Playing a Collegiate Sport

           I’m a junior here at Ohio Northern, and unlike most athletes in high school, I did not come in my freshman year of college continuing to play the sport I played all throughout high school. When I came to Northern it was originally for pharmacy school and I was worried that I wouldn’t have to split between both school and playing a sport, so it looked like it was time for me to put the clubs away. My career in pharmacy school ended about as fast as it began. As classes started, I realized I wasn’t interested in it and didn’t like where I was at but that’s a story for another time. After the end of my sophomore year, I began to miss the sport I used to play almost every day and I missed playing in competition. I quickly got in contact with the golf coach and set up a meeting and after explaining myself, Coach was very welcoming and so were all the players on the team. I soon found out that I had missed so much my first two years but I was thankful to be on the team and I’ll tell you why.

            I didn’t realize how much fun I had playing in competition. I have played in golf tournaments since I was old enough to remember. I was traveling around playing in junior tournaments until I started playing in high school. Playing golf for all four years in high school was an incredible experience that I will never forget. There’s no better feeling than walking off the 18^th green, shaking your opponents hand, and knowing you played your best to beat whoever you were paired with. It was all friendly competition but something about it kept my passion alive.

            The golf team turned into some of my closest friends. I was worried that when I came in junior year, I would be the outcast of the group. I was accepted with open arms by all the members on the team and playing this year has been an absolute blast. We have had multiple team bonding opportunities like a team trip to the zoo at the beginning of the semester, a five-hole scramble tournament on the simulator, and basically any match we have and we drive at least an hour away is a team bonding experience. It’s non-stop laughs with this team and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my college golf career.

            Playing a collegiate sport has also taught me the valuable lesson of time management. Playing a sport takes up a lot of time and I quickly learned that the time I need to spend doing homework and study need to be very carefully planned when considering the time, I have to spend practicing golf. On top of that, I threw working into the mix. This got me into the habit of sitting down before every week and planning out my days in order to get everything done.

            Playing a sport in college isn’t exactly what I thought it was, it’s more. It has brought me closer to so many people, it keeps me on track and focused on the course and in the classroom and it allows me to continue you playing the sport that I love. I wish I could go back and change the face that I didn’t play my first two years here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make the most of the two I have left.