Desert Ridge High School golfer has drive to help kids

Kaitlynn Criswell has learned a lot about the importance of the help of others.

Whether it was relying on the help of teachers before, during and after school to deal with her Attention Deficit Disorder or helping others through volunteering, it’s an essential part of her life.

“I never really noticed (my ADD), but I could tell that, ‘Why am I not getting this?’ Kaitlynn said of her experience.

The 16-year-old golfer for Desert Ridge High School has used her experiences to help others in various ways – she is a junior coach at The First Tee of Phoenix, the place where she first learned the sport she loves.

Her passion for golf stemmed from her father, who himself is an avid golfer.

“He used to golf every day and come home and I thought, ‘That seems pretty cool. I want to try that,’” she said.

She began golfing four years ago, and now enters next season battling for the No. 1 spot on her team.

Coaching has provided a different experience.

“I just wanted to help other kids learn how to golf,” Kaitlynn said. “Getting involved with the sport I love. It’s been great. Kids look up to you and it’s really cool.”

Her mother, Karen, said she feels Kaitlynn most enjoys helping out little kids, especially in her role as junior coach.

“One of her favorite things that she seemed to do with that is the ‘Tiny Tees,’ which are four to six years old,” her mother said. “There’s one little boy that she’s coached a couple of times with Downs Syndrome, and she’s amazing with him.”

“He’s my favorite,” Kaitlynn added.

As coach, she emphasizes the club’s nine core values: integrity, judgement, courtesy, sportsmanship, respect, responsibility, honesty, confidence and perseverance.

Kaitlynn’s favorite? Sportsmanship.

“It kind of puts all of them together,” she said. “You have to be honest in golf, and if you’re not honest then you’re not being a good sport.”

Kaitlynn also has volunteered at St. Mary’s Food Bank, Phoenix Zoo, Chrysalis Shelter, St Vincent de Paul, Audubon Arizona, UMOM, the Salvation Army, Phoenix Collegiate Academy, 100 Club of Arizona, the Phoenix Open, Rescue A Golden, Wreaths Across America, United Food Bank, and the Keep Phoenix Beautiful-Garden of Tomorrow since she was just 11 years old.

Her favorite experience has come with Audubon Arizona, helping kids, handing out candy and running the concession stands for the group’s Halloween trick-or-treating events.

Kaitlynn served as a counselor in training, otherwise known as a CIT, for the YMCA’s “Camp Sky Y,” where she has been asked to return as a counselor next summer.

“You have to be a leader there and tell the kids what to do and not be so mean,” she said. “You have to put different things into words where like, you don’t want to sound mean so that they hate you. You need to step up from a little camper to be a CIT and take charge a little bit more.”

Kaitlynn said she uses her experience with ADD to help set an example for others with the disorder.

“It shows that I can still do it, even if I have ADD,” she said.