John Katsikas plays baseball.
John Katsikas is a switch-hitter.
So far, so good, except we’re talking about two different sports here.
At the plate, the Addison Trail senior hits strictly left-handed. On the golf course, he swings from both sides of the ball, though rarely in the same round and usually not even in the same season.
His golf career nonetheless resembles a marching band: left, right, left, right. And what makes it particularly bizarre isn’t just that he has shot par both ways but that he won a conference title a year ago just days after his most recent switch.
Katsikas clearly is not afraid of change, even if he struggled to summarize all of it in an interview.
“I get confused sometimes,” he admitted.
Katsikas is a natural left-hander and learned to play golf that way at age 10. About a year later he was having an off day, grabbed a right-handed club and hit the ball well right off the bat.
More Top Picks Best Shoes For Stability And Motion Control
He stuck with it, starring in junior tournaments and during his freshman season at Addison Trail, when he almost qualified for the state finals. But Katsikas and his father, Sam, have periodically tinkered with his game, searching for a way to make him a consistent even-par golfer; and the following winter he switched back to lefty.
The early returns were disastrous, including scores in the 90s during a trip to Alabama.
“I dealt with a lot of stress,” he said. “People were calling me crazy. No one thought I could do it.”
By the following spring, however, he was back in the 70s, and he excelled from then well into his junior season at Addison Trail. In fact, shortly before last fall’s West Suburban Conference Gold meet, he shot a 35 to place first in a dual meet.
Despite that, Katsikas doubted he would win the conference meet.
“I had a couple flaws in my lefty swing,” he said. “My scores were good, but I didn’t feel comfortable with my swing, so I wasn’t going to be very aggressive.
“I would basically be playing not to lose.”
Four days before the conference meet, he went back to swinging right-handed. This seemed to make as much sense as gas prices, and the change triggered an avalanche of skepticism.
Addison Trail coach Tom Mietus was among the doubters, but his team had another dual meet coming up, so he and Katsikas struck a deal. Katsikas had to shoot 36 or better or play the conference tournament lefty.
Katsikas bought some right-handed clubs at a used sporting goods store for about $30, borrowed a few other clubs and shot an even-par 35. He then proceeded to win the conference title with a 3-over 75.
“He pretty much shut me up as far as what I thought,” said Mietus, who called Katsikas probably the best player he has had in 10 years as coach. “I was very skeptical if he could do it or not. He proved me wrong on that.
“It’s unusual that someone can strike the ball either way as good as he does. It’s just something he can do.”
Katsikas has stayed a righty since, although he has putted lefty for about the last three years. He drives the ball about 30 yards longer righty than lefty, perhaps because he has a more natural turn from that side.
The goal through all of this has been to win tournaments and do well at the state finals.
“It wasn’t like he switched around just to have fun with it,” Sam Katsikas said. “It was about competition, and you have to give him credit.
“He beat some of the best in the state at times playing both ways. He didn’t back down.”
John, however, has yet to make the state finals and will have his last shot starting this week in regional competition. He has played well this fall, though inconsistently with his driver; and he shot 80 in the conference meet last week to tie for sixth.
Katsikas’ off-season attention to baseball has not helped his golf. He is a talented left-handed pitcher and will pursue that, not golf, in college.
Another hindrance, of course, has been his penchant for changing sides. Katsikas himself acknowledges that, although he says he probably wouldn’t change a thing.
“There’s no doubt in my mind if I had stayed one way I’d probably be that much better,” he said. “But I don’t regret it because I made a name for myself doing it that way.
“I’d go to tournaments and people would ask, `What way are you playing?’ I’m known as the kid who plays golf both ways.”
———-
ON THE NET
More Top Picks Best Laptops For College Students
– Read Barry Temkin’s blog, www.chicagosports.com/temkin