{"id":620,"date":"2010-10-18T19:25:14","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T17:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/?p=620"},"modified":"2014-09-20T07:25:43","modified_gmt":"2014-09-20T06:25:43","slug":"svajlen-transitions-from-player-to-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/articles\/620\/svajlen-transitions-from-player-to-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Svajlen Transitions from Player to Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Published in Cameron Collegian<\/strong><\/p>\n

Change is not always easy, but sometimes it is necessary. Former Aggie golfer Peter Svajlen has been coming to grips with this notion since the beginning this semester.<\/p>\n

After spending five years as a member of the CU golf team, Svajlen now serves as the team\u2019s Graduate Assistant. He said adjusting to his new role as a coach has had its challenges, but he said that he is enjoying the overall experience. \u201cI enjoy being a coach, but as a coach I\u2019m starting to some things from a different view,\u201d Svajlen said. \u201cI see things that sometimes you take for granted as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the toughest transitions Svajlen has faced is no longer being able to compete with the college team. \u201cSometimes I get jealous watching the guys play,\u201d he said. \u201cI wish I could be playing with them.\u201d
\nAlthough he is now as assistant coach, Svajlen has not fully embraced his new position. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that I\u2019m their (the players) coach,\u201d Svajlen said. \u201cIdon\u2019t feel like I\u2019m superior to them, I feel more like I\u2019m in a captain\u2019s role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since he is no longer playing for the Black and Gold, Svajlen is finding it more difficult to stay active as a golfer, but he is doing his best to stay at the top of his game. \u201cI\u2019m practicing more this year than I did last year, but it\u2019s hard to keep being competitive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of the ways Svajlen is staying active in the sport is by participating in professional tournaments. Over the summer, Svajlen competerd in the Czech Open. Though he finished just three strokes from making the cut, Svajlen was the top finisher from his native country of Slovakia, and came away from the tournament with a positive outlook about his game and his future in golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Czech Open was a good experience, and I proved I can play against any of the guys out there,\u201d Svajlen said. \u201cBut, I had a bad week. I was struggling with my swing a little bit, but if I play how I usually do I know I can finish well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing golf professionally is something Svajlne plans to pursue after completing his graduate coursework at CU. \u201cI definitely want to give it a run to compete professionally,\u201d he said. \u201cI have worked hard over the last 10 years of playing golf, and I don\u2019t want to throw it away before I give professionally a shot.\u201d
\nSvajlen said that breaking onto the pro tour will not be easy, but hopes that competing against top tier players will help him make improvements as a golfer and push his game to the next level. The former Aggie standout believes that drawing on his experiences as a collegiate golfer will help him develop as a professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first got here, my game was not where it needed to be to compete for the first positions in tournaments,\u201d Svajlen said., \u201cBut I\u2019ve developed as a player and learned to think like a golfer. Nobody at home could have taught me what I\u2019ve learned here. I\u2019ve learned lot from Coach Hrnciar, but I\u2019ve learned a lot from other players as well. I can do the same thing in professional golf. I can learn from the other guys I\u2019ll compete against, and I think, after a couple of years, I can make it on one of the main tours.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After spending five years as a member of the CU golf team, Svajlen now serves as the team\u2019s Graduate Assistant and is living life of a golf pro at the same time. He said adjusting to his new role as a coach has had its challenges, but said that enjoying the overall experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1594,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620\/revisions\/1594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersvajlen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}