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Natalie
Williams: Utah's Superstar and Super Mom
By Lisa R. Foeman
Olympic Gold Medal Winner, WNBA All-Star, Utah’s Female Athlete of the Century.
Indicative of a passion for basketball? Not exactly.
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© 2001 RLP Ventures, LLC
Natalie Williams
(center) and Utah Starzz prepare to take the court at Madison Square
Garden
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Single. Mother of two children. Adopted. Indicative of a passion
for “being a mom?” Exactly.
Natalie Williams. Mother of 1-year old boy/girl twins, Turasi and Sydney. And by the way, power forward for the WNBA’s Utah
Starzz.Sydney (named for the Olympics where
Williams won her gold) and Turasi (“a very strong confident name”) are the joys
of Williams’ life. Officially adopted in May, Williams has had her children since they were about three months
old. Asked why she undertook such a huge responsibility, she responded, “I love challenges. I love children, and I wanted to have kids,
but it’s very hard to physically have them being a professional athlete. So, I decided I would adopt first. I’m so glad I did because I can’t imagine
life without those two little babies.” Fortunately, Williams has a part-time nanny and her mother to help with
the twins.
Like a lot of professional athletes, Williams wants Turasi and Sydney to try all types of sports. “I just want them to be passionate about
something. The fun you have and the things you learn from sports and being on a team are very important.”
I couldn’t resist asking Williams, a native of Utah, about her experience growing
up there as a minority. Unfazed by the question, Williams commented “a lot of people ask me that” and further stated
that she’s biracial with a Black father and White mother. Raised by her single mother, Williams felt
very comfortable in Utah as she “grew up around Whites.” After enrolling at racially diverse UCLA,
Williams acknowledged that she became more cognizant of the relative paucity of
minorities in Utah.
Williams didn’t meet her father, former NBA player Nate Williams, until she was 16 years old. “I was so glad I got the opportunity to do
that and we’re very close now,” explained the 30-year old Williams. She is also pleased that her father and
half-brother are actively involved in the lives of her children who are Black,
but not biracial. “It’s important for me to have them in their lives just because they’re men and African-American.”
While Williams’ passion is motherhood, it doesn’t hinder her from also focusing on being a great
basketball player. To maintain her concentration, she performs visualization exercises before each game. “I learned it in college and it helped us
win the national championships at UCLA. I do it because it works. It helps me feel more confident. I just go
through . . . 10-15 minutes of seeing myself doing everything right whether it’s passing, shooting, rebounding, or getting a steal.”
The UCLA national championships were not in basketball, but volleyball. A collegiate basketball and volleyball player, Williams describes volleyball as
her “true love.” After winning the volleyball national championships in ’90 and ’91, she desperately wanted to
represent the US as a member of the 1996 Olympic volleyball team. But it didn’t come to pass. Speaking of that time, Williams stated, “I
was devastated because I had worked so hard, plus we lived [at the Olympic training center] together as a team and trained five days a week. When you get cut a month before the
Olympics, you have to leave your family. Not only do you not get to be a part of that [Olympic] experience, but
you have to leave that family that you’ve been around for a year and a half and trained with and traveled with. So it
was very tough. The hardest part for me was watching them walk into opening ceremonies. I swore to myself, whatever it [took], I’m going to experience
that and be there. So, when I finally got to be at opening ceremonies in Sydney, I just took it all in. It was an incredible experience. It’s once in a lifetime…and hard to even
explain.”
In Sydney, Williams definitely made her presence known by coming off the bench and making a significant
contribution in the gold medal game against host Australia. In that game, she scored 15 points and
pulled down 9 rebounds. In winning the gold medal, she became the first female Utah native to do so. Named Utah’s Female Athlete of the Century
in 1996, Williams feels that her gold medal validates that award. “I feel like I’ve truly lived up to it now.” Words descriptive of a good mommy
– always striving to live up to high standards. M
October 2001
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