Alex Brunner is adjusting to life at UFV and away from home
Cascades women’s golf coach Cody Stewart has been very impressed with the young, talented team adjusting to university golf and the many challenges they’ve faced with COVID-19, the demands of school, and some competitive rust. He notes that first-year players Alex Brunner, Avery Biggar, and Lucy Park have been impressive on and off the course. The team has had great mentoring and leadership from its third-year captain, Emery Bardock, and Stewart is excited about the team’s growth over the fall portion of the season.
“We have a dedicated group who will be fun to watch over the coming years,” said Stewart over email.
I had a chance to sit down with first-year Cascades golfer Alex Brunner to discuss her transition into university sports and life away from home.
You signed to play golf with the Cascades in September 2020. What’s it been like for you?
“So far, I’m really liking it [university]. It’s a great group of girls. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get to too many tournaments, but the tournaments we did play, I found it was a great stepping stone going into university sports. I was just really grateful for the opportunity to play here. I had no idea what to expect, but with having Cody Stewart as our coach, the level of coaching here is just amazing … I kind of reached my first goal [university golf], so now I can set more goals, and that has allowed me to push my nerves aside and shoot for the stars, so to speak.”
2020 was a year of great transitions for everyone. What was the most challenging part of your transition from high school to university golf?
“The most challenging part was not getting to play more tournaments; I didn’t know that COVID-19 was going to get as bad as it did, so having to play less tournaments was kind of hard when the university had to shut down the program just before the winter break. So, that was unfortunate that we didn’t get a longer off-season, but besides that, it’s been pretty good.
Being away from home is pretty tough. I’m definitely a small town girl and not used to living in the city, so that’s been a big adjustment. The girls here have been great helping me out with it.”
How has COVID-19 impacted your golf game?
“Besides not having the long off-season to do the technical training, I don’t think it’s impacted my game too much because we’re fortunate enough being golfers that we were still able to play — unlike other sports that got completely shut down. I think COVID-19 impacted it [my golf game] a little bit, but not too much.
What are some of your future goals in golf and in life?
“In golf, I’d love to get to being a scratch golfer. It’s definitely an attainable goal within the next four or five years here at UFV. A scratch golfer to me is having a zero handicap and not only with the technical skill of being a scratch golfer, but there’s also a mental aspect of it too. You need to be able to handle tough situations out on the golf course.
I’d love to teach the junior program and golf academy back in Osoyoos because I plan on going back there after university. What I’ve learned here I can apply over there.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Alex Brunner. October 14 2020. (UFV Cascades Flickr)
Steve is a third-year BFA creative writing/visual arts student who’s been a contributing writer, staff writer and now an editor at The Cascade. He's always found stories and adventures but now has the joy of capturing and reporting them.