Anna Guzik, a sophomore here at John Adams, competed in the regional competition for golf on September 22, 2018. Guzik ranked well enough at sectionals in order to qualify for this competition. She has been playing golf for most of her life,  stating: “I’ve always been exposed to the sport, because my dad likes to play.” In the few most recent years, Guzik has begun to play competitively. “I started playing competitively at the end of my eighth grade year,” Guzik explained when asked about her time playing the sport.

“This year, we only had one upperclassman, so all the sophomores were able to play to play a lot on varsity, which was really fun,” Guzik said to describe her season. She explained the events that led up to her competing at the regional competition, and what practices were like for the team. “ We went to sectionals as a team. We practiced a lot.” Guzik explained. She also spoke about how the team prepared for the competition. “The day before sectionals […]  we went to the course that we were playing to do a run through and see what it’s like.” Guzik went on to explain the reasoning for this. “On some holes you can’t see the flag from where you hit, so you need to know where to aim the ball.” Guzik qualified for regionals after this competition as one of the individuals that was able to advance. “I shot a ninety, and that meant that I qualified as one of the three individuals who were able to go to regionals. There are three teams that go to regionals, and three individuals apart from those teams.” She also spoke about her ranking among other girls. “I came in third place, so I went with a girl from Marian and a girl from Memorial.” After this, Guzik took part in the regional competition.

When speaking about regionals, Guzik spoke about the location and what it was like. “It was in Kendallville […] There’s a lot of farms, but there’s also two great golf courses.” She went on to speak about the specific golf course she played at. “This year, we played at Noble Hawk. It’s a good course, but it has some tricky holes.” When asked about the specifics, Guzik explained, “On one of the holes, there’s a big body of water, and I hit my ball into it. I proceeded to hit three more balls into that lake within the span of ten feet.” She explained how this hole affected her mindset and competition. “It really tested my patience. Luckily, it was the last hole and I could be done after it.” Guzik placed 88th out of 96. When asked about this she seemed optimistic about the next few years, “Hopefully next year, we’ll be able to advance as a team, so I won’t be alone […] I think the team will get better, and we will all work hard over the summer to advance.”

“When I was in eighth grade, I went to a camp at Blackthorn. The instructor improved my swing a lot.” Guzik explained as she spoke about her improvement at the sport. She also spoke about more recent things that she has done to better her playing, “I got new clubs, so that really helped me get better.” Guzik talked about the team, and how they work to improve together. “We do a lot of practices where we just chip and putt to work on short game. That’s where our team tends to lose the most strokes.” When Guzik was asked if she would recommend golf to other people, she said: “If you really believe that you will enjoy it, then I would recommend it. It’s a really hard sport, and you need to buy a lot of equipment. If you don’t really enjoy it, you’re going to end spending a lot of money for equipment that you probably won’t use.” Guzik went on to explain her future with golf. She spoke about what she plans to do with it in the next two years and after, “I plan to play competitively the next two years at Adams. After highschool, I plan to do recreational play during college and into my adult life.” It is clear from her plans that Guzik will continue to work and get better at golf, especially during the next two years. It is just the start of Anna Guzik’s improvement and competition in the sport.