Decatur High School’s Grace Xu, girls golf, was selected as the Federal Way Mirror Female Athlete of the Week for Nov. 3.

Q: What is your favorite subject in school?

A: Calculus

Q: What other activities/hobbies do you participate in?

A: I draw

Q: Person who has helped you succeed the most?

A: My sister helps me a lot

Q: Do you have a pre- or post-game tradition? What is it?

A: I stretch before warm-up, and I keep all my scorecards

Q: Song you currently can’t get enough of?

A: “666” by Kris Wa

From the Sideline

“Grace finished seventh at the state golf tournament, last year. On any given day she is an absolute brilliant player,” Gators coach Steve Gorringe said. “At the beginning of this season, Grace was struggling a bit for her and seemed to have lost some of her passion for the game. We had many conversations about that. In short, Grace was burnt out on golf. She wrote me this passionate letter about how she was feeling at the time about golf and a lot of things. In short, she needed to just vent to someone that would listen. She did that, and I told her that I could see she was still passionate about the game and had a lot left in her. She responded by going out in her next match against Federal Way and shooting a personal best of 34 on the front nine at Twin Lakes and scored a season team-high of 29 points. She continued her run for the next three matches and was the medalist for each. She was the fourth-highest point earner in the NPSL. She was named to the NPSL first team. She finished fourth at the NPSL league tournament and got an automatic invitation to the state tournament. Her tenacity and perseverance in overcoming her slump is what great athletes are made of.”

The Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Eagle Tire, Federal Way Public Schools and Jimmy Mac’s Roadhouse.