It’s one thing to dominate sports in high school, however college is its own beast. Joan Park, a freshman on our CSUSM Women’s Golf team, describes her transition towards the collegiate level.

“I played Girls Golf all four years of high school,” said Park. She is a Diamond Bar High School graduate, a winner of CIF three years in a row, a runner up for state in 2012 and 2013 and participated in the state championship in 2014.

Park has had to encounter hardships as she transitioned from the high school level to the collegiate level. One of the struggles she faced was deciding whether or not to play at the college level.

“I was actually not sure if I wanted to play golf in college until the day of signing. I really wanted to play college golf, but I did not have a lot of confidence in myself,” she said. “It was not until I met with Coach Greg Hutton from CSUSM and he assured me that I would have a great time playing college golf and he had so much confidence in me. I cannot thank my coach enough for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Another adversity Park faced was the responsibility of attending extra practice hours on top of the usual training days.

“It is definitely harder to play a college sport because… you are also expected to perform your best at every event,” said Park. “The difference is that in high school you are mainly just playing for fun and as a hobby. In college, the competition level is very high and you are constantly being mentally and physically challenged.”

Although Park has faced challenges throughout her transition from high school to college, she has found the motivation to continue playing. She said she values her experience playing for the CSUSM Women’s golf team.

“I don’t want to let my team or my coach down,” said Park.