Chip Shots with Raquel Hopton
November 8, 2007 | Women's Golf
Nov. 8, 2007
Go behind the scenes of Illinois women's golf with "Chip Shots", the online golf journal. In the sixth edition of the season, freshman Raquel Hopton discusses the team's recent trip to Texas, fun and games on the road, and her preparation for the upcoming spring season.
"Everything is bigger in Texas." The fighting Illini women's golf team found out this weekend that it is the truth. From the Texas shaped waffles in the hotel to the jumbo-sized food at lunch and even the Texas-sized spiders, we lived like true Texans. Our team just returned from The Challenge at Wolfdancer in Austin hosted by Texas State University. The resort we stayed at was very different from Champaign, but it was gorgeous. There were horses and cowboys and rolling terrain for miles. It makes me very thankful to be able to have the experience. It was fun to hear people say "Y'all" and "Howdy" in their friendly Texas accents. I roomed with Nancy this weekend and it was a blast as usual. We decided to set 4 different alarms on Saturday night because of daylight savings time. We knew at least one of them would wake us up on time! It was definitely a trip to remember.
Of course we played Uno on our trip, our "official" team bonding game. It was a little difficult to play in our turtle (travel van) because we didn't have a flat surface to play on, but that didn't stop us! We all learned that Seul Ki doesn't like to be the ultimate loser and that Stephanie has a competitive side that seems to come out when she gets a "draw four" card laid on her. We even got both Coach Slone and Coach Rick to play with us in the airport.
We were all pleased to finish the fall season with a top 5 finish. We improved our team total by 2 each round, which is a step in the right direction heading into the off season. Congratulations to Seul Ki for a second place individual finish! It is certainly impressive to finish your fall season with a win and a runner-up! We start team weights tomorrow. Being the only freshman on the team (my teammates never let me forget it), I'm not sure what to expect in the off season, but I do know that we will be doing a combination of weights, Pilates, yoga, cardio and kickboxing to keep in shape through the winter. Along with conditioning, we will be spending time in our new indoor facility (Demirjian) which I am VERY excited about.
We start our spring season on March 13-15 at the Gainesville Shootout and I absolutely cannot wait. My first fall season of college golf went way too quickly, but I am looking forward to improving and learning for the spring season!
Keep up with Illini Women's Golf as we look forward to a successful spring season!
~Raquel
