Page 37 - Golf Champion - August 2020

INTERVIEWS

JAKE BEBER-FRANKEL to decide. By junior year or senior year, when I had already committed to a college
Can you introduce yourself and share a little bit about who and academics weren’t as stressful, I could set more time aside for my social life. But
you are? in the beginning of 9th and 10th grade, I had to miss time with my friends for golf
I’m Jake Beber-Frankel, I’m 18, from Miami, and I’m going to be playing golf at Stan- tournaments.
ford University—hopefully starting in the fall. I’ve been playing since I was about 7 What do you think is the most important thing you learned
and graduated from Ransom Everglades High School this year. from being a golfer?
Throughout your high school career, has college golf always For me, it was the mental game. When I was a little kid, I would go crazy on the golf
been the end goal? course when things weren’t going my way. Keeping my composure and keeping my
I started playing American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) tournaments when I was calm were the biggest things for me, in terms of getting better at the game. Now, if
13 or 14, and that was the first time it crept into my mind that college golf was on you ask one of the guys, they’d say I’m one of the calmest guys in tournaments, but
the horizon. I remember the process started a lot earlier than I expected it to: start- if you saw me as a kid, you’d see an out-of-control, rage monster. Accepting things
ing freshman year I was reaching out to Stanford and other schools that I wanted when they don’t go your way and being patient was definitely something that golf
to have a chance to go to. So the majority of my high school life has been for the helped me with.
college process. Is there any advice that you could give to young high school
Could you explain the college sport recruitment process? golfers who want to go to college for golf as well?
How do colleges find and recruit potential players? How do I would say reach out to the schools you’re interested in right away and keep practic-
players choose between offers? ing: even more than you want to. There are days when you might feel tired, but if you
There are tournaments where coaches come to watch potential players. I was familiar suck it up and practice, it will add up over time. That combination of working hard and
with the college scene early on and aware that I was already on many of the college believing in your potential is going to take you far.
teams’ radars, but I decided to make sure that I was definitely on Stanford’s radar. What’s one thing you’ll miss about high school golf?
You have to consistently reach out and make sure they watch you and pay attention I’ll miss playing with my friends all the time, whether it was practicing at my home
to you. Make sure you stay in contact with whoever it is that you’re trying to get an course or playing for my school team. Competing at State Championships with my
opportunity to play for. friends was a really fun team bonding experience and I’ll miss practicing with my
For me, at least, it was easy to see what goal I had in mind. If you had asked me when coach and friends everyday as well.
I was younger which school I really wanted to go to, I would have said Stanford. That’s 자기 소개 부탁 드립니다.
just been the school that I always wanted to go to. 마이애미 플로리다주에 살고있는 18살 Jake 입니다. 7살에 골프를 처음 배우고 랜
What are your future aspirations? Do you want to pursue 섬 에버글레이즈 고등학교를 졸업했어요. 이번 가을에 스탠포드 대학 골프팀에서 활
professional golf? 동하게 되었습니다.
