ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – There are times when members of the Michigan State University women’s golf team don’t understand each other. That was something that Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll knew would happen since the nine players on her team are from five different countries. So, she established one rule to alleviate any discomfort that might arise during those times of disconnect – no one is going to get upset or mad.
In fact, Slobodnik-Stoll doesn’t see her eclectic team as a challenge at all, but rather she considers it an honor for her players to have a chance to grow together.
“I think it’s so cool that we get to learn about lots of different cultures,” Slobodnik-Stoll said about her team makeup, which features players from Canada, Columbia, Germany, Spain and the United States. “If there’s any challenge, sometimes there’s a language challenge, but I think the challenge is obviously a fun one because they’ve all done it since they were little kids and dreamt of playing a sport in America.”
This week, this international squad is one of four women’s teams competing in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate in Scotland. It’s a unique opportunity that isn’t lost on the coach or her players, who are getting a chance to compete for two days on the Jubilee Course followed by Wednesday’s final round on the famed Old Course.
That dream of which Slobodnik-Stoll spoke is what brought Paula Balanzategui from San Sebastian, Spain, to East Lansing.
“If I would have stayed home, I couldn’t be doing both competing and getting a degree, so this was the best chance,” Balanzategui, a senior, said about her decision to play in the States. “I think it’s the only way of competing.”
Balanzategui is the fourth Spaniard to join the team since 2020. Both Spain and Colombia have become pipelines of sorts for Slobodnik-Stoll, who said that when players come to Michigan State and have a positive experience they return home to share that feedback with their national team and the word spreads.
“It really, honestly, it’s kind of like a domino effect,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “Recruiting for women’s golf, I think for all sports right now, is very international for kids from all over the world.”
Food is a major topic of conversation among the team, which has enjoyed exchanging recipes. But for some of the international students, it can be a real eye-opener trying to eat in the United States when they discover the amount of processing that happens and the number of preservatives that get added to foods. Slobodnik-Stoll says the team’s dietician takes students to the grocery store to help them understand what’s on the nutrition labels so that they’ll know how the ingredients will impact their body and make them feel.
“When they come to America some of them have never had peanut butter,” the coach said. “Some of them have never had bread that stays on the shelf for two months.”
Another lesson learned is improving their English. While there are often rough patches as the team’s new members try to communicate, Canada’s Taylor Kehoe says other teammates often jump in to help translate for newcomers like freshman Lucia Valderrama, who joined the team from Valencia, Spain.
“They all learn so fast,” Kehoe said. “I couldn’t imagine going somewhere and not knowing the language. It’s so impressive what they do.”
The international students aren’t the only ones doing the learning as the Americans have taken away plenty from the global exposure. Shannon Kennedy, a graduate student who walked on as a freshman in 2021, has seen the makeup of her team shift throughout the years, but this season finds herself as the lone American. The Michigan native knows there won’t be many opportunities like this one, in which she is exposed to so many different cultures at once. She is relishing the opportunity to get to know her teammates’ heritage and they way in which they play the game.
Official Photo by St Andrews Lin
“Everyone on the team has a very different way of playing golf, some hit it higher, some hit it lower, and I think it all stems from where you grew up playing,” Kennedy said after the opening round on the Jubilee Course. “Somebody that’s from somewhere like here [in Scotland] is going to have a different style of game than we have back home, so it’s pretty cool to see that and learn all those things.”
Coach Slobodnik-Stoll has picked up a few things, too. Having seen players on the Colombian and Spanish national teams dress up off the course, she had her team wearing blazers in the signature Spartan green during the St. Andrews welcome reception.
From start to finish, this week is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many, and it does the recruiting on its own for Slobodnik-Stoll.
“An opportunity even like this is pretty amazing,” she said. “With social media, it’s very easy to show players what they’re getting and what they get to experience at Michigan State.”
The experience of not just getting to play at the Home of Golf, but the chance to grow, to learn and to compete with an international group. For the women at Michigan State, that’s a true honor.
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