Katy Lifestyles and Homes magazine Aug 2009: Madison Williams, Katy High Graduate

adison Williams, 18, is a highly ranked, competitive athlete who remembers the time and place when she knew she was destined for a future in bowling.

It was during elementary school when Madison attended her friend Nikki’s birthday party. Madison and Nikki knew each other from school and played on the same softball team. The girls were 11. Nikki had a bowling party and it was Madison ’s first time ever to step foot in a bowling alley. She played well for a first timer. But more importantly, she had so much fun. From that moment on, she was hooked.

Thank you, Nikki.

“I fell in love with bowling immediately,” said Madison. “I kept asking my mom to take me again,” she said.

But they were busy. The party was in the spring. It was still softball season. So they waited until the summer when they had some free time. Then, her mom began taking her to dollar days. During that time, a lady who had been observing Madison bowl approached them with information about a scholarship league she coached in the fall. When fall came around, Madison eagerly joined the Carol Olson Youth Scholarship League.

“It was during that time (in the league) we discovered high school and college bowling and started planning for the future, ” she said.

A lot has happened since then. For the past seven years, she’s amassed some of high school bowling’s most impressive awards and titles. Besides being a four-year state finalist for Katy High School, two of Madison ’s favorite awards are the 2009 State Singles Champion of Texas State High School Bowling Club and Greater Houston Coaches Association Bowler of the Year for 2009, an award selected by people in the bowling world.

In the fall, Madison heads to The University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, 50 miles southeast of Kansas City. She received a bowling scholarship and is excited about her spot on the highly ranked NCAA bowling team.

“They have an outstanding bowling program. I’m looking forward to bowling in the NCAA National Championship tournament in New Jersey in April 2010. ”

She plans to major in athletic training or sports medicine, and although the excitement of being recruited by a NCAA

bowling team is great, she says school comes first.

To get to this point in her bowling career, Madison has bowled on the Katy High School club bowling team for four years and been the team captain. And for the same amount of years, Madison has been coached as both a team member and as an individual bowler by Pete McCordic, a member of the Professional Bowlers Association since 1973. He bowled full time on the PBA Tour for 18 years and has given lessons off and on for 25 years.

McCordic first helped Madison with her basic fundamentals when she was a high school freshman, and has since tried to hone those into her game.

“Madison is by far the most talented girl, youth bowler I have seen in years. I believe she has great potential to get even better, ” said McCordic, who began coaching at Katy High in 2001 when the team first formed and his son was a member.

“I expect Madison to continue to get better in college as a bowler. She could easily get to be one of the best college players in the country by the time she graduates. Her desire to succeed and willingness to work at becoming better says great things about her being a success in the future, no matter what field she decides on as a career. ”

McCordic has been bowled over, not by Madison’s successes, but rather by her desire to include him in her celebrations.

She’s invited her coach to every award, every ceremony, every interview, every signing. Every everything.

“When she called to tell me she had just won the state championship, I told her I was not surprised, but extremely happy for her. I ’m also glad she got a college scholarship. Madison did all the work and practice to get to where she is, but is willing to allow me to share in it. I ’m very humbled by her gratitude.”

Madison, like most high achieving athletes, takes the preparation of her sport very seriously. The right-handed, 5 foot, 9 inch, red-headed bowling star is a self-described, “very competitive” bowler. She says it’s a combination of things that keeps her at the top of her game. First, she does a lot of cardio workouts to keep her strength up. It ’s crucial to her success that she’s physically prepared for tournaments where 16 games with a 15-pound ball is the norm. Secondly, Madison spends about 20 hours a week practicing before a tournament. And, the mental preparation is just as important, says Madison.

“I put on my iPod and pump up on the music. Then, I focus on whatever it is I need to do. Like maybe move more quickly. I don ’t let anyone get in my head. I’m the master of me. Like a boxer, if you start thinking you’re going to lose, you’ll never fight.”

Until she heads to another part of the country this fall, Madison lives in Katy with her father, Frank, and mother, Ruby. She ’s the youngest of four kids: Nikki is 25, Lisa is 23 and Justin is 20.

This summer, Madison is training hard for the Junior Gold Championship sponsored by the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) and trying to earn a spot on Team USA in Indianapolis. As soon as this tournament is over she ’ll bowl in another one, also in Indianapolis. After that she gets a break for a week at home before heading to Las Vegas for the Teen Masters National Championships.

Then it’s back home to briefly pack up her things before heading to the Show Me state to show them just how things are done in Texas. Bowl them over, Madison. l