Lia Thomas '21 Recruiting Profile

I'm not like most 17-year-old girls you know.  I've traveled around the world without my parents since I was 11 years old - starting with a month-long camp (https://cisv.org) in Luneberg, Germany.  I didn't have access to electronics and could only communicate with my parents in the middle of camp -which I didn't do because I was having the time of my life.  Since then, I've been to Costa Rica and Vietnam with the same organization.  These experiences were the best things I've ever had and they have made me the person I am today because I had to take a giant leap to leave my parents for a month.  I had to learn to navigate for myself, figure out how to communicate across language and cultural barriers and have confidence in myself that I could do those things.  My parents allowed me to have these opportunities, but they came with a growing financial responsibility on my end.  For every trip I took, I was responsible for a part of the bill. Their point was to teach me to set goals and work hard  and if you do, anything is possible. This has translated over to my golf game. I started junior golf in 5th grade in a golf club my school had.  When I was able to hit the ball better than even the boys in the golf club I knew I'd found my sport (I'd been a gymnast up to this point.).

How does traveling and financial responsibility translate into a player that you would want on your team?  1. My work ethic has gotten me everything I've wanted - whether it was money for my trips or time on the range/course for my golf game.  It's not always easy going out to chip and putt before heading into work but knowing that might be the only time I get on the course that day you just have to do it.  You have to make it work.  2. I'm a goal setter.  For each year that I've played high school golf, I've set a golf of where I want to be, and I work to get there.  Last year I missed one goal (breaking 80) but achieved my other goal of making it to high school golf state.  3. I'm mentally strong, both on the course and off.  I tied for the 3rd place individual spot at the regional tournament last year and had to go into a playoff to qualify for state.  Every other girl that was in the playoff (there were 4 of us) were upper classmen and had much more tournament experience than I had.  I made it through to play another day and made it to state.  5. I like to win.  6. You don't have to worry about me. Travel and being away from home have been a part of my life since I was 11. I love new experiences, am organized and know how to get myself ready for a trip abroad or across the state.  And while going to college will be an adjustment, I can hardly wait to get there and be part of a college team.

i'm not quite sure of what I want to study.  Most likely it will be something with business, languages with an international flavor but I still have my goals here.  Getting a solid education/degree is my priority.  I want to find a school where I can feel at home, find my direction and get a degree. If golf can be a part of that equation, then all the pieces would be falling into place.