Women's Golf

Challenging Myself

Parker Waters

N Our Voice

By Miu Takahashi

I know everyone talks about how difficult it is to learn the English language, but I love speaking English. 

In some ways, I prefer it over my native tongue.

I'm sure that sounds strange coming from someone who was born and raised in Japan, but when I speak English, I'm far more conversational.

I'm able to express more of my personality.

I started learning English when I was three years old. 

While it was tough – and still is for me at times today – I knew from a young age that I wanted to live in the United States one day.

Part of this is because exploring other countries is in my blood. 

My mom was a snowboarder, and my dad was a skier. They explored countries across the world, and I wanted that same experience, too.

My main reason for coming to the United States, though, was to challenge myself. 

Let's be honest, I wouldn't have chosen to play golf competitively if I didn't enjoy a challenge.

As I improved my game, I determined golf would be how I'd punch my ticket to the U.S. 

Specifically, to play at the collegiate level.

I didn't know where, but I was to give everything I had to play college golf and embrace every challenge that came with it.

New beginnings in Nebraska

 

The recruiting process was a trying time for me. Because of Covid protocols, I couldn't actually do any on-campus visits, so all of my recruiting with various coaches and universities was done via FaceTime.

The University of Nebraska stood out to me right away. 

Not only were the coaches incredibly welcoming and kind to me throughout all of our conversations, but I did my own research and discovered that Lincoln does not have an overwhelmingly high Japanese population.

Some may have looked at this as a negative, but I took the opposite approach. 

With not as many Japanese people, Nebraska would be the perfect place for me to improve my English and get in the habit of speaking the language every day.

And so my decision was made.

I was going to be a Husker.

 
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Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Keisei Tominaga #30 MBB vs Indiana

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Cornhusker Men’s Tennis Player Shunya Maruyama Men's Tennis vs Wisconsin

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My Husker family

 

I wanted the challenge of living somewhere completely new and having the opportunity to meet people. But when I first arrived in Nebraska, I wasn't confident speaking English in public.

That made it difficult to make new friends.

Fortunately, my teammates embraced me with open arms. Something I love about my team is that we have quite a few players from different countries — just like me.

We all bonded over experiencing the United States for the first time and learning the different culture here compared to our home countries.

My American teammates were a massive help in assisting with any questions I had relating to golf, campus, or schedules, too, and I'm so grateful to them.

And despite longing for a new environment, it was also really helpful to have two other student-athletes from Japan — Keisei Tominaga and Shunya Maruyama — that could very closely relate to my experiences.

Those two were juniors last year as I embarked on my freshman year. 

After getting to know both of them fairly well, they've been a wealth of knowledge and incredibly beneficial to my career so far as a student-athlete. 

One thing I didn't expect when I came here from Japan was to develop a family that was beyond loving and supportive of me.

With a 15-hour difference between Nebraska and my family back home in Japan, having these people here in Lincoln has made all the difference in the world to me. 

I just hope I've made a bit of a difference in their lives as well.

Challenges lead to growth

 

During my freshman season, it wasn't an easy transition for me on the golf course. 

Not only was I playing golf in a new country, but I was also competing at the college level against some of the best golfers in the country.

But truthfully, this was the challenge I was looking for.

And I knew the results wouldn't come overnight.

After I completed my first season and gained some experience playing collegiately, everything came together quite well for me this past fall in my sophomore season.

One particular moment that stands out happened at the Dale McNamara Invitational. Even going back to my time playing in Japan, I'm very much a team-oriented person.

I don't necessarily think about my individual scores when I'm playing; I just want to do everything I can to help the team win.

As I was checking the leaderboards to see how we were performing as a team, I couldn't help but notice – to my complete shock – that I was on top of the individual leaderboards.

Was this a mistake? Is there another Miu Takahashi I don't know about?

When I confirmed I was actually the one winning the tournament, I finished strong to win the invitational and earn my first individual title.

As I think back on that tournament from four months ago, I can't help but think about all the challenges I had to overcome that led to that moment.

Moving to a new country.

Improving my English.

Making new friends.

Adjusting my game during my freshman season.

If I never embraced these challenges, I never would have won that tournament. I certainly wouldn't be in the position I'm in now after all the success I was able to achieve last fall.

Without challenges, there's nothing to strive for or room for personal growth. 

As a result, I can't wait for the next ones.