Country Club’s junior elite team, he was one of the top players on the Tee-It-Up tour and also made a name for himself on the Maple Leaf junior tour. His success on the latter circuit has earned him a spot at an elite team tournament in Niagara on the Lake this weekend and in November will compete at the circuit’s national championship in Arizona.
Looking back on Wednesday’s round, he jokingly referred to dealing with the pressure of playing in front of a Waterloo Region Record photographer as the greatest challenge.
“I wasn’t used to that and it threw me off a little bit,” he said.
Top teams and individuals from the WCSSAA championship move on to next week’s Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) championship at the Listowel Golf Club. The girls compete Tuesday and the boys go out Wednesday.
The all-Ontario (OFSAA) boys championship is Oct. 10-11 at the Royal Ashburn Golf Club in Whitby. The OFSAA girls festival is Oct. 10-11 at Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor.