Goal Getter: HP Senior’s Scoring Prowess Nets International Experience

Williams hopes her influence helps to position the Lady Scots for future success

It seems backward, but Kylie Williams was born in California and didn’t start playing water polo until she got to Texas.

The Highland Park senior has developed into one of the most prolific scorers in the state and one of the top overall high school players in the country — all while residing far from the sport’s hotbed on the West Coast.

“I had no idea water polo existed until I came here,” said Williams, whose family moved to the Park Cities when she was in second grade.

In sixth grade, a friend persuaded her to come to a practice for Pegasus Aquatics, a club program based at SMU.

“My first practice, I did not like it,” said Williams, adding her coach convinced her to stick with it for three months. “My first game, even though I didn’t know the rules very well, that’s when I fell in love with it.”

As she began excelling in her club program, Williams also was able to join the inaugural team at Highland Park High School when the UIL began sanctioning the sport in 2022.

Instead of being on a squad filled with seasoned veterans, many of her teammates with the Lady Scots are newcomers to the sport as the fledgling program continues to grow.

“She’s done a great job of leading them and setting a standard of excellence from the beginning,” said HP water polo head coach Chris Cullen.

Williams helped lead HP to its first playoff victory last season. Remarkably, she will soon surpass 500 goals in three varsity seasons, despite being continuously blanketed on defense by her opponents.

“Those aren’t soft goals or cheap goals,” Cullen said. “She’s always been competitive and a great scorer. I don’t think people understand the number of goals she’s scored.”

Meanwhile, Williams has spent the past few summers back in California, staying with relatives while competing for club teams in Orange County where the competition is more challenging.

She’s also become involved with the Olympic Development Program as part of USA Water Polo, which led to an opportunity to compete for the junior national team at a tournament in Greece in early August.

Aside from her Olympic dreams, Williams has verbally committed to Indiana, where starting next year she will compete for one of the country’s top Division I teams.

“They treated me like family from the moment I got there,” Williams said of the Hoosiers. “It was a very easy decision.”