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Tuesday, September 19
Williams was Utah's Athlete of the Century
Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Imagine being turned down by the
police academy, only to be hired as a firefighter a week later. Or
rejected by Yale in the summer and accepted by Harvard in the fall.
Natalie Williams is familiar with such strange twists of fate.
Four years after she was among the final players cut from the
U.S. Olympic volleyball team, Williams is poised to fulfill her
dream next month in Sydney -- this time as a member of the Olympic
women's basketball team.
|  | | Natalie Williams almost made the U.S. Olympic team in 1996 playing volleyball. |
"I just see myself as a basketball player," Williams said
before practice Wednesday. "It seems weird that I did all that
volleyball training and was so focused on volleyball because now
I'm completely focused on basketball. I don't even miss playing
volleyball at all."
Williams, twice named national volleyball player of the year at
UCLA, wasted little time spiking the sport after she was cut by the
U.S. national team in the weeks leading up to the Summer Games in
Atlanta.
Two weeks after her disappointing release, USA Basketball
selected Williams to play on the 1996 Jones Cup team that included
current Olympic team members Katie Smith and Kara Wolters.
Despite a two-year absence from competitive basketball, Williams
made a smooth return by averaging 9.1 points and 7.0 rebounds in
nine games with the gold medal-winning Jones Cup team.
"For an athlete to play at the elite level in two different
sports is pretty phenomenal," U.S. basketball coach Nell Fortner
said. "She's very driven. That's helped her to be at that level in
both of those sports."
Williams honed her ability to cross over from volleyball to
basketball during her UCLA days. She led the Bruins to two national
titles in volleyball, and UCLA advanced to the Sweet 16 in the 1992
NCAA women's basketball tournament.
Volleyball kept her attention after college before breaking her
heart in 1996. The U.S. team failed to earn a medal in Atlanta.
"I didn't watch the games," the 6-foot-2 Williams said. "The
hardest part was watching the opening ceremonies -- watching them
walk in."
Looking back on her path to the Olympics, Williams harbors no
ill feelings toward USA Volleyball and said the experience probably
helped her achieve success on the basketball court.
"Volleyball is all about jumping and getting off the ground
quickly to block or to spike," she said. "I've taken that into
basketball, especially timing-wise, knowing when the ball is going
to come off the rim and where it's going to come off."
Her accomplishments with USA Basketball led to a pioneering role
in the now-defunct American Basketball League and a career in the
WNBA. Playing for her hometown team, the Utah Starzz, Williams
averaged 18 points and 9.2 rebounds in 1999.
"She gets off the floor before other people get off the
floor," Fortner said. "Then she has the big body and is strong
enough to keep herself in the fight."
Williams also is willing to stand up for her beliefs off the
court. She threatened to send her numerous college awards back to
the NCAA after a timekeeping error led to UCLA's elimination from
the NCAA basketball tournament in 1998.
Changes were made to reduce timekeeping problems, and Williams'
hardware remained at her home in Utah.
"I just kept (the awards)," Williams said. "They (NCAA
officials) don't care. They would have just thrown them away. It's
the thought that counts."
Utah officials thought enough of Williams to name her the
state's athlete of the century, and she will add to her growing
list of achievements when the 2000 Games open Sept. 15.
As for volleyball, it will remain a recreational sport reserved
for backyard barbecues and occasional days on the beach.
"Volleyball's done," Williams said. "This is it for me --
basketball and my career in the WNBA."
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