糖心Vlog传媒

Bonanno鈥檚 experience as a student-athlete builds skills for successful future

Sabrina Bonanno, a recent graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and four-year veteran of the Trojans , has been playing golf for as long as she can remember.聽 Bonanno began playing golf with her father at the age of 3. One month later and the toddler/rising golf star already had her first golf coach. However, Bonanno said she didn鈥檛 get 鈥渟erious鈥� about golf until she was 6 or 7 and began playing in tournaments. 鈥淢ost kids got to play with their friends, but I got to play at the golf course,鈥� Bonanno said. 鈥淒uring my junior year at Ridgewood Community High School in Norridge, Illinois, I started looking at schools to play golf, and I really wanted to go south. I liked Little Rock from the moment I stepped on campus and met my coach.鈥� Bridgett Norwood, head coach of the Women鈥檚 Golf Team, became a mentor and guide for Bonanno, who was living away from home for the first time. 鈥淐oach Norwood really cared about how far you could go with your own game,鈥� Bonanno said. 鈥淪he cared about education. She helped me grow as a person and an athlete. She became like a second mom to me since we were all so far away from home.鈥� As a student-athlete, Bonanno had the opportunity to travel and challenge her skills as a competitor. 鈥淒uring my freshman year, I won an individual tournament alongside a team win and that was one of my ultimate favorite experiences as a student-athlete,鈥� Bonanno said. 鈥淲e went to Utah the first semester of my senior year, and it was nice to experience a different place and culture. I constantly got to travel and experience these things with my best friends on the team.鈥� Bonanno and fellow members of the golf team give back to the community by volunteering as assistant coaches at Central Arkansas First Tee and at charity golf tournaments. She was also a member of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which offers input on the rules, regulations, and policies that affect student-athletes. Although Bonanno is no longer eligible to play collegiate golf, she plans to volunteer with the team as a graduate student. 鈥淲e have two golf tournaments. Coach Norwood doesn鈥檛 have an official assistant coach, so I want to help her plan those tournaments. I always want to give back to the golf team,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can also practice with the team, and it鈥檚 a good opportunity for me to be involved in something I already missed.鈥� In May, Bonanno was named a second team All-Sun Belt Conference selection. It was the third all-conference honor of Bonanno鈥檚 time as a Trojan, capping her stellar career in Little Rock. Bonanno ends her Little Rock career making quite a mark on the Trojan record book, ranking third all-time in career scoring average (75.76) as well as career rounds played (120). She ranks second all-time in career birdies (250) and is tied for first in career eagles (five), finishing among the individual top-20 in 30 of her 41 events played. One of the things she misses the most about being a student-athlete is the closeness of her golf family. 鈥淢y coach and everyone associated with the golf team worked together as a big family,鈥� Bonanno said. 鈥淭he Athletics Department staff was great at getting someone if I needed help with school or needed someone to talk to. We were always, always together. We were all like sisters, and it was so sad to see the girls who graduated because it鈥檚 like you lost a family member. That鈥檚 the hard part about being on a team. You always look forward to meeting up with them afterwards.鈥� Bonanno graduated in May with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in marketing. She is spending the summer getting some professional experience as a marketing intern at The Hill Group in Franklin Park, Illinois, before returning to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock in the fall as a Master of Business Administration student and graduate assistant at the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center. 鈥淚 am hoping for some potential opportunities to work in Little Rock in the sporting industry, specifically golf, and maybe try to play some golf tournaments,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been a goal of mine to play professional, but if that didn鈥檛 work out, I would still play as many amateur tournaments as I could.鈥� After she completes her MBA, Bonanno definitely has a future in golf in mind, even it鈥檚 not as a professional athlete. 鈥淐oaching golf has definitely crossed my mind. It鈥檚 just another way for me to be involved in the game,鈥� she said. 鈥淪eeing the opportunity I got, I would love to give another girl the opportunity to say the same thing, and I would probably try to stay at the collegiate level because you get to recruit students from all over the world and get the best out there.鈥� In the end, Bonanno credits 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock for making her a better person. 鈥溙切腣log传媒 Little Rock has definitely made me the person I am at this moment in time,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was 10 hours from home, so I had to become an independent person. It made me more outgoing. I started traveling to other states and doing things that I wouldn鈥檛 if I lived at home. I realized what other opportunities were out there that were provided by 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock. I formed a network of opportunities and everything that goes along with that.鈥