Holyn Handley BS’17 was an academic and sports standout at UT Dallas. Now, Handley has put her engineering career on hold and her aspirations on a new course as a pro disc golf player.

Sitting in a hotel room in Emporia, Kansas, Holyn Handley BS’17 found herself in the unfamiliar position of preparing for a news conference. The gathering, featuring select competitors on the Disc Golf Pro Tour in town for a tournament, was a first for the rising star.

“It’s the first time they invited me, and they usually only invite a handful of players,” said Handley, who lives in Austin, Texas.

She traveled in April to compete in the Dynamic Discs Open, a Professional Disc Golf Association event, which attracted 166 players from around the world. The tournament sponsor was a disc manufacturer whose professional traveling team Handley joined in her second year as a pro.

With a contract in hand, Handley put her engineering career on hold to pursue a rare chance to compete as a professional athlete.

“If I hate it, I’ll go back and find an engineering job,” she said. “But I just couldn’t pass it up.”

Handley is accustomed to the athletics spotlight. A standout volleyball player from Grapevine, Texas, she played for The University of Texas at Dallas for four years. Her team won back-to-back conference championships in 2015 and 2016, setting a school record for wins during the latter season. Along the way, Handley was recognized individually with several conference honors.

Handley was also a standout engineering student in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science. She balanced the demands of…