Player Profile: Mikey Slesinski
With the great Tiger Woods as a role model, it is no surprise golf quickly became a passion for a young boy.
Mikey Slesinski, a 21- year - old from Fremont, California, is a redshirt sophomore on the Saint Mary’s College Men’s golf team. As a student athlete, Slesinski is currently studying business with a concentration in both finance and marketing. His initial interest in the sport came from sitting at home watching golf on TV with his dad on weekends, as he explained the sport to him.
“I remember waking up Sunday mornings to catch the final round of whatever tournament was going on quickly became one of our favorite things to do together. It was soon after that, when I was around the age of 12, when I first picked up a golf club.” Slesinski said.
Golf being known as the challenging sport that it is, was not quite natural for Slesinski to pick up. When asked about this he referred to his athleticism from other sports and the years of watching golf with his dad, for helping him pick up the sport rather quickly, and eventually naturally.
“There are so many aspects that go into this game, that eventually you are going to run into one that is difficult that takes time and patience to learn. With that being said however, I do believe that the game came pretty naturally to me, for instance, I still use the same swing today as the first day I picked up a club because it is my ‘natural swing’. There are players out there that have seen numerous coaches and try to perfect their swing based on textbook positions, but that is the opposite of me.” Slesinski said.
Slesinski participated in his high school’s golf team, but it was the success he found in outside competitions, where he found his stride, and continued to become serious about the sport. He began to realize that he potentially had a shot at going somewhere with golf. He was then recruited by Saint Mary’s College of California to play Division I golf for the West Coast Conference.
“Making the transition from high school golf to college golf was honestly one of the most challenging things I have had to do so far in my life.” Slesinski Said. “The competition and the mental approach from high school golf to college golf is complete night and day. With that being said, it took me a while to get my footing here at Saint Mary’s in terms of golf, I had to redshirt my first year in order to practice all year because I was not good enough which was really eye opening for me.”
Slesinski took on many challenges trying to prove himself to his coaches, and himself, eventually earning him a spot on the travel team where he is now. He went on to discuss the mental battle he had to face with himself in competition, in that he must react to the unknown, which can make or break a performance.
Ethan Ashbrook is a fellow Gael teammate, and had nothing but praise for Slesinski. As a first year student, he has viewed him as a mentor.
“He has a very competitive spirit and is a great motivator, he is the ideal teammate.” Ashbrook said.
When asked about his favorite part of the sport, Slesinski went on to discuss how the feelings of triumph really carry him forward in competition and give him a competitive drive. He uses this to ‘practice and become the best player I can possibly be.’
With two more years of eligibility to play golf for Saint Mary’s, Slesinski will be sticking around Moraga working on making a name for himself. He recently made it through U.S. Open Local Qualifying and onto the Sectional Qualifying round in the beginning of June. If he performs well over the course, he has an opportunity to make it to the U.S. Open, one of the four majors in golf.
Post college plans are in thought, but all up in the air for him at the moment. He plans to keep grinding at golf in hopes to have some aspect of it always in his life.
“I have so much more time and life is unpredictable, but I will be in the golf world in some way. Ideally, I will be playing professional golf somewhere, whether it is here in the U.S. or even somewhere else like Europe. I am going to work my ass off for the next 3 years because I am being given an opportunity that not many people are presented with in life and I am not going to take it for granted.” Slesinski said.
The junior will finish up school in the next two weeks, then head on down to Newport Beach for the Sectional qualifying round of the U.S. Open. Keep a look out as he may be featured in the next major.
