Krystal Hu, a senior strategic communications major and member of the Seattle University women’s golf team, is currently residing in Seattle following Seattle U’s transition to a remote Spring Quarter. Currently awaiting her undergraduate graduation, Hu is getting by on weekly challenges, cooking and Zoom workouts with her teammates.

MM: How was your season going before everything started getting canceled?

KH: The season was going pretty well. We got to play two tournaments before the cancelations and at the time, I thought, “this will be my last season,” because I’m graduating soon. I really wanted to play well, and finish strong, maybe win another tournament. Luckily, the NCAA gave us another year of eligibility to play college sports, so I decided to go to grad school at Seattle U for the next two years. I’ll be able to play another year with my teammates and coaches.

MM: As a team, how are you all getting through this?

KH: We have a lot going on, actually. Men meet on Monday morning, women on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. Each of us leads a TedTalk each week, so we pick a video and then we share it with the team and all watch it, then talk about that topic. We are also reading a book called “The Principles”—we talk about one chapter a week. Besides that, the women’s golf team is very active on the [Student-Athlete Advisory Committee] challenge on Instagram. I think we won last week—this week was the squat challenge. We talk to each other very often since we are such a small team, so we’re very close with each other. As a team, we just never stop interacting with each other.

 MM: That sounds like a lot of fun with everything going on. For your video, what was the topic you chose?

KH: I was the first one to go, actually, and I did how stress can affect the size of our brain, how we do decision making and how working out and meditation can  help. The other girls also picked great topics.

MM: That’s a great way to keep the team mentality and to continue to learn and grow, even off the golf course.

KH: Totally. We also have small activities sometimes. Last week, we did hidden talent videos, so we posted short videos on GroupMe about our hidden talents. It was really fun to know something we didn’t know about each other. They’re small activities, but they really make us think and reflect on ourselves and our life right now with everything going on.

MM: What was your hidden talent?

 KH: I posted a video of me playing piano from last year. I played piano for seven or eight years. Now, I totally stopped though. I can still remember one song.

MM: Who on your team had the most shocking hidden talent?

KH: It’s probably coach [Marc Chandonnet]. He was an art major in college, and he posted pictures that he drew that were super awesome. They were very shocking. We knew he was an art major, but we didn’t know that he was that good at art.

 MM: What a good way to get to know a little bit more about each other, because during the season it’s just all about sports.

 KH: Yeah, we don’t really talk about the past anymore. One of the girls mentioned since we have so much time, we can focus on something that we always wanted to do before but never had the chance to. Now is a time to pick those up and do it again.

MM: What activities have you been doing during this time? 

KH: I always liked to stay at home, even before the pandemic. I would only go out for golf or to a coffee shop or something. But during this time, I’ve been cooking a lot because I really like to cook, and now I have more time to improve it. My senior capstone project is actually on cooking—I try to address the issues like the lack of awareness of self-care. I already have 20 videos posted on my channels just to encourage viewers to cook and take care of themselves instead of maybe ordering fast food or just not eating really healthy. Also, one of my teammates and I have been working out together on Zoom.

Hu continues to work on her golf techniques at home, but is remaining cautious when it comes to going out to golf courses to get practice in. Hu is excited to spend another year with her teammates and coaches at Seattle U, especially amid recent announcements signaling hope for fall athletics and for the 2020-2021 academic year.