Meet Paris Williams | Professional Track and field athlete and athletic coach.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paris Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paris, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My thought process was I wanted to give the youth knowledge and training I didn’t know or have going into college. Midway through college as a track and field athlete I started taking a big interest in coaching as My teammates looked to me a lot of times for advice in their particular event. I thought of 1UP during quarantine as a way for younger athletes or athletes in general to have the “1UP” on their competition from getting training from someone who has made it to Olympic trials and freshly graduated from where they plan to go to. (A D1 college)

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve been in sports since I was a child but I started track and field my junior year of high school which is pretty late for most people. My first year was okay but I showed promise and my senior year is when I started to really improve. I was on some relays but my main event was the 110m hurdles. I broke our school record my senior year with a 14.5 and made it to state and placed 7th. With this time I didn’t have any offers but Kennesaw state was a school that showed interest and a school that I wanted to go to regardless of athletics. So my freshman year KSU allowed to walk on to their team as a decathlete/multi. By the end of my freshman year I won freshman of the year and showed great strides in the events I was doing.

By my sophomore year I earned a partial scholarship and that’s when things started to take off a little. I won MVP of our indoor and outdoor conference championship and had one of the highest total points scored individually outdoor in ksu history while dealing with foot injury all year. This was also my first year making it to first rounds running a big PR of a 13.8 in the 110m hurdles. At first rounds I feel for the first time ever and didn’t move any further.

My junior year I qualified for nationals in the decathlon and broke KSU’s school record but was dealing with back spasms all of outdoor szn so once u managed to get there, I had to pull out after the first day because my bad was on fire and I wasn’t able to compete. My senior (Covid year). I qualified for indoor nationals in the 60m hurdles while also breaking KSUs school record but ended up growing a tumor In my hip that was prohibiting me from even walking as time went on. So I didn’t get to compete at nationals once again and Covid also happened.

My 5th year at KSU I spent rehabbing from the hip surgery I had to have to remove the tumor and I started training to compete 4months late. Things were going great once I returned in practice but by the second meet I managed to hurt my quad and was out majority of the szn. I came back by the time of outdoor conference with little training and managed to win still and qualify for first round again but once again… once i got there I hit a hurdle really bad towards the end of my race and it took me out the race. This was Olympic year so I took it apon myself to find another meet out of state to travel to, to see if I could qualify for Olympic trials. So I did competed all alone and I did just that. Had a PR of a 13.6 and qualified for Olympic trials as the last spot in.

While at trials I managed to run the same time of 13.6 and finished 18th out of 32. After my last season I decided to compete professionally as I am now because I felt I left a lot of potential on the table in college from dealing with injury most of the time.

This current track Season is going very well and I have ran a time of 13.4 in the 110m hurdles and currently rank 17th in the USA. The best part about it is I’m running under my own brand 1UP because I currently have no endorsements or sponsorships still. I created a uniform to compete in and advertise myself and the ball has been rolling since then as I still keep doing the thing I love and hoping to make a living off of it, while also helping others get there as well with my knowledge.

If anybody learned anything from my story I would hope it is to never give up no matter your circumstances if you believe you are better than them. No matter what card you are dealt and how much adversity you face you can overcome it and still come out on top with determination and hard work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Atlanta is very excited place to visit and I feel getting more populated by the second! Some great attractions to visit while your here is definitely six flags and the Georgia aquarium which is the largest one in the world. I’m a big basketball fan as well so we’d have to go to a hawks game. Atlanta night life is also one of a kind. A trip to downtown whether you want to have fun and experience the club scene or just finding great places to eat all over downtown. Being in the city is a view in itself if your more into just relaxing and enjoy the scenery as well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would want to give credit to my mother first and foremost for brain storming and helping in the financial side of things that goes along with getting a business jump started. She has helped me plan and organize a lot do the things I’m doing now. I’d also want to give a shout-out to all of my teammates and coaches who have molded me into the athlete and given me all of the knowledge I know today, to then pass on to the next.

Website: 1uptf.com

Instagram: “Pwill_k”-personal page And also “1uptandf-business page

Image Credits
Steven Thompson Calvin cook Kennesaw state university