By Kyle Coppola
Montverde Academy Girls Golf Team Win First-Ever State Championship
Montverde, FL — The Montverde Academy girls golf team capped off their historic season by winning the 2024 Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 1A state championship. This victory marks the first state title in program history for the Eagles, who bested 16 other teams in a fiercely competitive field to bring home the championship. It wasn’t just a team championship though as Montverde Academy’s Grace Xu was crowned state champion in the individual competition.
Xu’s impressive performance was key for Montverde Academy. She was absolutely fantastic the entire championship and delivered under pressure on multiple occasions. You wouldn’t have known she felt any pressure at all. She is calm and collected. Certainly one of the best golfers to ever come through the Montverde Academy program.
What a year for Montverde Academy girls golf and for Lake and Sumter country golfers in genral. We had many history making golf scores on both boys and girls sides. MDCA, Eustis and The Villages also had big years. This Montverde team has worked so hard and we are very proud of them. Winning the state championship is an incredible accomplishment. They join the Softball program who also won their first State Championship earlier this year. For Grace to win the individual title on top of the team state championship—it’s just phenomenal.
Congratulations to all the golfers who were part of the team! Go Eagles.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
