Ella Williams '22 Recruiting Profile

I am currently a Senior at Sugar Bowl Academy and have been playing golf for around two years. Since the age of seven, I believed that my purpose in life was to be a ski racer, to wake up every day and put 110% into becoming the most outstanding version of a ski racer that I could be. In the beginning, I was the worst, usually falling in the last places at every race, and was defined as one without “natural talent” for the sport. I may have lacked the natural ability, however, I poured my entire soul into my training and was more determined than almost every other racer. My tenacity throughout the years led me to various sponsorships and the title of the fastest 15-year-old in the entire Western Region. The story for the part of my life as a soccer player could be told almost the same way; I struggled in the beginning of my career but went on to make an elite soccer team who have won many major tournaments across the country. At the height of my ski racing path, I was training for a regional race and encountered a horrible crash in which I broke my tibia and fibula which resulted in two surgeries and two titanium rods. A month prior to the accident I experienced another crash where my head impacted the snow hard and I left that day unconscious with a major concussion. During my recovery time, I began to question my future. Was a long arduous road of skiing with possible serious injuries what I really wanted? As I began to find my balance and walk again I decided to take up golf on a serious level. Just like soccer and golf I found myself pouring everything I had into the sport, except this time I had a passion for it stronger than anything I had ever done before. I could not explain my love and appreciation for the game to anyone, not even my family who had no understanding of it. I became addicted. The pure shots hit on the center of the clubface kept me on the driving range for hours. Something about hitting the same put over and over again until it was better than before made me feel satisfied.