Flying High - Williams

1,157 Views | 4 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by Dandy 76
Rudybryan
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Williams' unique family sport strengthens versatility, passion for competing



By Victoria White '18


Danni Williams has always been around sports.

Aside from basketball and volleyball in high school, the Texas A&M standout also competed in a unique pastime until the seventh grade.

The Clovis, New Mexico native was an accomplished youth motocross racer, winning Women's Motocross Association national titles in the 10-and-11-year-old category as a nine year old, and again in the 12-and-13-year-old category as an 11-year old.

"It gives you such an adrenaline rush," Williams said. "When you're riding you just feel free. It's like when you're playing basketball you don't think about anything but the game."

Her father raced motocross when he was a child. One Christmas, when the Williams trio, Danni and her two older brothers, Dustin (26) and Josh (23), were gifted dirt bikes, she quickly fell in love with the sport.
Growing up in New Mexico, there was a lot of dirt.

"There were a lot of tracks people made and the wind would get pretty heavy at times so that could affect you when you're riding," Williams said. "In New Mexico, the dirt was hard that's the only thing like if you fell or if you had a bad crash."

Although all sports come with different challenges, Danni's dedication, will to win and resiliency to get back up after a fall, has even benefited her collegiate basketball career.

Williams' tremendous focus led her to have an outstanding freshman debut in which she scored 14 points off of 3-of-4 shooting from distance, the most points in school history for an Aggie freshman's first game since Ashley Bolden in 2004-05.

Despite playing in all 32 games in 2015-16, Williams didn't log substantial minutes of in-game action.

"Danni came in knowing she was playing behind an All-American in Courtney Walker, but we also didn't realize Courtney Williams and Jordan Jones were going to be injured part of the year and we couldn't take Walker off the court," head coach Gary Blair said.

Watching, learning, staying the course and waiting her turn, helped develop patience in Williams, who was rated a five-star recruit by ESPN HoopGurlz out of high school. However, it wasn't always easy.

"That really took a toll on me mentally," Williams said. "It tears your confidence down and I'm sure anybody that has experience that could say that. That was really hard for me but then I just knew ultimately if I just keep working nothing can stop me from getting to where I wanted to be."

Williams, who has scored in double figures in 22 of 23 games this season, leads the team with 17.8 points per game, a long way from averaging 3.1 points a game during her freshman year. Williams however, is not complacent with her success, striving to constantly improve.

"Last year, I watched a lot of Courtney Walker and what she did, how she got open and you don't really think 'this could be me next year,'" Williams said. "In the summer I really worked on mid-range rather than settling for threes because everybody knows I want to shoot the three, but now if I can put it on the floor and shoot a mid-range shot or get all the way to the rim, that's going to benefit not only my teammates but myself."

The 5-10 guard is seemingly unstoppable when she gets in a rhythm. Blair said working hard in the summer helped take her scoring to the next level. Currently, she is the most improved scorer among major conference players and ranks third on the SEC scoring charts.

"She worked on creating her shot a lot better, she worked on getting to the free throw line and she became more than just a shooter," Blair said. "Now she's more of a creator and she's trying to get to the line at least 100 times a year and I think she'll hit that mark before the end of the year."

Williams' favorite memory with the current squad was the 98-90 overtime win over Texas Tech on November 17, where she hit a go-ahead three in the closing seconds to help send the game to overtime.

"I feel like that's when we started to coming together," Williams said. "If we have a bad loss we bounce back from it and so that just shows how much we believe in each other and how we can bounce back."
Basketball is in her blood, she has been playing as soon as she could walk and talk.

"My first word was actually 'ball,'" Williams said smiling. "I have two older brothers so everything I did, they were doing. My dad coached their teams and my mom worked night shifts at the hospital so my dad would have to take me [to their practices]. I'd be in a car seat or stroller and then as soon as I could walk, I'd be running around with a ball in my hands, just in the practice, in their way."
Sometimes she'd get accidentally knocked over in all the chaos she recounted with a nostalgic laugh, but, Williams was tough.

"My dad's like 6'7" and I would stand behind him and hold his shorts," Williams said. "When he would move and I wouldn't be paying attention, I would get hit. Through my older brothers and my dad is how I got introduced to basketball and same way with dirt bikes. I just I loved it and picked up on it quickly and my parents realized that I kind of had a natural talent for it."

Even though Clovis is over eight hours away from College Station, her parents have driven to every home game to watch Williams completely in her element. Her family's support means a lot to her and motivates her in many ways.

"[My brothers] kind of sacrificed their growing up, you know we never took a family vacation, it was always traveling for basketball for me so I feel like I owe them a lot of thank yous and dedication to get where I am," Williams said. "I thank them because they sacrificed a lot and so did my parents. They have a long week at work and every weekend they weren't resting at home, they were out taking me places for either dirt bikes or basketball and so I think that just traveling so much and spending so much time with them made me realize just how important family is. I'm forever grateful for what they sacrificed for me."

The Sport Management major, who was also the Valedictorian of Clovis HS, is excelling academically at Texas A&M, earning the team's Academic Award and SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll as a freshman. She represented Texas A&M along with senior men's player Tavario Miller at the SEC Men's and Women's Basketball Leadership Council in Birmingham, Ala.

Additionally, she uses her knowledge of basketball, to discover different ways to score and get involved in the Aggie offense. Every game, Williams has the opposing team's best perimeter defender guarding her, which has given her the opportunity to earn assists the past few games.

"She's doing something well that takes pressure off of Curtyce Knox because now she's a positive, she's creating offense off of her dribble penetration," Blair said. "Now, she's becoming more of a complete player. As she gets older, works on her rebounding, works on her ball handling and works on her defense, that's when you start talking about can she become one of the 10 best in our league? I think you will see that."

The sky is the limit for Williams. With a bright future ahead, she can trace back her love of competition to early beginnings in both basketball and motocross.

"There are no limits when you're an athlete whether you have to be a guy or a girl," Blair said. "A girl can do anything that a guy can."

Making smart decisions, and having the will to win and train hard, will help the entire Texas A&M roster execute in games and ultimately be a successful well-oiled machine.

"That's what makes the game of women's basketball so pure because we play 'between the ears' and that's what you have to do to be a good women's player," Blair said. "Danni wants it and that's the most important thing."
biobioprof
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BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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aggieparent
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It's a joy watching her play.
G Hunny Ag
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Danni has incredible drive and mental calm. We love watching her play Women's Aggie basketball. Mr and mrs W: you instilled all these things in your daughter! We Aggies are blessed by your love
Dandy 76
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AG
Proud to say that not only do I live in Danni's hometown of Clovis, I work for the same company as her dad Regan. In addition my wife is an RN for the same hospital that her mom Michelle works at, so we know the family well.

Everything that article says about family support is definitely true, if not understated given the devotion of time that Regan and Michelle have given to their children. They are truly role models when it comes to parenting!
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