NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Collegiate head basketball coach Junior Burrough still remembers the first time he watched Rashaad Williams play.
"First impression of Rashaad Williams? Well lets see," he began. "He first got here almost three years ago and in our first scrimmage as soon as he got the basketball you knew right away that there was something special about him. He's one of the fastest kids I've ever seen with the basketball."
Williams' talent on the court was obvious. "He does it so effortlessly," Burrough added.
Williams has been accustomed to having a basketball in his hands pretty much his entire life.
"I started playing basketball when I was really young. My dad first brought me to the basketball court when I was three and we were in Japan at the time," he recalled. "I wouldn't even ask for toys. It would always be a basketball. I used to go to sleep with a basketball in my hand and I just fell in love with it."
Basketball has been an outlet for Williams throughout every step of his life.
"My dad is in the military so we moved around a lot- Japan, California, Italy, here."
But lucky for Williams, basketball courts are identical from country to country.
"It always felt like home," Williams said, describing how it feels to walk onto a court. "With me moving around I had to prove myself everywhere. Every team I played on it was like a new beginning."
That was hard enough, but Williams also dealt with naysayers who would attack his biracial identity.
"I'm mixed with black and Japanese so I used to get made fun of when I was younger and it took me a long time to be comfortable with myself and learn both cultures," he recalled. "But my parents have taught me that being unique is something to be proud of."
Williams has used basketball to establish confidence and comfortability that draws others to him.
"Everyone just gravitates to him," said Burrough. "He's a very happy kid considering all that he's been through."
Since arriving at Norfolk Collegiate in August of 2021, the Mighty Oaks have welcomed him with open arms and allowed him to flourish.
"At one point in time he was getting up at 6 a.m. to work out and to work on his game and got other kids to work out with him," Burrough said. "That's the history and the story and the standard of every guard and of every player that's had a chance to play at the next level."
And Williams is no doubt heading in that direction.
"I wanted to prove a lot of people wrong," said Williams. "I think it's made me the person I am today. I have no regrets on the adversity I've faced."
