Golf is without doubt one of the most generally performed sports activities around the globe, reaching almost each nook of the globe, and producing elite gamers from nearly anyplace.
Underneath head coach Greg Robertson, Oklahoma State ladies’s golf has acknowledged and totally embraced that sentiment to construct upon one of many premiere golf applications in the USA.
This 12 months’s crew contains ten golfers on its roster, with six totally different international locations and 4 totally different continents represented. This season, the Cowgirls have gained 4 totally different match titles and had a number of media retailers all year long rank them because the No. 1 crew within the nation.
Final 12 months, with a roster simply as numerous as the present one, OSU superior to the Nationwide Championship and completed because the nationwide runner-up after defeating No. 6 Auburn and No. 2 Duke within the quarterfinals and semifinals. In reality, each participant within the Cowgirls’ beginning 5 all through their run on the NCAA Championship was born in a distinct nation.
Regardless of all of OSU’s success on the course, everybody inside this system would agree that essentially the most particular side of this crew is the distinctive bonds and relationships they make off of it.
“Constructing a household is the last word aim,” Robertson stated. “That is actually what we’re in search of. You desire a group that roots for one another, helps one another out, are there for one another, and love one another.”
Understandably, it may be difficult at instances to navigate and mesh a crew collectively that comes from such totally different backgrounds. With recruits arriving in Stillwater at 18 or 19 years previous from their dwelling, seemingly midway internationally, it is powerful for the worldwide student-athletes to not really feel some extent of anxiousness or homesickness.
There are additionally challenges the crew faces each day, comparable to always having to speak of their second language, adjusting to the category surroundings in America, and even simply getting round city, as a few of them do not possess automobiles whereas in Stillwater.
The beauty of the crew’s chemistry, nonetheless, is that almost each athlete on the roster has felt these trials earlier than and is prepared to assist others overcome their very own issues collectively. In some ways, these shared experiences enable the crew to turn out to be that a lot nearer as they transition and turn out to be snug at Oklahoma State.
Sophomore Maddison Hinson-Tolchard arrived in Stillwater final season from Perth, Australia.
She understands first-hand the tribulations that worldwide gamers may face occasionally, but in addition feels comfortable in the truth that she has the total assist from her teammates and coaches anytime she wants it.
“As internationals, being away from dwelling is hard,” Hinson-Tolchard stated. “All of us get homesick, however we’re all there to assist each other when it is harder at instances. The women which might be from America, they do such an excellent job at serving to us out, like with rides to the course if we do not have automobiles. They had been simply actually welcoming. They make our life lots simpler, so it is like a house away from dwelling.”
Together with uplifting assist, this crew’s far-ranging backgrounds additionally enable the ladies to domesticate sturdy and distinctive friendships off the golf course. All people will get the chance to study one another’s differing upbringing and cultures, which permits the crew to not solely join over their similarities, however their variations too.
Freshman Clemence Martin, initially from Paris, France, believes her teammates’ cultures assist construct a trusting, optimistic surroundings.
“It is a good factor,” Martin stated. “We’ve got to study totally different cultures. Clearly, our life are so totally different, nevertheless it (makes us extra) trusting. We study from one another, I feel it creates extra optimistic issues.”
Hinson-Tolchard additionally talked about the optimistic impression of the crew’s make-up, in addition to the humorous reminiscences they get from a few of their extra obscure habits.
“I feel it permits us to have our individuality, as effectively,” she stated. “Then, we come over right here, collectively come collectively, and are immersed within the American way of life. However, we nonetheless have our personal form of ‘bizarre’ issues we obtained from again dwelling, so it makes it extra enjoyable.”
Hinson-Tolchard added “we’re all our personal greatest associates,” and coach Robertson pointed to final 12 months’s NCAA Championship as the most effective instance of that.
All the group of ladies who weren’t within the crew’s beginning 5 for the occasion selected to fly out to Arizona to assist and cheer for his or her teammates, regardless of having to pay for their very own bills and never having the chance to play. It was a particular second for everybody in this system to see that degree of loyalty all through the entire roster.
“What we noticed final 12 months on the NCAA Championship, I feel that is a giant motive we obtained to the finals,” Robertson stated. “We had all that assist and had these gamers there rooting for one another. I do not suppose you’ll find some other crew that has ever seen something like that. That is so vital, and we’re fortunate to have the group that we do.”