Class of 2025: Achievement First Providence athletes are just getting started

March 15 was the first day of the season for the Achievement First Providence golf team.

It was also the first time any of the team’s seven freshmen had swung a club.

These freshmen aren’t your typical newcomers. The Class of 2025 will be the first to graduate from Achievement First Providence, a charter school in Providence that started as Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy in 2013 and has grown with its students.

With its first students now reaching high school, it's expanding its growth to give students a full educational experience — and that means adding high school athletics.

Adding athletics for first graduating class

This spring, the school debuts a varsity boys and girls track team in addition to golf. Next fall, the school will co-op with Central Falls and Blackstone Valley Prep for football and add a junior varsity boys soccer team and girls soccer and volleyball teams. In the winter, the plan is to add freshman basketball and junior varsity basketball for boys and, if the numbers are good, junior varsity girls basketball as well.

“Our principal, Asia Davis, is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and it’s a very big sports culture where she comes from,” said Josh Lombardi, a 2012 graduate of La Salle Academy who teaches physical education and serves as the school’s athletic director.

“We talked about sports being a part of this experience and aligned on a vision to make sports happen.

“We didn’t want to wait until the second or third year with the high school. We wanted to get them started now, as freshmen.”

Why golf?

It’s really not hard to jump into some of the other sports. Athletes are athletes and can compete in track. It’s not hard to find kids playing basketball anywhere in Providence. Youth football and soccer leagues are booming.

But golf is a different story.

Lombardi and assistant Chris Cruz are close friends and have shared a passion for golf. They both work at the Button Hole course in Providence as instructors and love introducing the game to new players, young and old. As coaches of the team, they didn’t exactly know what kind of players they would be getting for this inaugural season.

When they showed up, both were pleasantly surprised.

“We had seven of them and five immediately fell in love with the game and, for lack of a better word, had an addiction to it,” Lombardi said. “They wanted to get better and be competitive and we have the resources in place to give them an opportunity for an experience and they’ve all fallen in love with it."

The team is small, with James Gilbert, Michael Estacio, A.J. Kue and Jairon Nunez representing the top half of the team’s lineup as Jon Carrillo, David Herrera and Jayden Heng continue to refine their skills and learn the game.

First set of clubs

None of the seven had a set of clubs before joining the team. Lombardi said some were given hand-me-downs from parents and grandparents who played and Button Hole was able to provide affordable sets for purchase for others.

What’s been special about these players is their mindset. Golf is a frustrating game, but Lombardi said he’s been impressed with the resolve his group has shown. They get bothered by bad shots like anyone else but they don’t let it affect the next shot.

“Whether they’re down one or five or 10 strokes, they’re going to give it their best on every single shot,” Lombardi said. “We also have some kids that are out here to learn the sport to see if it’s something they’re interested in because they know this is a lifelong sport.”

RI high school golf: Gianna Papa has put together an impressive resume. Now she's ready for the challenge - and fun

Lombardi said players on the teams AFP has played have gone out of their way to help players during rounds, especially in cases where it involves the rules of the game. The Falcons have appreciated these efforts as much as they’ve appreciated the skill and talent of some of the opposing teams.

“In their mind, they see someone like Max [Jackson] and say, ‘This kid is amazing,’ ” said Lombardi, referencing the La Salle sophomore who won the individual state title last spring. “He strikes it well, he’s talented and they notice his demeanor and how he’s even keel.

“They’re constantly learning and seeing things like this and finding out how they can make themselves better. They’re not intimidated and know there’s a difference in skill, but they know there’s also a difference in years of practice that’s happened and that’s what they’re trying to make up for.”

What is the future of the program? Lombardi is hopeful to retain all the players from this year’s team for the next three years and add three or four each year. He doesn’t know if he’ll get experienced golfers at any point, but doesn’t really care — Lombardi wants to put together a program and, in turn, teach the kids a little something about themselves.

“We have to have the kids learn something new and experience an opportunity they haven’t ever experienced before,” he said. “That’s the now goal. Long term, we don’t just want to be there — we want to be competitive, but that will take some time.”

Rocky Hill wills SENE title

Two Rhode Island teams met in the Southeastern New England Independent Schools Athletic Association Boys Lacrosse Championship game on Wednesday with Rocky Hill coming away with a 13-4 win over St. Andrew’s.

The Saints and Mariners met a week prior, with St. Andrew’s getting a win. Wednesday's contest was a much different story.

Rocky Hill jumped out early and took a 10-4 lead into halftime before closing things out.

Drew Tamburini, who’s from East Greenwich, led the way for the Mariners, scoring an outrageous 10 goals in the win. Garrett Corsi, a North Kingstown resident, scored two and Cranston’s Alex Lawton capped the scoring for Rocky Hill.

Offers, offers everywhere

Division I offers are starting to come in for the state’s top football players.

This past week, St. Raphael All-Stater Moses Meus, who will be a senior next fall, posted that he had received an offer from Army, which had sent representatives to visit him as well as La Salle’s Jamezell Lassiter and Justin Denson, a few weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, Cumberland two-time All-State lineman Patrick Conserve, who will also be a senior in the fall, picked up offers from the University of Rhode Island and Central Connecticut State University.

La Salle All-State running back Jamezell Lassiter received two offers over the winter, one from URI, as had teammate Justin Denson. Classical lineman Abdoulie Fadia has an offer from URI, as does Hendricken sophomore Rushaune Vilane.

The biggest offers in the state are currently held by two players who won’t play in Rhode Island in the fall. Hendricken freshman Naeshaun Montgomery has been offered by both Maryland and USC, but he’ll head to Florida to play out the rest of his high school career.

Mount Pleasant’s David Rodriguez received an offer from the University of Massachusetts this year, but recently posted that the University of Pittsburgh had made an offer as well. Rodriguez was a freshman for the Kilties this past fall and is heading to The Loomis Chaffee School, where he will reclassify.

Fresh face powering Ponaganset

Two weeks ago, we told you about Gianna Papa, the freshman at Ponaganset who’s among the favorites to win the RIIL Girls Golf Championship this spring.

It turns out that having a player of that caliber does wonders for a program. Papa is currently ranked 40th in the state from the white tees, which are used by the boys, and has the Chieftains on pace for a winning record in dual matches, something that hasn’t happened since 2012.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Achievement First charter school adds golf for first freshmen class