HAMILTON’S Molly O’Brien, 18, plans to study a Bachelor of Sports, Physical and Outdoor Education next year, but she must first complete her gap year working as a learning support officer at Monivae College.

 “It’s a great community at Monivae and I’ve learnt a lot of new skills this year,” she said.

Molly graduated from Monivae last year and decided to take on a gap year.

“I wasn’t really ready for uni just yet - I wanted to play sport and have a bit of freedom after finishing school. “I’ve played sport my whole life so I really couldn’t imagine giving that away just yet, especially with golf being pretty full on at the moment,” she said.

Molly does golf training throughout the week and on the weekends, she often competes in competitions in Geelong, Melbourne and Hamilton.

“At the moment there’s not too many young ones (playing golf) around our area, so it’s always good to go up to Geelong and play with people my age,” she said.

A sports allrounder, Molly has also enjoyed playing basketball with the domestic Tigers Division 1 and netball on the open side for the Hamilton Kangaroos.

In five years, she hopes to be teaching Physical Education, “somewhere in the country or Geelong – that would be great,” she concluded.