Contact: Emily Zadny, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302
(Written by Allysson Schellhase, Student Sports Information Assistant)

Oct. 12, 2017 -  North Central College women's golfer Gillian Young started playing golf at the young age of five. Now a junior in college, Young has become one of the top players on the women's golf team.   

"My grandparents got me and my sister started in golf because they belonged to a country club and wanted to spend more time with us," said Young, since golf is not a typical first sport for a five-year-old. 

Not only were her grandparents the driving force to get her started in golf, her grandpa was specifically a source of inspiration for Young.  He grew up with polio and showed incredible determination throughout his life.  

"He had to relearn how to walk, and take care of himself. He basically started working in the business world when he was [young], so he had to grow up super quick," said Young.  

If ever faced with adversity on the course, she knew she had someone to look up too. "He is pretty inspiring in that way with his disabilities and how he concurred those," Young said of her grandfather. 

Young started playing golf competitively when she was fourteen years old but didn't start developing a real passion for it until she was sixteen when she placed in the top-five in conference while at Huntley High School.  

"At that point in my life it was the only fun thing that I had going on in high school so I started enjoying it," said Young. Even with her success, she was not focusing on golf at a collegiate level, but all this changed when she found North Central as a senior.  

"The golf coach [at North Central] at the time reached out to me and was super enthusiastic about having me be apart of the golf program here so that basically sold me," said Young. 

Arriving at North Central, Young quickly formed a family-like bond with her teammates by the end of preseason.  One thing that she looks forward to every season is traveling to meets with her teammates. Their trip to Georgia her freshman year sticks out to her as one of her favorite memories being on the team. "We all had so much fun just being with each other. We went to the beach after golf and that was really fun," said Young. "All we did was eat ice cream the whole time!" 

Although she has plenty of positive memories with the team, she experienced a slump her freshman year where she went ten strokes up from her previous average. At one point Young was prepared to quit the team when former teammate and current graduate assistant, Megan Kelly '17 reached out with some encouragement.  

"Trust me I know you are a better golfer than this. It will click at some point," Kelly had told Young. Little did Young know that Kelly had been in a similar spot when she was a freshman on the team and by the end of her senior year, she lowered the number of strokes in her average by a significant amount. "It is just inspiring to know that it is possible to get back up and get your game back together" said Young.  

Besides playing for the golf team, Young is also the design editor for North Central's print magazine, The Chronicle. This hobby coincides with her graphic design major, something she became interested in high school.  

"My senior and junior year of high school I took advanced computer graphics and I fell in love with that," said Young. "When I heard about the program at North Central and saw what graphic designers actually do, I knew I could do it."  

In the future, Young has aspirations of working at a creative agency. "I love working with creative people and working in a creative environment versus working in a business environment," said Young. But she does not want to close any doors because her major presents a variety of opportunity.  

There is one company in particular though, that has peaked her interest since she was a child.  

"When I was younger I really wanted to work with Pixar and be an animator. I am so in love with that company," Young said. Since she is only a junior, she has plenty of time to explore her options in the future.  

Young finished the year with a season best round of 82 at the Dan Quayle Collegiate Classic. The North Central College women's golf team finished the season fifth in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) this past weekend.