That would be the ultimate goal. I mean, I still have 4 years of college, so I’ll see how 고등학교 동안 항상 골프특기생으로 대학을 갈 계획 이었나요?
my golf game is for those 4 years and if it looks like I might be good enough to have 13살때쯤에 처음 AJGA 토너먼트를 참가할때 처음으로 골프로 대학을 갈수도 있겠
a chance to try, I’m definitely going to try. For sure. 다는 생각을 하게 된것 같아요. 준비하는 과정은 꽤 일찍 시작되었어요. 스탠포드같
What has been one of your greatest accomplishments while 은 대학들이 저를 봐주게끔 고등학교 일학년부터 제가 관심이있는 대학교들에게 이
playing golf? 메일을 자주 보냈어요. 고등학교 생활의 대부분은 대학골프를 위해 준비하는 과정이
It was last summer. I didn’t win because I had a bad last round, but in the second 라고 할수있죠.
round I shot a 60. It was the course record and the tournament record and my per- 대학들은 어떻게 선수들을 찾고 모집하나요? 선수들은 많은 오퍼들 중에 어떻게 선
sonal record, so that was just crazy. To do that in a tournament was really cool; I think 택하나요?
that was the biggest highlight of my career so far. 수많은 대학 코치들이 어린 선수들이 뛰는 토너먼트를 찾아와요. 저는 대학 선수 선
How often did you practice during the school week? 발 과정에 익숙해서 제가 많은 코치들의 관심을 받고있다는걸 알수있었지만, 스탠포
My school day was 7:45 to 3:15, so I practice from 4 to 6 pm every day. Usually I hit on 드에서 저를 원한다는 확신을 받기 위해서 코치님들에게 꾸준히 이메일을 보냈어요.
the range for a half an hour or so and then go play 6 or 7 holes on the course. Maybe 저는 어떤 학교를 목표로 삼을지 어릴때 부터 알고있었어요. 어릴적 저에게 어떤 대학
there were a couple days where I had homework or a big project due so I couldn’t go, 교를 가고싶었는지 물었다면, 당연히 스탠포드라고 했을 거에요.
but some other days I would stay until around 8 pm. And on weekends I try to play
both days. I guess I played around 16 hours a week. 미래에는 무엇을 하고 싶은가요? 프로 골퍼로 갈 예정인가요?
그게 저의 가장 큰 목표죠. 하지만 아직 4년이 남았으니, 제가 얼마나 성장 하는지 봐
How did you balance golf with your school work? 야하겠죠. 몇년 후에 제 능력이 충분히 성장했다고 느끼면 당연히 프로 골프를 시도
Both golf and academics were my number one priorities. I didn’t really have an or- 해보고 싶습니다.
ganized schedule in the sense that I wouldn’t set aside a time to get the work done.
I would just make sure I could find enough time, whether it was during a free period 골프를 하면서 가장 크게 느낀 성취감은 언제였나요?
or during lunch, to get it done.From a young age, my parents just made sure I always 작년 여름 주니어 PGA 토너먼트 둘째 날에 60타를 쳤어요. 그 점수로 코스 기록, 토너
tried my best. They wouldn’t really care what the outcome was as long as they could 먼트 기록과 제 개인 기록을 깼죠. 아쉽게도 토너먼트를 이기지는 못했지만 여태까지
see I was giving it my best shot. But by high school, it was kind of expected that I 제 골프 인생에 하이라이트라고 생각헤요.
would be able to maintain my grades on my own. I got lucky because I took the SAT 학기중 연습 스케줄은 어떻게 되나요?
in my sophomore year: the Stanford coaches told me what score I needed. I took it 학교가 7:45에 시작해서 3:15에 끝나면 오후 4시 부터 6시 까지 연습을 해요. 보통 30
once, thinking, “might as well see where I’m at”. I didn’t study or anything for the SAT, 분 골프 레인지에서 연습하고나서 코스에서 6-7홀을 쳐요. 어떤 날에는 큰 프로젝트
but I got the score I needed to. I was lucky that it was not the most stressful part of 나 시험 준비때문에 못가는 날도 있지만, 다른 날에는 밤 8시 까지 연습할 때도 있어
the process. 요. 그리고 주말에는 이틀다 코스에서 라운딩을 해요. 일주일에 한 16시간 정도 연
Did you ever have to sacrifice your social or academic life for 습하네요.
golf competitions? 학기중 연습 스케줄은 어떻게 되나요?
For me at least, the parties that I missed and the times I couldn’t hangout with my 학교가 7:45에 시작해서 3:15에 끝나면 오후 4시 부터 6시 까지 연습을 해요. 보통 30
friends were all choices that I made. Regardless of whether I wanted to go to the 분 골프 레인지에서 연습하고나서 코스에서 6-7홀을 쳐요. 어떤 날에는 큰 프로젝트
party, I always wanted to go to the tournament more. No one was making me go 나 시험 준비때문에 못가는 날도 있지만, 다른 날에는 밤 8시 까지 연습할 때도 있어
to the party, no one was making me go to the tournament, so it was just up to me 요. 그리고 주말에는 이틀다 코스에서 라운딩을 해요. 일주일에 한 16시간 정도 연

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