July 31, 2012
LONDON -
Today, I was able to connect with Dan Williams, Assistant Athletic Director for Information Systems at Cal. I met Dan, his wife, Rita, and his three children, Kendall, Blake and Connor, in the Euston Rail Station in Central London. Dan and his family had just left a basketball game at Olympic Park early so they could make it back to where they were staying in time to see Caitlin Leverenz swim in her 200 IM final and win a bronze medal! I was also on my way home to watch Caitlin swim but I had come from a great day of rowing out at Eton Dorney.
Dan and his family walked into the train station fully decked out in Cal gear. It was awesome! I was really excited to learn more about the Williams family trip to the Olympics. I had the opportunity to ask Dan a few questions:
JENNY SIMON-O'NEILL: What is your experience like at the Olympics so far?
DAN WILLIAMS: We have had a wonderful time. We arrived here on Friday. We have the good fortune to stay with friends and family while we are here for two weeks. Our first experience at the Olympics was Saturday where just off of Hyde Park we found a spot on the route of women's cycling and saw a pack of women's cyclers riding by. Subsequent to that some of us saw some men's volleyball - the U.S. match against Serbia - down at Earls Court. Then one of us - Connor, my son - saw tennis at Wimbledon yesterday. And three of us today saw some men's basketball, and two of us saw some women's 10-meter synchronized diving - the final - so they got to see some medal action today.
That's been our experience so far. Tomorrow, one of us is going to see some beach volleyball. Incredibly, we have a friend who was able to get us tickets to the men's semifinal soccer match at Old Trafford, where Man U plays. We're really looking forward to that as well.
JSON: Is this your first Olympics?
DW: No. I was fortunate to see quite a few events in '84 in LA. Even further back in my family, my grandfather is not only a Cal grad but an Olympic athlete. He threw the javelin for the U.S. in 1924 in Paris. That in part is why I wanted to bring the kids. This may be their only opportunity to see the Olympics. It was a no-brainer for us and a chance to pass on the moderate Olympic legacy that exists in our family. Passing the torch, yes.
JSON: What would you say your favorite part of this has been so far?
DW: It's all been wonderful. We've been with the kids (to London) now three times, and we just love coming here. Wandering through the Olympic Complex today was amazing. The sense you get from the country and the people here and how excited and proud they are is pretty cool. The events we've seen so far have been spectacular, and we're looking forward to a few more. It's a fun family vacation as well, kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
JSON: You've been to London before, but - other than the obvious, the Olympics - is anything different from your last trip?
DW: Since we were here last, which was only five years ago, not much. We haven't done a whole lot of sightseeing. We've walked around Hyde Park and down into Earls Court yesterday for volleyball and then around Olympic Complex today, as well as Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Trafalgar Square. The cool thing about London is that it's timeless - a lot of it doesn't change. Certainly what we've seen this time around - other than the Olympics - it's pretty much the same old, amazing, gorgeous, historic city.
JSON: How long have you been working at Cal?
DW: Fifteen years in June.
JSON: What's it like to have 45 Olympians from Cal?
DW: It's amazing. I think you take it for granted. In most of the last Olympics, we've had a significant number of Olympians, both at the coach and athlete levels. It's not till you get over here and you mention to friends and family that we know these people - that we know these people and see these athletes on a regular basis - and you see the shock and amazement on their faces that this is a big deal, that you realize it's a big deal. If for no other reason than it keeps us from taking that fact for granted. This is a worthwhile trip - to appreciate how incredible what they've accomplished is and how rare this is on a world-wide, athletic level.
JSON: Having so many Olympians from Cal, how does that impact what we do on a day-to-day basis in the department?
DW: It keeps that bar high. The standards clearly that these individuals - the Olympic individuals - are operating under are incredibly high, and as a result they bring that to their teams at Cal. They can't help but do that, whether they are a coach or an athlete. Even being on the same team as someone in the Olympics can't help but have an amazing effect on a confidence level, expectations, work ethic and all those things that allow those people to get to this place.
JSON: Anything else you would like to share with CalBears.com?
DW: It's great to be here. We look forward to seeing all these Olympians back in Berkeley in a few weeks. And a big "Go Bears!"
Before we parted, there was one more thing that I wanted to learn more about. When Dan's family first arrived at the station, his son, Connor, mentioned something to me about having Caitlin Leverenz as a lab partner last fall. I asked Connor to tell me a little bit more about that experience. He said that he and Caitlin had been part of a four-person lab group during the fall of 2011 in Biology 1B. They worked on 5-6 labs as a group throughout the course of the semester. One of the assignments involved going outside onto the grass to pick up beans with chopsticks, which was intended to simulate the concept of survival of the fittest. Sounds interesting!
Connor told me that he really enjoyed working with Caitlin for a variety of reasons, but he was especially excited to have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a world-class swimmer.
Thanks again to Dan and his family for meeting me to tell me about the trip.
- Jenny Simon-O'Neill
