Women's Golf 6/9/2020 10:00:00 AM

Becoming A Big Sister - Again

The following feature was written by Georgia State women's golfer Chloe Howard who is currently home in England with her family.

Spring 2020 was a wild ride to say the least! Starting off all as normal, everybody having a good time, shooting our lowest team round in a tournament in 4.5 (on my 21^st birthday!) was amazing.

Not to mention my Mum giving birth to my baby sister, Megan, on February 3. It was pretty scary being so far from home knowing what was happening, but my family were great. I was on FaceTime to my family for so long that day just anxiously waiting to hear the news! Nobody knew the gender of the baby so that was a huge surprise for everybody too. I remember the moment I got the call that she's a healthy baby girl and my Mum is doing fine; it was such a big relief as when you're 4000+ miles away from your family - you just always want to know that they are okay.

A bit of a back story. So my Mum was pregnant with me when she was 19 years old (I have very young parents!) so that's how the age gap between myself and Megan is so big. I also have two other sisters and a brother, and I'm the eldest. I'm aware it's not a normal occurrence - to have a 21-year age gap between siblings - but I wouldn't have it any other way. So many people have said that she is literally my twin from when I was a baby, it's crazy because she really is.

After all of this happened is when COVID-19 became an issue. We were at practice as a team and I vividly remember getting a call from Coach Steward to tell us that we need to get off campus as everything is closing 'tomorrow'. That's a scary piece of news to receive when you're halfway across the world and you consider GSU as your 'home away from home'.

However, my teammate Kelly Strickland, and her family were amazing, and they let me stay with them until I was able to book a flight home. Having eight weeks taken off our semester, missing out on a few tournaments, and just missing out on so many opportunities as a team was hard to accept – but it just makes me even more excited for this fall coming up.

A few days after coming home, the UK then went into lockdown due to the pandemic, and it's only in recent days that the lockdown is slowly being lifted so we can do more things in a safe manner - I can finally play golf again! So, when I am at home I live with my dad, and my baby sister Megan is with my Mum.

At first, I couldn't see Megan for a few weeks, which was crazy to know that I have a sibling so close to me that I haven't even met yet! But now that I'm able too, it's been lovely to spend time with her and see how much she's growing. I feel very lucky that my family and friends are all healthy during this scary time, but each day it seems to be getting better. I hope everybody else is staying safe - I love my GSU family and I cannot wait to get back in a few weeks to make this year the best one yet! Go Panthers!

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Players Mentioned

Chloe Howard: 5' 8"; Junior

Kelly Strickland: 5' 4"; Redshirt Freshman

Players Mentioned

Chloe Howard
: 5' 8"; Junior

Kelly Strickland
: 5' 4"; Redshirt Freshman