Impressive, driven and optimistic are just a few words to describe UCA golfer Tania Nuñez. Nuñez, originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, is a junior at the University of Central Arkansas. She is majoring in public relations and is expected to graduate in May 2022.
Nuñez has found her a place for herself at UCA. “I cannot picture myself being somewhere else,” she said.
She explained that the wonderful opportunities that UCA offers has brought so many different people to the city of Conway. “It’s so cool to realize how different everyone is,” Nuñez said of the small, diverse women’s golf team.
Nuñez recently contributed to the women’s golf team’s first win since the Little Rock Golf Classic in 2018. At the 2020 Callaway Gardens Invite, Nuñez led the team with 11 birdies for the tournament.
Efforts from Nuñez and other teammates, such as Elin Kumlin, Pear Rittawee, Pim-Orn Thitisup and Camilia Moreno, “produced the lowest round in UCA history with a team score of 860,” according to ucasports.com.
Despite many potential and definite setbacks from COVID-19, the women’s golf team were able to overcome those obstacles.
“We know we’re good. Even though we didn’t practice or do much over the summer, we know what we’re capable of. So, we just pushed and practiced really hard,” Nuñez said.
Nuñez reveled in the fact that their team is one of the few who had an opportunity to go out and play this fall.
“It felt unreal because it was like ‘we’re actually playing, and we’re actually playing really well,” Nuñez said. “We just have to be glad that we are able to be out there doing what we like. It sucks to have a bad shot, or whatever, but I would rather have a bad shot than sit out a whole season.”
This season, just as any, has made room for Nuñez to grow as a player and an individual.
“The biggest thing I learned this semester that works for me is patience. Knowing that it’s going to come eventually, no matter if it’s tomorrow or next month, it’s going to come,” Nuñez said.
Nuñez is not oblivious to the fact that the right attitude and hard work give favorable results.
“You need to look at adversity and say ‘this is my chance to grow’; using those obstacles and bumps to grow, and not looking at them just as setbacks,” Nuñez said. “I know it’s easier said than done, but it really does help. This applies for everything in life, not just sports.”
Her motivation to keep pursuing her passions and endeavors is her mother. “I know it sounds cliche, but she really does. Everything I do just goes back to her,” Nuñez said.
In the future, Nuñez plans to continue to stick to the realm of sports. She has plans to develop a sports driven school back home in Mexico. This school will hopefully give opportunities that are not currently available, at an affordable price, to students.
