YORKTON - Ella Kozak officially signed to attend Western Carolina University which is in Cullowhee, N.C.
The Yorkton golfer signed at Sacred Heart High School Thursday.
“It’s kind of surreal,” she told Yorkton This Week, adding the real signing was a few days earlier, the one at the school ceremonial.
“I kind of went into shock a day or two after I finally signed.”
Kozak said putting her name on the official deal fulfilled a long-held dream.
“I always had the idea of (playing) college golf,” she said, adding that vision extends back to when she was in Grade 7 or 8, “when I started to get competitive and won my first provincials.”
The dream was longer for her father Rob Kozak who himself attended American collage on a scholarship – albeit for hockey.
Ella Kozak said they would watch college golf and her dad would say, “'you could be on TV’. Looking back that seems so long ago.”
The decision to attend Western Carolina did not come easily. Kozak visited four campuses, and had three scholarship offers, settling on Western Carolina as the school which fit her future best.
Kozak said the school has a great golf program, but also a great education program which is what she plans to major in.
In terms of golf Kozak said the women’s program at the college has been highly successful, and she is already feeling pressure to continue that success.
“I thought it would be the opposite when I signed all of the pressure would come off,” she said.
But that has not been the case.
“Now I feel I have to perform,” said Kozak.
So headed to year one what does the young golfer see as the area she needs to get better at?
“A lot of it’s just being prepared mentally and physically. That’s where you can really get ahead of the game, if you are prepared,” said Kozak.
The plan now is to finish her schooling, then head to Myrtle Beach in S.C. to acclimatize a bit.
