ANAMOSA — An early start to the 2006 spring sports season saw near ideal conditions Thursday, March 30, as the Anamosa boys soccer team took to the field hosting a tough Beckman team.

“Beckman is a good team with some very skilled and experienced players,” said Raider boys soccer coach Dr. Mike Weston after his young squad was handed a season-opening 7-0 setback by the Blazers. “Last season we were the team that had a majority of the experience, but this year will be a learning process for us and this was one of those times.”

Anamosa (0-2) struggled at times adjusting to the way the game was being called by the referees but extra aggressiveness by Beckman proved to be just too much to overcome in the end.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC — From the very first time he stepped onto a course at the age of eight, Tony Dirks has been in love with the game of golf.

The former Anamosa High School golf star who helped lead the Raider boys’ golf team to the 2004 state tournament in Orange City his senior season, is now hoping to make the game a part of his life professionally.

“Golf has been my main interest as long as I can remember and I can’t think of anything better than to have my job be in this field as well,” said Dirks who is wrapping up his schooling at the San Diego School of Golf in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina branch of the school. “My dream has been to have my job be in golf. Get up and go to work by driving to the golf course, it just can’t get any better than that.”

Dirks is set to graduate from the Myrtle Beach branch of the San Diego School of Golf August 11, and he has some plans already in place as to what happens next.

“I’d like to move back a little closer to Anamosa after a graduate here in South Carolina and hopefully get a job at a TPC course in the Quad Cities,” he said. “They host the John Deere Classic there every year. That would be a nice place to start and then who knows what would happen from there?”

Dirks first became aware of the opportunity to pursue a golf career from former Anamosa High School golf phenom Scott Nemmers, who also attended the San Diego School of Golf in their home base institution in California with classmate and former Raider golf star Dan Miller.

After graduating, Nemmers landed a job at the high profile Medinah County Club near Chicago, Illinois, which has hosted U.S. Open’s among dozens of other major golf events over the years.

“I saw Scott do it a few years ago and I thought the least I could do was give it a chance,” said Dirks who hopes to be an assistant golf pro somewhere before possibly moving on to becoming a sales representative within the golf industry. “Scott went out to California to go to school but I had heard a lot of good things about the Myrtle Beach campus.”

Dirks liked the fact that Myrtle Beach had over 100 courses to golf in the area which is mainly comprised of tourists.

“I get to play a lot of different courses and they take their golf pretty serious out here,” said Dirks who has been studying golf complex operations and management with an emphasis on golf pro/management. “Playing the courses is part of the schooling and I’m getting better and better at that part.”

Dirks claimed the school’s match play championship title last fall on Myrtle Beach’s World Tour course winning 3-and-2. He has also won three other tournaments winning the Medal Play tourney with a 79 while also claiming top honors in the playing ability test (77) and tournament of champions (76).

“My focus is so much better now than it was in high school,” he said. “My mind-set is a lot stronger too. Nothing seems to rattle me now on the golf course like it used to. I’m completely comfortable.”

Dirks was recently hired as an assistant pro at the local Blackmoor Country Club near Myrtle Beach, designed by PGA legend Gary Player and on one of his first attempts golfing on the course, fired a 69 with 15 pars, three birdies and no bogies.

With a 3.91 grade point average on a 4.00 scale, Dirks’ future appears very bright as his golf IQ and course and game knowledge continue to improve. He is also in the top five out of his class that boasts more than 400 in order of merit.

“I’ve learned so much about golf and there’s still so much to learn,” said Dirks. “Things are going great. Hopefully this is just the beginning.”