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TWHS Senior, Parker Mitas: A True Golf Renaissance Man

By: Doug Sarant
| Published 04/01/2021

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THE WOODLANDS, TX - Welcome to this week's Woodlands Online Student Athlete of the Week. This TWHS golfer is truly wise beyond his years, and yet his best feature would be that he is very humble. He possesses multiple gifts but doesn't walk around like he's God's gift to the universe.

He has dealt with tragedy and it has made him stronger and even more appreciative of what life has brought him... and more important, what life has in store for him.

It is my pleasure to introduce to you...Parker Mitas:

How long have you been playing golf? Why has it won out over other sports?
I’ve been playing golf for exactly four years. I only began playing because of my dad constantly asking me to play with him on Sundays and eventually, I gave in. At first, I hated it. It was so extraordinarily frustrating to not be able to perform an action that looks so easy on television, but over time I gained some basic ability. I started taking it seriously during the summer before my freshman year of high school. I hoped to make the JV golf team primarily because I wanted to be a part of something to get me away from playing video games all day. I never really played any other sports prior to this time, unless you count YMCA soccer when I was seven, so golf was the only sport I had any sort of experience in and was basically my only option when it came down to choosing a sport to play in high school.

Describe the TWHS golf team?
The 2021 TWHS golf team is made up of a very diverse set of characters. This year we have pretty good depth compared to other years. Our top ten consists of ten unique and skilled players with a B team that could beat most A teams of other schools. Our A team is extremely strong. Alex Papayoanou is one of the best players in the country having won at the highest level in Jr Golf. Alejandro Alonso is committed to play D1 Golf at Loyola Marymount University, and Will Jordan is Committed to play at SMU. We also have two other sophomores who are extremely promising in Jake Lile and Ben Paylor (the tallest sophomore you’ll ever meet). Then there’s me who is the sixth man but could beat any of the previous players mentioned on any given day, which goes to show how good our team is. Our mighty leader, Eric Noski, has been very influential to me during my time at TWHS. He’s always been supportive and pushed me, and everyone else on the team, to improve . He is also personable and very easy to talk to.

Tell us what you like about The Woodlands High School:
I am so incredibly grateful to attend an esteemed Institution such as TWHS. I moved to Florida for a year in 2014-2015 and it really put it into perspective how lucky I am to be able to go to the schools in The Woodlands. TWHS is very competitive athletically, and if I did not go to TWHS I would likely not be nearly as good a golfer as I am today because I would not have had the same incentive to meet the expectations athletes at TWHS are expected to meet. All of the people at The Woodlands High School are looking out for my best interests and it really creates an environment that I look forward to diving into each day. TWHS has a stigma of being made up of snobby rich kids which is not the case at all. As an active member of Student Council and class President by sophomore and junior year, I’ve seen and interacted with the entire spectrum of people at TWHS and the majority of people are incredibly generous and courteous. So yes, I enjoy going to The Woodlands High School.

What will you be doing after high school?
I am going to be attending The University of Mary Hardin Baylor to play golf and study Mechanical Engineering.

What are your long-range plans?
After college I hope to have elevated my golf game enough to have a realistic opportunity to play golf professionally.

What do you like to do outside of high school?
In the last few years I’ve developed a passion for fitness. I work out basically every day and it’s gotten to the point where I feel terrible if I don’t go the gym at least four times a week. It has become a regular part of my day and I essentially plan my day around the time when I’m going to the gym. I also have found a love for tennis in the last year and have started playing regularly in a weekly match I have with my good friend, Hunter Britt. We both started with basically no experience or knowledge, but we have gotten substantially better since we started. Tennis gives me an opportunity to compete after the sun goes down and the golf courses close.

Your golf role model?
My role model for Golf consists of more than one person. Most obviously Tiger Woods because of his unchallenged dominance of the sport, but also because of his knack of returning to the top after finding himself in the deepest doldrums imaginable. I also look up to Brooks Koepka because of his unrelenting playing style and killer instinct on the golf course. Koepka is also an absolute physical tank, and I try to model myself after him (which apparently has worked. I'm constantly being compared to Brooks when I’m with other golfers).

How supportive is your family in everything you do in your life?
My family has always been very supportive of whatever I invest my time into and they never have pushed me into doing anything I don’t want to do. You see all the time at golf tournaments the parent that’s hovering over their kid and forcing them to practice and focus and holding their hand through everything. My family has always been very hands off in that aspect. They allow me to do whatever I want for as long as I want and they wish me the best in whatever it is. In this case golf, my father has never told me to go practice, and has always provided me with the best equipment we can afford. He has provided me with a membership at the Woodlands Country Club, which has superb practice facilities, to give me the best opportunity to improve. and gave me every ounce of encouragement throughout the good and bad times. My mother is my biggest fan and is always more than willing to drive me around the country to whatever tournaments I can get into. The only situation where my family is not supportive is when my gym time conflicts with the dinner my mom has made, but even then they still are more than happy to wait because they know I enjoy going to the gym. My mom will always play tennis with me, and she has been my lead campaign manager during my numerous Class President campaigns.

If you were given a million dollars and you had to give it to one charity, which would be the lucky charity?
I would give it to the Make A Wish Foundation. I have a personal connection to the Make a Wish foundation because my brother, Spencer, saw his wish carried out because of them. Spencer had a malignant Cyst on his left ankle that ultimately resulted in amputation. Spencer was two years older than me and had a passion for Paintball prior to this. Because of his situation, the Make a Wish Foundation provided our family with a trip to Orlando, Florida to attend the Paintball World Cup, which is the super bowl for Paintball. We had an amazing time and Spencer made many friends with professional paintballers who fully embraced his passion for the sport. Spencer passed away in 2015 at the age of 14 due to different cancer related circumstances, but I will never forget the excitement on my brother's face throughout that trip to the World Cup that the Make a Wish Foundation made possible for him. Therefore, I would want to contribute to them so other kids like my brother could feel the same way.

Describe three things people don't know about you:
I have an alter ego rapper persona that I make songs under.
I took cotillion class and am a very manner conscious person.
I am a decently talented artist and regularly draw portraits.

The last time you danced. You any good?
The last time I danced was during the Mr. Woodlands Pageant on March 10, 2021 held at the Woodlands High school where senior boys competed in a competition to see who would be crowned this year's Mr. Woodlands. All of the contestants participated in a choreographed group dance, and I killed it. I received many compliments for my ability to groove.

Your favorite song in your phone?
My favorite song right now is “Peaches” By my main man Justin Bieber. My favorite group is Big Time Rush, who I used to be a super fan of when I was younger. To this day I can recite every lyric to every Big Time Rush song ever made.

Your favorite movie of all time?
My favorite movie of all time is probably “Wolf of Wall-Street”, but as far as my parents know, it is “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”.

You've been sentenced to death. Who is your last date?
If I were sentenced to death, but had one last date? I’m taking Megan Fox to mini golf and pizza every day of the week. Mainly because uh... it’s Megan Fox!!

To all you girls out there, Parker is the kind of guy you want to bring home to meet your parents. On top of that he'd be a ton of fun. Evidently, he dances well, appreciates good music and can handle any formal occasion you throw at him. Oh, and he's got a bit of an edge so he'd never be boring. Wolf of Wall Street? Yeah, he's got some crazy in him.

Well, you'd have to drag him away from Megan Fox first though.

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