From 'terror toddler' to hockey star

From 'terror toddler' to hockey star

by tuan.blogger.hettien ~ Thursday, August 27, 2009

Kerry Williams has described her younger self as a "terror toddler" whose mother made her get involved in sport to calm her down.

Now, Williams shares her experience of being "like one of those kids on Supernanny" in a programme aiming to engage 30,000 young people through sport by 2012.

She endured sitting at home last August, watching the Olympic hockey on TV as her Great Britain team-mates secured sixth place in Beijing.

But by 2012, when she will be 26, the forward aims to be a fixture in Great Britain's Olympic team, spurred on by the disappointment of missing out last time.

A major milestone comes this week as she travels to Sydney with a young England squad to take part in the Champions Trophy, for the top six teams in the world.


England will face world and Olympic champions Netherlands, Germany, Argentina, Australia and China in the tournament, which begins on 11 July.

"This is a real test for us as a new squad," Williams told BBC Sport.

"If our aim is to win gold in 2012, we've got to be able to compete with the likes of Holland and Germany so hopefully this will give us a good foundation."

Williams, from Leicester, talks candidly about how much of a handful she was as a child, admitting she once put her hands over her mother's eyes while she was driving.

"In a big family I always wanted to get noticed," she said. "And I did it by being horrible."

It is this willingness to open up that has helped her work with the Youth Sports Trust, where she is one of a team of athlete-mentors, including badminton star Gail Emms and former swimmer Nick Gillingham.


"My role is to help disengaged children so I have to be honest and open, using my own experience, to get them to open up," she explained.

"They see what I've achieved and once they realise I'm a normal person they see what they can achieve."

Williams is involved in one programme targeting under-achievers in schools and another that helps make sure top athletes have their best interests looked after in the rest of their school lives.

She knows just how difficult juggling priorities can be after being encouraged into all kinds of sports and pastimes by her parents.

"My mum started getting me involvement in sport to calm me down - she said I needed to learn discipline," Williams explained.

"I used to do so many sports and it calmed me down, made me focus and helped me move to the top of my classes."

At the age of 15, though, she had to make a choice between an audition for the Royal Ballet School and England U16 hockey trials.

"I got to the stage where I was playing hockey then jumping in the car for ballet, having to put my leotard on and do my hair in the car - it was too much," she said.

"I decided on hockey because it's a team sport and it's so unpredictable. I miss performing but it can be the same thing night after night."

Williams impressed on her international debut against Argentina three years ago and became a key part of the England team that won bronze in the 2007 Euronations tournament to secure Olympic qualification.

But she began the 2008 season slowly and found herself left out of the Great Britain squad for Beijing, an experience she is determined not to repeat.

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How will England perform in the Champions Trophy?
"I didn't play to the best of my ability at the start of the year - I thought I was going to Beijing and got ahead of myself," she admitted.

"I was devastated, I'm still disappointed and I don't ever want to feel like that again.

"Next time I want to be so sure of going that I won't even have to look at the call-up email."