Over half of the Albion College student body participates in one of 23 varsity sports teams on campus. The college places an emphasis on competing at a high level in the NCAA Division III while also excelling each day in the classroom.
The vast number of student-athletes on campus have a multitude of backgrounds, including many unique players that often go unnoticed. Due to COVID-19, recent decisions regarding athletics on the collegiate, conference and national levels have changed the face of sports this spring at Albion College.
In light of that, and in order to truly appreciate all of the student-athletes who make up Albion athletics, The Pleiad’s “Beyond the Spotlight” series features a different athlete and the impact they have had on campus.
This Week
Featured in this week’s “Beyond the Spotlight” is golfer Grace Hoffman, a junior from Flint. In addition to being the golf team’s office assistant, Hoffman is a member of the pep band, a math tutor and the president of Hillel.
“I wasn’t looking to play college golf at all and then I started getting a couple emails from some coaches and I was like maybe I should look around,” said Hoffman. “I was looking at other MIAA schools, Albion was one of the first listed.”
When Hoffman came to Albion on a visit, things clicked. From that point on, she knew Albion was where she would spend the next four years of her life.
“The coaches reached out to me and I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I’ll go visit,’” said Hoffman. “I wasn’t really thinking about it. But when I came here for the visit, I fell in love with the school, everything, and the program.”
Through her three years on the team, Hoffman said that the most important lesson she has learned is to just have fun.
“Not everything is super serious,” said Hoffman. “Try to make sure you enjoy what you’re doing because if you hate it why are you doing it?”
Due to COVID-19 the Women’s Golf team had to postpone their 2020 fall season to spring 2021. Hoffman said she saw the postponement coming.
“I wasn’t surprised,” said Hoffman. “Seeing how everything else played out it wasn’t like the world magically got better.”
To keep spirits high throughout the fall semester, the golf team played a matched play tournament, which is a hole-by-hole tournament where the player with the best score moves onto the next round.
“I just keep working hard because just because we aren’t competing I still want my scores to be really low,” said Hoffman. “What’s keeping me is trying to keep my scores consistently low.”
Hoffman is excited to see how all her hard work training in the fall with translate into this upcoming spring season.
Hoffman, along with the rest of the women’s golf team, will be kicking off her season on March 27 at Zollner Golf Club in Angola, Ind.
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