I believe in a parent’s love.
This summer, if all goes according to plan, I will be graduating with a degree in journalism from Penn State. And on that day it will be the culmination of a long journey that has many times been unclear, changing and riddled by self-doubt. If that day comes I owe a million thanks to my parents because they never gave up on me. And there were many reasons to do so.
From the age of seven, I dreamt of a career on the PGA Tour. I practiced all day with the hopes of someday teeing it up with my idol Tiger Woods. My father also shared this dream with me.
Commitment by the child is important for success in sports but just as important is the commitment by the parents. I was fortunate to have that.
By 12-years-old I was playing golf tournaments along the east coast. The trips were far and cost wasn’t cheap but my parents were willing to invest the time and money to allow me to pursue that beacon of hope we call dreams.
Before my second year of high school I made a decision that changed my life. My parents were sending me down to Florida to attend a major sports academy that would allow me to focus on golfing and to practice with the best junior golfers in the country. It was there that things slowly began to go astray.
Frustration is a heavy cloud that is difficult to break through. When you feel that you’ve invested so much time and energy into something with no return, frustration finds its way into your head and leads you down a slippery slope. I had played many golf tournaments in Florida and had done poorly in most of them. Couple that with the pressure I placed on myself to perform well for my parents and to earn a golf scholarship and I was becoming one very frustrated kid.
Whenever I had to call home to tell my parents about a poor tournament the message from them was always the same, don’t worry about it, you shouldn’t put so much pressure on yourself. How could I not put pressure on myself! My parents were spending a fortune to send me to a sports academy and I was no closer to my goals then I had been at home.
Unfortunately that period became the beginning of my life away from golf. When the time for college came around and there were no offers for me to play college golf it was then that I had to reprioritize my life. Earning a degree was the new goal but because education had never been my top priority that journey would have to start at a community college.
I felt very embarrassed for my parents because of what many people saw as a bad investment in sending me to an expensive sports academy that produced no golf scholarship in return. But my parents always shot down any talk about a golf scholarship. There were no feelings of regret on their side even though it was consuming me.
When I started at the community college I was more lost then I’d ever been. For a person accustom to a structured schedule of only golf, being left with so much free time turned out to be a dangerous thing. During my two years at the community college I was lonely, confused and depressed. Being left with so much time and nothing to fill it with only made things worse. I had my parents though and they were the ones that kept me grounded.
Transferring to Penn State was another big decision for my family because it again meant spending a fortune on me. When I got to State College I still didn’t know what I wanted to do. I remember frustrating nights and my mom telling me to just keep believing in myself. The feeling that I was never going to graduate was common but taking things slowly and having patience has put me within a semester of graduating. When that does happen, it will be an accomplishment not only for me but also my parents. This is why I believe in a parent’s love.