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BY DAVID ROBB
david.robb@nwitimes.com
219.548.4362 | Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | (No comments posted.)
He hits 50 to 100 golf balls into the net in his basement every day and spends just as much time chipping and putting on the artificial green a few feet away. He studies film of his swing with his instructor and strives to emulate the form of the pros he constantly watches on TV.
In these ways, Yianni Kostouros is like countless other competitive golfers. In these ways, the 8-year-old Crown Point resident is nothing like most of his peers.
"Sometimes we forget he's only a third-grader when he's playing," said Yianni's dad, Chris Kostouros, a Lake Central and Purdue grad and the founder of area basketball clinic CAPS (Coaching Advanced Professional Skills).
With maturity and skill that belie his tender age, Yianni boasts quite the golfing pedigree. The player of the year in the Northwest Indiana Junior Golf Association's 7-8 year-old division last year, Yianni moved up to the 9-10 year-old division this year and promptly posted the NIJGA's lowest-ever round.
But his biggest goal for this season was qualifying for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship, which he did last month. And so, before starting third grade at Timothy Ball Elementary School next month, Yianni will take a trip to Pinehurst, N.C., July 31 through Aug. 1 to compete against some of the best 8-year-old golfers in the world.
Not that he's resting on his laurels.
"I wanna win," Yianni said.
That competitiveness, that commitment, was evident the moment young Yianni graduated from crawling to walking, which was around the time he began beating up the carpet with his plastic club. Whenever Chris went to the range at White Hawk Country Club, just a quick jaunt from their house on the course, Yianni tagged along.
"He was hitting it and I thought, 'This kid's all right,'" Chris said. "Let's see if we can teach him the fundamentals."
Roughly two years ago, Chris started taking his son to see LPGA teaching pro Nancy Bender at Creekside Golf Course and Training Center once a month. Right away, Bender noticed Yianni's prodigious talent was rivaled only by his work ethic.
"He would meet with me every single day if his parents would let him," Bender said. "He just loves to learn. For an 8-year-old, he's very, very dedicated and really loves to play the game. He takes it really seriously."
But not too seriously.
While golf is a year-round endeavor for Yianni, it's not all-consuming. He also plays soccer, basketball and baseball. And his soccer skills -- he plays for the Indiana Tigers, a 10-and-under travel team based in Crown Point -- might just rival his golf skills.
"When he's older and he wants to pick one sport, we're going to support him, but right now we encourage him to play all the sports," Chris said. "We want him to be a kid. This is all about having fun right now."
And as Yianni told his dad earlier this summer, it's more fun when you win.
"We're proud of him," Chris said. "He works really hard. He's talented, but his work ethic is what makes him excel. He understands that it takes hard work. ... He makes me practice now, cause that's all he wants to do is practice. He's very self-driven."
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