CEDAR CITY, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – The Southern Utah University women’s golf team has an international flavor to it. Five girls on the team come from overseas, thanks to head coach Richard Church. Ten years ago, he was invited to be part of a golf clinic in Asia.
“I’ve been able to do camps in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, India and Singapore, and met a lot of junior golfers,” Church said.
From those connections, Church has been able to recruit some good players to Cedar City.
“You just build relationships and make friends,” Church said. “We’ve got a pretty good reputation for being a place that international players fit in.”
There are two players from Thailand, two from France, and one from Norway on this year’s team. The student body at SUU is about 10% international right now, so that helps. But there is some homesickness that creeps in.
“They’re in pretty good shape in the fall because we’re playing a lot of golf and the weather is good,” Church said. “But in November when they wake up to six inches of snow and its cold. Winter months can be a little difficult.”
Church still recruits overseas, but as Utah girls are improving, he’ll look to the home front more for talent.
“We want the best Utah kids, but we’ll always have some international kids because it brings so much to the table,” he said. “To bring those different cultures together is a good thing.”
Even though he still logs a lot of international miles, Church’s foreign language skills need some work.
“I leaned how to say, ‘I don’t speak whatever language it is,’ and ask where the restroom is,” he said. “You know those two things and you can get by on it.”
Southern Utah is currently competing at the WAC Championships in Washington.
