Project GAIN lets the disabled soar

WEST VALLEY CITY — Andy Lamb had just finished junior high, and like most teenage boys, was drawn more and more to the world of sports. He asked his parents if he could play Junior Jazz basketball.

"It was the first time they told me I couldn't do something," said the 17-year-old Lehi boy, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy. "That's the first time it hit me that I would be thrown into something, and I wouldn't be able to participate."

Then someone introduced Lamb to Project GAIN, which stands for Golf Accessible Inclusive Network. The nearly two-year-old program offers anyone with a disability the chance for professional instruction with a mentor, usually a family member so they can continue playing after the initial 16-hours of lessons. GAIN had its second annual fund-raiser — a golf tournament — at Shadowbridge Golf Course Wednesday and Lamb and his father Scott were among those who participated. Andy Lamb said he even got to put for other golfers on one of the holes.

"I sunk most of my putts," he said beaming. "I love golf. I'm a big golf freak."

His father, Scott went through the training classes with him as his mentor. Scott Lamb had golf for many years and took Andy out to putt around once in a while before they learned about Project GAIN. He said the program has given his son an outlet he wouldn't have had otherwise - physically and emotionally.

"It's some of the best time we spend together," Scott Lamb said. "It's helped his emotional development. He was terribly depressed right after junior high, and it really brought him around."

Andy's become somewhat of a celebrity and will get to speak at GAIN's national fund-raiser in Toledo, Ohio, next month. When people wonder why he's so excited to head to Toledo, he smiles.

"I'm just glad because my dad said we get to golf at a country club," Andy said like a true golf connoisseur.

Stories like Andy's make those who put together the fund-raiser and the daily lessons extremely happy about Project GAIN's growth.

"The whole point is inclusion," said Richard Robinson, a golf professional and now thestate coordinator for Project GAIN. "We want people with disabilities to learn to play because it gives them a social sport that gets them out into society."

Robinson was sold on the program when he saw a demonstration clinic in October 2002.

"There's some pretty cool teaching that goes on," he said.