Swinging for Metro

By: Jack Gonzalez, Jack Panger, and Wilson West

SEATTLE -- Golf was never just a physical game for Jackson Rosquita. Once he got over his mental hump and learned to trust himself, his game seemed unrecognizable.

Rosquita is a junior golfer at O'Dea who has been dealing with mental obstacles on the golf course causing him to noticeably not play up to his standard.

Rosquita was experiencing this as of recent before his last match and explained how "Golf has changed [him] as a person because it showed [him] how much [his] mindset really matters in all sports and even if you have the best skills in the world, your mind is the only thing that's stopping you."

Rosquita came into this round dealing with challenges of inconsistency in all parts of his game, making his game not fully come together.

Rosquita took a simple approach going into the round and "tried [his] best to look at it as a fun round with my friends".

Rosquita became stress free through this mindset and went on to shoot one of the best rounds of his life.

Suddenly during Metros Rosquita said how, " it finally happened" and all the challenges he faced disappeared, showing how good his round really was.

Rosquita then further defined how different this round felt than others.

“I feel like my game hasn't fully come together for a round yet and during Metros it finally happened and showed with how well my round was.”

He then finished 2 under helping O'Dea get 5th at Metros, one of the best rounds in his life.

This was a huge step for Rosquita mentally and physically when everything was finally firing on all cylinders for him, making him feel free of stress and pressure and just having a good time.

A big part for his release of pressure was his support system.

"My parents helped me the most with figuring out how to control my mindset. They have been through this before and have been great teachers to me since I first started playing sports.”

Rosquita made sure to emphasize the people who helped him get where he is today.

In conclusion, Rosquita has had lots of ups and downs through his experience with golf, but the persistent help by his foundation and his mindset changing from a game of results to a game of fun was truly the turning point for his recent success in the sport.