Jan. 29, 2002

Illinois senior forward Holly Wilson has had to redefine her role throughout her Illini career because of numerous injuries that have plagued her. After playing in all but six games as a freshman, Wilson missed the first two games of her sophomore season due to an injured ankle, but came back to become an important defensive presence as the year progressed.

Entering her junior campaign, the Reynoldsburg, Ohio native suffered another setback, a stress fracture, but returned early in the season and went on to start the final 17 games of the season as well as establishing career highs in points (13), rebounds (5), field goals made (6) and blocks (2). Wilson's senior season has followed the path of previous years, with her being injured early on and having to watch from the sideline with an ankle injury.

These injuries may keep Wilson off of the basketball court, but they have not kept her from being a leader or from continuing to pursue her passion of strength and conditioning.

"This year is a lot different than before," said Wilson. "I can't really do anything, but I still need to find a way to help the team and try to get them to do what they should by telling them, instead of being out there and physically showing them."

Wilson has taken her leadership role to a new level, by playing the role of player/coach for her younger teammates by helping them go through what she has already experienced.

"Something else that I am trying to do is to be more vocal and positive in practice," Wilson continued. "I look at myself as sort of a player/coach when I am on the sidelines. I try to help get the team motivated."

After capping her career at Illinois, Wilson is looking forward to moving on and becoming a strength and conditioning coach, following in the footsteps of the person who inspired Wilson's decision to major in kinesiology, her high school strength and conditioning coach, Chris Arp.

"Coach Arp showed me early that weight training and lifting would help build a good base for sports," Wilson continued, "I have really liked strength and conditioning since my freshman year in high school and when I came here, I decided to major in kinesiology and make this my profession."

Wilson believes that because the team competes in the Big Ten, it is very fortunate to have a quality strength and conditioning program because of how physically demanding the league is night in and night out. She stresses that not all of the training focuses on lifting weights, but also on developing a cardiovascular system that will help the players through a grueling season.

"The Big Ten is a very physical conference," said Wilson. "To remain competitive and prevent yourself from getting injured, you need to have a good strength and conditioning program. If a player does not have a solid base or legs, they have a better chance of getting injured and they have to have a program that connects the weights with the cardiovascular activity. It is all connected."

Wilson is already beginning to help teach and coach young people in the community by visiting different schools and stressing the importance of an education to go along with playing basketball. She tries to impress upon the kids that getting an education is the best part of playing collegiate basketball.

As far as basketball helping with her academics, Wilson says, "It helps because both are about setting goals, working hard at something and being persistent. You have to concentrate and not give up, whether it be because you made a bad play or because you got a bad grade."

One of her main goals in speaking with community children is to try and give them a role model who has gone through some of the same things they are going through and has come out a success.

"It is important for the kids to know how hard they need to work," Wilson stated. "It just as important for them to have successful role models who have gone through the same struggles as them."

Being a member of Illinois' basketball team helps to send the message because Wilson is a visible member of the community and one that the children can relate to and see on a regular basis.

"I think that because I play for the Illini, many of the kids look up to me more because it is a dream for most of them to play for the University of Illinois."

The children also realize how hard Wilson has had to work to get to where she is. "They definitely know that playing college basketball means you have to be pretty good, but I need to let them know how hard I had to work to get to this point and continually stress the importance of an education rather than only focusing on athletics."