TRADING IN SPIKES FOR DUNKS AFTER BEING CUT BY THE U.S. OLYMPIC VOLLEYBALL TEAM IN 1996, FORMER UCLA STAR NATALIE WILLIAMS HAS RESURFACED ON THE BASKETBALL TEAM.Byline: Karen Crouse Staff Writer Natalie Williams This article is about the basketball player. For other meanings see Natalie Williams (disambiguation) Natalie Williams (born on November 30, 1970 in Long Beach, California) was a professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). can pinpoint the exact time her childhood Olympic dream expired. It was at 7:31 on the morning U.S. women's volleyball coach Terry Liskevych Taras (“Terry”) Liskevych (born October 14, 1948 in Munich, West Germany) is a former volleyball coach, who led the U.S. Women's National Team to the bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics. delivered the news that she was one of his final two cuts for the 1996 Olympic indoor squad. It was a startling star·tle v. star·tled, star·tling, star·tles v.tr. 1. To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start. 2. To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten. development, the equivalent of Mark McGwire intr.v. scud·ded, scud·ding, scuds 1. To run or skim along swiftly and easily: dark clouds scudding by. 2. missles. What put off Liskevych was Williams' passing. It was inconsistent and on that basis he cast a vote that seemed incongruous considering that in 1996 Williams also was voted Utah's Female Athlete of the Century and the Pacific-10 Conference's Female Athlete of the Decade. Liskevych's decision would come under friendly fire when the volleyball team, which had won the bronze medal in 1992 in Barcelona, struggled to a seventh-place finish in Atlanta. Reached recently in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , Liskevych called his decision to cut Williams ``one of the toughest I had to make'' in 12 years as the U.S. Olympic coach. ``You can always play the `What if?' game,'' he said, ``but at the time we made the decision it seemed like the best one.'' Williams was devastated dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. but she couldn't say she hadn't been warned. UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX basketball coach Kathy Olivier had tried to persuade the Bruins' 6-foot-2 rebounding star to put all her Olympic dreams in the modern-day version of James Naismith's peach baskets. The way Olivier saw it - correctly, as it turned out - the U.S. women's basketball Women's basketball is one of the few games which developed in tandem with men's. It became popular, spreading from the east coast of the United States to the west coast, in large part via women's colleges. team could have used a power forward more than the U.S. women's indoor volleyball team needed a one-dimensional power hitter. The problem was, Williams, 29, had dreamed since the seventh grade of competing in the Olympics in volleyball. She had even toyed with the idea of bypassing college to join the national volleyball team straight out of high school. As she explained to a reporter in 1992, the year she established herself at UCLA as the best collegiate volleyball player in the country, ``Basketball is fun and exciting but there are more dimensions in volleyball.'' Williams saw herself as a volleyball player who dabbled dab·ble v. dab·bled, dab·bling, dab·bles v.tr. To splash or spatter with or as if with a liquid: "The moon hung over the harbor dabbling the waves with gold" in basketball right up until the moment Liskevych asked her to report to his office the next day 30 minutes before the scheduled start of practice. ``It was sad,'' Williams said recently. ``You work for a year and a half for something and then it comes down to a coaching decision.'' The experience, she said, drove her out of volleyball's arms and straight into basketball's. ``It did sour me on volleyball,'' she said recently. ``I decided I finally wanted to do something I enjoyed, and that was basketball.'' All's well that ends well? Her commitment to basketball presaged a beautiful marriage. Williams turned professional in 1996 and quickly developed into one of the preeminent power forwards - male or female - in the game. Four years later, Williams is one of the featured performers on the headlining women's Olympic basketball team. She is coming off a WNBA WNBA Women's National Basketball Association WNBA World Ninepin Bowling Association WNBA Wannabe Nasty Boys Association WNBA Women's National Book Association, Inc. WNBA Warszawski Nurt Basketu Amatorskiego season in Utah in which she averaged 18.7 points and a league-leading 11.6 rebounds. In a fitting bit of irony, the player who was cut from the 1996 U.S. Olympic volleyball team because of her inconsistent defense will anchor the defense of the 2000 U.S. Olympic basketball team. ``For me, scoring isn't a big deal with all the scorers we have on the team,'' Williams said. ``If I'm one-on-one in the block, I'm confident I can get a good shot off, but mainly my role will be defense and rebounding.'' The U.S. squad will be the gold-medal favorite in Sydney but the host Australians are upset-minded. They won the bronze medal in 1996 and have the personnel and experience to challenge the Americans. Brazil and Russia also will field strong teams. If the U.S. team has a weakness, it seemingly would be the players have spent the past few months playing against one another, on their respective WNBA teams, instead of banding together, the better to learn one another's games inside and out. Yet, as Williams pointed out, the women have, in fact, been playing as a unit for quite some time; 11 of the 12 members of the 2000 Olympic team were on the 1995 national team and the Olympic squad is the same one that dominated the World Championships in 1998. The 1996 Olympic team plowed through the competition, going 60-0 on its nine-month advance to the gold in Atlanta. The U.S. team won each of its eight Olympic games Olympic games, premier athletic meeting of ancient Greece, and, in modern times, series of international sports contests. The Olympics of Ancient Greece Although records cannot verify games earlier than 776 B.C. by at least 12 points. This year's squad will be hard-pressed to duplicate that dominance. Williams, who almost certainly would have been on the 1996 team if not for volleyball's siren call, said, ``I think it's going to be harder to win the gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize this year because the Olympics aren't in the United States.'' Few things were more difficult for Williams than watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Atlanta Games. She was in L.A. at the time and was drawn to the telecast the way a passing motorist is drawn to an accident scene. She knew better than to watch but she couldn't help herself. ``I was crying,'' Williams said, and it was not because she was so moved at the sight of Muhammad Ali lighting the torch. Williams said she intends to march in the Opening Ceremonies in Sydney. It's a personal statement of sorts, her way of saying time marches on. Liskevych is tracking the U.S. basketball team's Olympic journey, for very personal reasons. He said he remains a huge fan of Williams. ``She's a gifted athlete and a super person,'' he said. ``I'm really happy for her accomplishments.'' Liskevych and Williams haven't spoken since that day she left his office, crestfallen crest·fall·en adj. Dispirited and depressed; dejected. crest  fall , four years ago. ``I've always felt somewhere down the line we will have an occasion to talk about 1996,'' Liskevych said. ``When she has that Olympic gold medal in basketball, she'll be able to let 1996 go.'' NATALIE WILLIAMS Age: 29 Residence: Halladay, Utah College: UCLA Past Olympics: None Highlights: Member of '98 World Championship gold-medal team . . . named '99 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year Athlete of the Year
CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1) no caption (Natalie Williams dribbling basketball) (2) no caption (Natalie Williams) Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer Box: NATALIE WILLIAMS (see text) |
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