Loren Matrone

A supportive sisterhood, constant tournaments and potential college recruitments are only a few of the many things that make junior Loren Matrone grateful for being a part of the girls varsity golf team.

“My dad played college golf so it’s alway been in my blood but when I got hurt playing soccer I really took it up in middle school,” Matrone said. “My best friend Darby, who’s on the team also, played so it was just something fun we did together.”

Matrone started playing golf at the start of her high school career and while that means fewer years of practice than usual, Matrone still works to gain more experience with every tournament.

“I got competitive right before my freshman year and in golf terms that’s really quick to get to where I am now so I don’t have as much experience as some of the other girls but I’m still working towards it,” Matrone said.

Golf can be a rigorous sport, requiring tedious practices and stances as well as a good amount of patience, yet for Matrone, all the efforts put into golf only result in stronger physical and mental skills.

“Golf is athletic because we walk 18 holes which is like six miles, it’s athletic but it’s also a mind game,” Matrone said. “The determination and the mental capacity you have to have to be able to hit each shot and have it be its own is something that I’ll take with me forever.”

As a junior, Matrone’s main focus right now is her future college career. Balancing golf with a heavy course load can be challenging, but Matrone is confident that her hard work will help her with college recruitments.

“It’s hard, it’s really hard. I’m in a lot of AP classes and pre-AP classes so when I come back from tournaments after missing two days I’m in tutorials for weeks to get my grades up,” Matrone said. “I love both so much and school’s so important, colleges, when they’re recruiting, they look for that so if you can balance both they want you on their team.”

Matrone hopes to keep pursuing golf as a big part of her life after high school and in college.

“I plan to play college golf and pursue my college career,” Matrone said. “I’m looking at a couple schools, I’m only a junior, and recruiting has started kicking in but they don’t start offering you until after state your junior year so we’ll see where I end up but I definitely want to pursue that path because it’s something that’s so important to me.”

While Matrone plays golf outside of her high school team, she believes being a part of the team has helped build her sportsmanship and given her a sense of support unlike any other.

“Playing on a team gives you something that you don’t get outside of school,” Matrone said. “I play a ton of outside of school tournaments but knowing that you’re playing for four other girls that are like your sisters is something you can’t replace.”

The team’s victorious season this past year has tightened their relationships with another and strengthened the team as a whole, and Matrone is excited to take on another trip to state with her teammates.

“The feeling of going to state and playing at state, hitting that first tee shot, knowing that it’s not just for you, it’s for your teammates and your best friends, is amazing” Matrone said. “We’re a family, we all work really hard together just to get the same goals.”