Olivia Williams doesn’t like the limelight.
If it were up to the senior multi-sport athlete at Mayfield, she’d just go out and do her thing without any fanfare.
Unfortunately, everything about Williams’ work on the athletic fields and in the classroom screams “limelight.”
Williams’ decorated high school athletic career came to a close in February when she was named the Most Valuable Player of the Western Reserve Conference’s girls basketball loop. That honor came a few months after she was tapped as the WRC’s MVP in girls soccer.
Good news to all the WRC’s female athletes who play a spring sport — Olivia Williams DOESN’T, so MVP honors are wide open again.
“It’s really cool,” Williams said of winning league MVP honors in two sport. “I’ve been playing soccer and basketball my whole life. It’s nice to have my hard work pay off and end my senior year on a high note.”
Oh, and if her athletic exploits aren’t impressive enough, Williams also boasts a 4.45 grade-point average in the classroom and has never had a B on a report card. Though she did suck up an A-minus one time.
“I take a lot of pride in that,” Williams said of being a student-athlete, with emphasis on the “student” part. “I work really hard at school. It’s sometimes hard to balance school and sports. You’ve got practice, games, and a lot of time I don’t get home until 9:30 or 10. It’s hard, but it pays off.”
For most of her younger years, Williams played — well — everything. Whether it was soccer (her first love at a young age), basketball, swimming, soccer or gymnastics, Williams did it.
“She was a wonderful swimmer,” her father said.
But the older she got, the more she gravitated to soccer and basketball.
She played mostly defense her sophomore and junior seasons for Mayfield’s varsity soccer team, but was moved to forward early in her senior season to capitalize on her scoring ability. The move paid off, as she tallied nine goals and two assists to lead the team in goals.
“I did like being moved back to offense,” said Williams, who was not only WRC MVP but also a first-team News-Herald all-star selection. “It was a little change of scenery, but I like scoring. Everybody likes scoring.”
The scoring part of her senior year was just getting started. After a short break, she hit the basketball court for conditioning.
“Soccer shape is different than basketball shape,” she said. “It’s not easy to jump from one sport to the next. But it did help some that I was in shape from soccer.”
She finished off a senior campaign averaging 18.6 points (410 total points) while shooting 48.4 percent from the floor. She also averaged 7.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.0 steals while playing for 32 minutes a game.
She exits Mayfield in the top 10 in four statistical categories — points (seventh with 1,025), assists (seventh with 207), steals (eighth with 191) and rebounds (10th with 422).
“She’s a tremendous person, player and competitor,” Coach Cullen Harris said. “She has the world at her fingertips. I cannot wait to see what greatness she accomplishes in life. I am so proud of her and am so thankful to be part of her journey.”
Her journey also includes her legacy at Mayfield. Harris pointed out that young kids in the school district aspire to be the type of player — and person — Williams is. Working the Mayfield youth camps showed everyone what her coach meant.
“She knew, and embraced, that her role was to be a role model to the young girls of our community,” Harris said. “The little girls who watch her dribble with awe and look up to her as if she is their Caitlyn Clark. She understood the importance of simply engaging authentically so she could help make that kid’s day better. She understood, and embraced, serving others.”
Bring up her status as a role model, and all you’ll get from Olivia Williams is a shy blush. But her coach and her parents see it and are proud of it. Among those looking up to her are her two younger sisters — Maddie and Bella.
“Liv might not see herself as a role model,” her father said, “but I can tell you there are girls around this community that look up to her and she is their role model. We’re proud of everything she has accomplished.”
Basketball season was the end of her athletic career at Mayfield, though she still has a few months of school work to do before she heads off to college. She’s planning on going to either Miami (Ohio) or Ohio State with an eye on nutritional science.
Oh, and she’s also planning on playing intramural or club basketball and/or soccer, so that greatness will follow her to the next level as well.
“I’ll miss it — a lot,” Williams said of her current plans of not playing collegiate sport. “But I’ll get to watch my sisters play, and I can play club or intramurals.”
She’s not the only one who will miss her playing sports. Her proud parents admitted such, too. They are proud of what their oldest daughter has accomplished as a prep athlete — a rare two-sport MVP and a perfect GPA.
“Selfishly, I’m pretty upset it’s coming to an end,” her father said with a chuckle. “If I had her talent, I’d be looking at every single opportunity I could to keep playing. But it’s her decision and we support her 100 percent.”