Following the massive shockwave that was sent throughout the Sonoma State community earlier with multiple majors and athletics programs being cut, it is starting to show its effect on the students. Every athlete at this school has had to watch helplessly as their beloved program, which they have put so much time and effort into is being taken away from them without any notice.
Lauren Garcia, a fourth-year and the most senior member of the women’s golf team here at Sonoma State reflected on what getting the news was like. “Absolute shock, I had to watch my teammates, and most importantly my friends, have mental breakdowns over all the stress that this put them through,” said Garcia.
This type of stress over what’s to come next after the semester due to these cuts is one that many students at Sonoma are feeling. Sometimes, stress that all members of a group experience can bring that group closer together – which is exactly what has happened with the women’s golf team.
“As much as this news has come as a burden to all of us, I think the team has been closer than ever,” Garcia said. “We are trying to cherish every moment we have together just in case it is our last season.” An attitude that has almost certainly been captured by every team and individual not just within athletics but at the school as a whole.
Even with what seems to be the end of Sonoma State athletics quickly approaching, Garcia took the time to reflect on what the past four years on the women’s golf team have meant to her.
“Playing golf at Sonoma has meant everything to me. Not only have I been allowed to further strengthen my golf game but I have become a better person because of it. I learned how to face adversity, how to deal with the good times and the bad – and most of all I have learned what it means to have a team that surrounds you with love,” Garcia said. “I have made some of the most important friendships of my life. I will cherish the moments I had as a SSU athlete and I hope that this isn’t the end.”
Whether or not this is the end for Sonoma State athletics, it has become clear that these programs have left an everlasting mark on every student athlete that has come through them and helped shape who they are to become.
