Williams Announces Elite Retirement
July 27, 2010Plus, subscribe for 3 years and receive a free poster of
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World vaulting champ Kayla Williams has made the decision to
forego further Elite training and focus on preparing for college, according to
coach Mary Lee Tracy.
Williams, the USA’s first, and to date only, World Champion on vault, tore her a plantar fascia tendon in her foot “one or two weeks ago,” according to Tracy, and decided yesterday to end her Elite career, even though the injury will not require surgical repair.
“The foot is healing and everything. It’s doing really well, actually,” Tracy told Inside earlier today, “[but] her intention was to make the World team and when she realized that wasn’t going to happen—there just wasn’t enough time—she decided to just get ready for college. She wants to do a few invitationals; she may even do Level 10 National next year, I don’t know. We’re just taking it one day at a time, but she’s definitely done [with Elite].
“I think she’s really happy with her decision,” Tracy added. “I support her decision. She is a very intelligent young woman and she knows the reality of what she wants to do.”
Williams, who will be a senior in high school this fall, announced in May that she had verbally committed to compete NCAA gymnastics for the University of Alabama. She plans to remain in Cincinnati—Williams is still doing correspondence coursework with her high school in Huntington, W.V.—and continue training with Tracy in preparation for collegiate competition in 2012. (Williams, who can't formally sign a letter of intent until November, would be eligible to join the Tide as early as the 2011 summer school semester, if she wished.)
“She’s very happy here and we’re very happy to have her,” Tracy said fondly. “She has been a huge asset to the rest of my team. She's going to come to Championships with us and help with the other girls. She's a great motivator. Even though she's not going to train Elite, she is going to stay in my group.”
Check out our in-depth interview with Williams about her career, the injury and why she made the decision to forego Elite and focus on college.
Related Articles
- The INSIDE Interview: Kayla Williams ( July 28, 2010)
We go INSIDE with the World Champ about why she decided to call it quits on her Elite career.
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