Many athletes dream of reaching professional heights, and someone who is striving on that path is junior Emily Zhang.
While still being a student and enjoying hobbies like going to escape rooms and staying home to watch dramas, Zhang has managed to stand out from the crowd. As a golfer and third-year Baseline League Champ, Zhang is a valued friend, member of her high school golf team, and role model.
For the season, the girls varsity golf team aimed to meet many goals that were set in place for them, especially by head golf coach Mr. Dale Rogers.
“The season has been about developing our new golfers’ skills. Every player has been diligent with attending practice and working hard,” said Rogers
With Zhang on the team, it helped the team to meet these goals.
Zhang began her golf career in 2015. Over the past ten years, she has become an experienced golfer, and she still puts in many hours on the green to improve her golf game. One of her many accomplishments was winning the longest drive competition at the Walnut Tournament and placing third out of 120 golfers.
For her, one of the hardest courses was at Bear Creek Country Club, but again, she continued to persevere. She has put a lot of time into golf and had to learn to manage her time accordingly. Zhang has wanted to focus her time on one thing, golf, but understands she also has other priorities.
Zhang said that one of the challenges she faced was balancing school and her athletics so that she had enough time to train. Luckily an opportunity arose for Zhang and she found a solution to allow for her to spend more time on golf.
“School and golf for me is hard when you don’t have complete control of your time,” Zhang said. “When I was going to school every day, I had to push time around to make more time to finish everything I needed to get done.”
Moving to online school provided Zhang with more flexibility and time in her day to practice golf while still being able to focus on school and maintain her grades.
“Now that I have the opportunity to go [to school] online, it has improved my game, and I don’t have to stress every day about not finishing my work.”
Zhang now completes her schooling online which allows her to spend more time on golf. Continuing to pursue the sport this way shows how much dedication and love she has for playing. This dedication has not gone unnoticed by her peers.
“She’s unbelievably determined and disciplined, and I think that’s what makes her the best player on the team,” said varsity captain of the girl’s golf team junior Chloe Vu.
Getting closer because of golf, Vu and Zhang have made many memories and typically go out to eat after nearly all their tournaments. According to Vu, Zhang has had a positive effect on the team creating a welcoming environment for her teammates. Her teammates find her mindset and the way she plays admirable.
“Even when she makes mistakes and is hard on herself, she’s able to use those opportunities to observe what went wrong and bounce back from it; I’d say that’s pretty impressive,” said Vu.
These abilities of bouncing back after struggling and working hard were evident in Zhang’s last game.
For round two of Baseline League on Wednesday, Oct. 23, Zhang competed in Jurupa Valley. Playing that course many times before, Zhang said she felt very confident on that course. The course was hilly and very narrow on some holes, but Zhang shot 75-70.
Zhang spoke about her past experiences and struggles playing in the league. The last time she played did not end how she would have liked, but she took that as a learning experience to grow in her own game.
Despite the tough challenges, her mindset and spirit was still there.
“There are things that won’t always go your way,” said Zhang. “When I fail at something I want to tell myself it’s not the end of the world and you just need to keep pushing yourself forward till you reach your goals.”
Zhang continues to be committed to her sport. She loves the tournaments and would like to continue playing golf for as long as possible, her main motivation.
