ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - Three just might be the charm for Master Sgt. Sheila Sango. A career counselor with the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command, Sango has been selected to compete in the All Army Golf Trials for the third consecutive year.
Sango and other selectees will warm up at Fort Jackson, S.C. Sept. 28 to 30 and then move on to Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fla. for a four-day tournament that will propel the top two male and female winners to the Armed Forces Championship Oct. 5-11, also at NAS Jacksonville.
Top finishers from each branch will compete in the CISM (Conseil International du Sport Militaire or International Military Sports Council, IMSC), championships Oct. 13-20.
Sango said that she chooses not to focus on her re-selection as acknowledgement of her considerable skills but as another opportunity to proudly represent the Army.
"I'm happy I made it because it gives me the opportunity to do something good for the Army," she said. "Along with that, I'll be focused [on golf] and on doing better than last year."
Each trip to the All Army Trials has expanded her knowledge of the game and brought her new friends, she added.
"Many of them will be returning," she said, noting that she's kept in touch with one colonel, two majors and a captain --all female golfers - from last year's trials, all of whom will return this year.
"We encourage each other even though we compete against each other," she said. "We put our game faces on but we're still friendly. We have no problem telling each other to 'shake it off' if we mess up."
The experience and knowledge gained is priceless, she said.
"I love to watch and learn. I don't always listen but I always watch to see what [techniques] I can apply to what I'm doing."
Sango can be found at Ruggles Golf Course every day after work and on weekends. Her sessions consist of one hour a day putting and about four hours a day on the range. She said her game has improved thanks to critique and advice from Ruggles Golf pro Dave Coryell.
"Right now I'm concentrating on my driver; I need to straighten out my drive on the long course," she said, "and Dave is working with me on my chip shot and my driver."
With the Army's best golfers in attendance, Sango knows her work is cut out for her, and that it will take all her skills to prevail. She'll be packing a new $500 putter friends chipped in and brought for her birthday. "Everyone who knows me knows how much golf means to me," she said. "I'll try my best to do them proud."
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