By Steve Kornacki
(reprinted with permission of MGoBlue.com, first published April 9)
His family is in Europe, located an ocean and parts of two continents away from the University of Michigan.
Wolverine men’s golfer Pier Francesco De Col was raised in Turin, which is called Torino in Italy, before coming abroad to compete and study in Michigan.
And he now finds himself, along with a handful of other European born U-M student-athletes, temporarily separated from their loved ones because of traveling restrictions and difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Others include women’s tennis player Giulia Pairone, also from Turin, and football defensive lineman Julius Welschof, who hails from Miesbach, a town in Bavaria, Germany.
De Col is making the best of matters and finding ways to thrive in difficult times, including taking online classes and doing his best to stay in good physical condition.
He is staying in the West Quad, one of the few remaining in the usually hustling-and-bustling dormitory located a short walk from the main athletic campus.
“Some on my floor are from China and can’t go home either,” he said. “Everyone from the United States left.”
De Col’s father, Paolo, and sister, Eleonora, are quarantined at their home. “But they have a garden and are fine,” he said. His grandfather, Piero, and grandmother, Mirty, headed for the mountains “to see the least amount of people possible” and hunker down in the same area where the 2006 Winter Olympics were held.
The freshman gets up early and picks up bagels to eat in his room or elsewhere, making a FaceTime connection with Dad and Eleonora while he eats breakfast and they have lunch. “That way we can eat together a meal,” De Col said. Then he takes online courses, picks up box meals later in the day, does some stretching to stay loose, and takes a break in the early afternoon.
“I do a little putting,” said De Col, whose 74.92 strokes per 18 holes ranked third on the team, “and I swing (an iron) in my room, too. I put a glass on the floor and putt to it. The floor is actually good for putting. I have a line. I can go as far as 40 feet away, and no one is going to bother me.”
Does he feel he is improving his putting?
“Yeah,” said De Col, who smiled and chuckled during our Google Hangouts meeting.
How did he celebrate his 20th birthday on April 1?
“I had a phone call with other friends who are at Michigan, too,” said De Col. “It was like five of us talking, and I was fine.”
The isolation has not been a problem for him, and he is following the advice of family members.
“They advise me not to see anybody and avoid all contact,” said De Col. “But I like being home, and so that’s quite nice. Finding a daily routine has been very important.”
How did he come to Michigan from Europe?
“I was looking for a great athletic program with great academic programs,” said De Col, who is enrolled in the Ross School of Business. “The online courses we’re taking now are fine, but I definitely don’t prefer it. I like learning in a classroom.
“Michigan, though, was by far the best choice in the U.S. that could combine both, and everything I do is really close. So, it’s been perfect for me here.”
De Col misses being with loved ones but looks forward to their daily conversations over a virtual meal together.
“I could’ve gone back,” he said, “but I was going to have to take two or three flights to go back home. I would’ve spent an entire day in airports and been around a whole lot of people. And besides that, the situation in Italy is really bad. You can’t leave your house, and there are police walking in the streets making sure everybody stays in their houses. So, it wouldn’t have made a lot of sense. And I was afraid that if I went home, I couldn’t get back here.”
His new home, even with the current restrictions, has become comfortable in less than one year of living in Ann Arbor.
Being able to take joy in putting into a drinking glass defines adaptability, doesn’t it? MGJ
