Park University’s women’s golf team is currently in-between seasons. Despite the erratic weather this winter, the team has been training hard to prepare for their first match of the spring season. Contending with snow and ice, the golf team has moved many of their practice days indoors.

Yet, as Park approaches its spring recess, the golf team is getting closer to their first tournament.

“We start the season officially on March 16, so right after spring break we play at Ottawa,” said Steve Wilson, assistant athletic director for sports communication and head golf coach at Park. “We have two more tournaments in March. Then we just play through the month of April. We play seven tournaments in all this semester.”

One Park golfer, Kelsey Faiferlick, is eager for the first spring tournament.

“During the Fall I was playing really well,” said Faiferlick. “So I’m looking forward to playing in some tournaments and actually traveling.”

According to Faiferlick, golf is a family sport that she was encouraged to play since she was very young.

“I’ve been playing since I was about eight years old, I’ve been playing competitively since I was fourteen,” said Faiferlick. “My dad really liked golf, and he wanted to push me to go in that direction, so it’s kind of a family sport.”

Park University’s women’s golf team played three tournaments in the fall season – the William Jewell Fall Tune Up, the Ottawa Fall Invitational and the Park University Fall Classic. The team placed seven out of seven teams at William Jewell, third out of eight teams in Ottawa, and third out of 12 teams at Park.

Faiferlick started her 2014-15 competitive year out strong. She scored a low round of 76 at the Ottawa Fall Invitational in September and has earned an overall score of 82.7 so far this year. As the start of the spring season approaches, Faiferlick is excited to see if she can continue doing as well as she did in the fall.

Along with her duties as an athlete, Faiferlick has the added responsibilities of being a student and working a part-time job. a stated that one of the most difficult things to find as a student athlete is balance.

“Trying to balance class and missing class is difficult,” said Faiferlick. “Especially for our spring season we miss a lot of class. So making sure to get homework done before it’s due.”

In the face of her busy schedule as athlete, student and employee, Faiferlick said that the key to balancing each area of her life is time management.

As a senior at Park University, Faiferlick’s time as a competitive student athlete is drawing to an end. Despite the challenges of being a student athlete, Faiferlick will miss playing golf for Park. The number one thing Faiferlick will miss about being a student athlete is the team she plays with.

“I’ll miss the team as well as just actually having the opportunity to play competitively and consistently,” said Faiferlick.

Park University’s women’s golf team plays their first match of the spring season at 9 a.m. Monday, March 16 in Lawrence, Kan., in the Ottawa Spring Invitational.

Wilson said he hopes the golf team will continue the strong run they had at the end of their fall season.

“The season opener was disappointing but we got better through the next two tournaments and we beat two very good teams in our own tournament at the end of the fall,” said Wilson. “It was an encouraging end, now we have to find a way to build that into the spring with snow on the ground and not being able to do much work outside.”