Penny

In the weight room, Coach K directs her basketball athletes as they get a lift in during their athletic period. According to Coach K, she hopes to not only continue the success of the program but also make them better players and people. “I feel like one of my biggest roles is to be a mentor and a person they can look up to,” Coach K said. “Someone who will be there for them long after they’re gone from the program.”

Two minutes remain in the fourth and final quarter and the team is down by six points. In the high intensity game Coach calls a timeout in hopes of changing the momentum of the game. She calls all her players in a huddle and gives one of her inspiring motivational speeches to boost the team’s morale. Fast forward, there are now thirty seconds on the clock and the score is tied. The team finally gets the ball and is heading for the hoop. Coach stands up from her seat, watching as her player shoots the ball in the hoop. The clock buzzes as the ball falls through the netting of the basket and all of the players celebrate, running to their coach in triumph.

After many years as the varsity assistant coach for the 2021 and 2022 5A State Champion girls basketball program, Coach Kami Williamson, known as Coach K, has been promoted and is now the varsity girls basketball coach and head of the girls basketball program. According to Coach K, the change in position happened over the summer. Now she is beginning to work with her players in the off-season and continuing to build the program.

“I have played basketball all my life,” Coach K said. “My mom was a coach so I grew up as a coach’s kid [and] was in the gym all the time. I played all throughout high school and was an all-state basketball player. I went to West Texas A&M University and Angelo State University on a full ride, where I played one year at West Texas A&M and finished out my career at Angelo State, [where I] became a graduate assistant coach.”

Coach K coached as a graduate assistant for two years after college before becoming a head coach at two small schools in West Texas for 12 years. After working in West Texas, she moved to Cedar Park, where she became the varsity assistant coach for seven years at the high school and is now the head coach of the team.

“When the opportunity came to be the head coach I jumped at it,” Coach K said. “We are making some slight changes this year. The good thing about when I came here was Coach Ott, [the previous head girls basketball coach, worked here], and [we] kind of built a lot of the program together, so I had a heavy influence already. One of the things I feel like we’re really focusing on [this year] is more [of] the mental game.”

According to Coach K, she hopes to lead the team in a new direction and will now implement strength days which focus on both physical and mental strength. Coach K plans to continue the traditions of the past teams and coaches, like the players running the mile, bootcamp and players having to earn their practice gear. However, she is going to add her own changes to the team, which will help the players build their mental toughness. Another important thing about her is the story of how she got her nickname, which is known throughout the program.

“When I first started coaching and teaching, I coached back in my hometown, [where] my mom was a coach,” Coach K said. “There, her name was Coach Williamson but Will for short, so I couldn’t be Coach Will. My brother had [also] come [to coach at the same school] and was the defensive coordinator [for the football team]. I didn’t want to go by Williamson because it was too long, so the girls [I coached] decided they were going to call me Coach K and my brother Coach J. When I came to Cedar Park I asked them what they wanted to call me and they said Coach K, so that’s how I became Coach K.”

Coach K worked closely with the state championship teams of 2021 and 2022 when she worked as a varsity assistant. Her experience as a head coach in the past has helped her make the transition from assistant coach to head coach, she said. She has spent much time working with the team for many years before becoming head coach. 

“Obviously we want to go out [into the season] and do well and have success and win,” Coach K said. “But ultimately [we’re] trying to make [the girls] the best versions of themselves as players and as people so that whenever they are done [playing] and hang up their shoes they are productive members out in society. I want this to be a fun program where [the players] can come in and feel special and look back on [their time here] fondly. I feel like one of my biggest roles is to be a mentor and a person they can look up to, someone who will be there for them long after they’re gone from the program.”