(Photo taken from www.skidmoreathletics.com)
Originally a soccer and tennis player, Gabriel Rossi ‘20 wasn’t that interested in golf in the beginning. It wasn’t until his best friend back home bought Rossi a set of clubs for his birthday and pushed him to play golf. Starting at the age of 12, Rossi would only play once or twice a month, but with lessons, he gradually got the swing of things. By the time he was 15, Rossi was playing in a ton of tournaments and continued all throughout high school. Now a senior on the Skidmore Golf team, Rossi reflects on his time playing golf and comments on how the coronavirus affected his senior season.
Rossi, who hails from Chile, explains it is uncommon for kids to leave home for college, especially if they live in the city. Because of this, Rossi has found extra motivation to excel in school and on the field: “[My parents] told me that if I was going to study abroad, they wanted to prioritize my education rather than golf. They told me to go try it out for two years, and if I do well in school then I’ll stay for the four years.”
From his freshman year, Rossi was already a stand out on the team, finishing Top-20 in almost every tournament, earning Liberty League Rookie of the Week for his effort. He continued this stamina his sophomore year, making the All-Liberty League Second team, finishing the season as team leader, and earning team MVP. In the 2019 spring season, Rossi was named to the All-Liberty League Second team, for the second consecutive year, and earned Liberty League performer of the week and Thoroughbred Society honors.
Unlike the other guys on the team, Rossi’s high school did not have a golf team, and so he was not exposed to playing golf in a team environment. “Golf is an individual sport,” he explains. But “having the experience playing team golf in high school would have been helpful to understand the team dynamics.”
One thing he realized was that every shot he hit was no longer just for him, but for the team. “If you are alone you could take risks that you wouldn’t take if you are on a team.” Being on a team with 11 guys knowing only five can travel and compete in tournaments may alter the team dynamics. Despite this, Rossi says the team is very close and they use healthy competition to get better together.
A big part of being a student-athlete, according to the Business and Economics double major, and Political Science minor, is time management and being patient. The team tournaments are normally on the weekends and sometimes require the golfers to miss a lot of class. “If you are not doing homework on the road, then you aren’t working hard enough. Being able to manage that free time is going to make that difference.”
Additionally, Rossi says that a big part about being successful in golf is being extremely patient since it takes a lot of time and dedication to stay at a certain performance level. He explains that “Golf is all about consistency. Be patient to learn the technique and put in the time.” For Rossi, this means having time management, self-appreciation, mental strength, and that aforementioned patience.
With the recent pandemic, Skidmore College has followed others in moving online for the rest of the semester. This, in turn, would cancel the spring season for most college seniors like Rossi. When asked to make a comment about it, Rossi had a lot of things to say. For starters, he describes how painful it was to have the season end so abruptly, both for the team and on an individual level.
“I truly felt this was the season where I would peak and obtain my best results, especially after the first tournament we had this spring.” He remembers finishing their tournament during spring break, going up to his coaches and saying, "I'm almost there. I'm almost where I need to be to start winning these tournaments.”
That week he had come in sixth out of almost 100 players, only four shots off the leader in a 54 hole tournament. Rossi “felt like I should've won but instead of being upset, I had the mindset of using that as an inspiration for the remaining four tournaments of the season.”
Like Rossi, the remainder of the season was taken away from other seniors, making the loss feel more painful. Because of the amount of work Rossi put into this spring season, he says that this created anger, frustration, and sadness. “On the other side, I realize the situation the world is currently in is so much more important than a golf season, and I am grateful that I and my family have coped well so far.”
With regards to the team, Rossi is sad for every single member. He mentions Walker Stroud, the other senior on the team, as college golf is now completely over for both of them, while all other team members at least have the promise of coming back in the fall, getting one last year of competition.
Rossi hopes that those that return will use this as a lesson to only push harder in their practice and help them further appreciate the opportunity they have. “Our team this year had the most potential out of my four years, but unfortunately we were not able to showcase this. As a captain for the team for three years, I can also say that the respect and solidarity that this year's team had for one another was more than I ever saw in my experience at Skidmore, and I truly hope that prevails in the years to come.”
And although his time at Skidmore was cut short, Rossi says that he is thankful for his coaches and teammates that have been his Skidmore golf experience: “I could talk all day about what the abrupt end to the season makes me feel, to be honest. I'm extremely grateful for my experience on the Skidmore Golf Team regardless, and I am trying to take in all the positives it has given me.”
Although his season finished early, and many of his goals left unaccomplished, Rossi would still like to give himself credit for finishing the year ranked 87th individually in the nationwide golf stat ranking — something the program hasn't seen for many years and that Rossi worked very hard to accomplish.
As for his plans after graduation, Rossi had already secured a job in NYC for August, but will now start that in the fall. As for golf, Rossi hopes to continue, but because of the lack of golf courses in NYC, this may prove to be difficult.
“I definitely plan on playing golf, or as much competitive golf I can when I graduate. Golf is a sport you play all your life and you can be forty years old and peak out and represent Chile, who knows? It won’t be the same, but golf is something I will play for the rest of my life if my body allows.”