Off the rock and into the city

With the regular season behind her and the Big Sky Conference Championships looming on the horizon, First Team All-Big Sky selection Britney Yada took time to reflect on her freshman year at Portland State.

New to Oregon this year, Yada is originally from Hilo, Hawaii, where she graduated from Waiakea High School in 2009. It was there that she lettered all four years in golf, a sport her father Harry introduced her to when she was 8 years old.

“He was always a big golfer, so I just picked up the game from him,” she said.

In 2008, during the Junior World Championships in San Diego, Kathleen Takaishi, PSU’s head golf coach, met Britney for the first time.

“I talked to her dad, and after the tournament I talked to her. I was really impressed with her game and we kept in communication,” Takaishi recalled.

After an official visit, Britney chose PSU to continue her golf and academic pursuits.

“I really liked coach Kathleen and the team was really nice. Also being from Hawaii, it was really nice to get ‘off the rock’ and into the big city,” she said.

When she isn’t playing golf or studying, Yada enjoys hanging out with friends, shopping and watching MTV. She said that although she loves Portland because of all the fun things to do here, she misses her friends and family, as well as the weather back home.

She listens to Hawaiian reggae, plays the ukulele and loves movies that make her laugh, but when it comes to food, “I could always go for some pizza, but I haven’t found a food that I don’t get along with,” she said.

Fall season posed a challenge for the young freshman, but she did enjoy her business courses.

“It was hard adjusting to college life while still trying to play good golf,” she said.

Yada claims her performance at the UNLV Spring Invitational has been her best moment on the course so far.

“It was my first bogey-free round in my life, and it was even more special that it happened in a college tournament,” she said.

According to coach Takaishi, Yada’s strongest asset on the course is her temperament.

“I can’t tell if she’s playing well or playing poorly—she’s pretty even keel,” Takaishi said. “She’s solid all around, and has really good course management.”

The future for Yada is open to anything, but her focus on golf is her driving force.

“Golf has become who I am and I can’t picture myself doing anything else,” she said.

She would eventually like to become a professional golfer, and despite the recent issues that Tiger Woods has been going through, she still considers him to be one of her idols.

“I still see him as the best golfer in the world.”

Takaishi is positive that Yada will continue to excel in her collegiate career, and considers her to be on track to earn a place in PSU’s record books for lowest-scoring average.

“I definitely see her getting better each year,” she said.

Yada feels that her parents have been her biggest inspiration, and their support has always helped her.

“Even when they are miles away back home in Hawaii, they are following me through every tournament,” she said.

With her past achievements and a record-breaking first year as a Viking, Yada has a future firmly set on a path to success.