Surrounded by friends and family, St. John Vianney High School sophomore Grant Williams recently secured the individual win at this year’s USA Racquetball High School National Championships, cementing himself as the top boys high school singles racquetball player in the country.
Held right here in South County at Vetta Sports Concord, the multi-day tournament wrapped up on March 1.
“It was a lot better than any other tournament because usually I’m by myself and it’s just my mom and maybe a few other people. Having everybody there — it was pretty special,” Williams said. “(It was) a big moment leading up from a lot of training, and it was good to finally hit the goal.”
Williams began playing racquetball just five short years ago. A friend invited him to play, and as Williams wasn’t involved with any other sports at the time, he decided to try it out. Training since then has been anything but casual for the young athlete.
“I’m on the (racquetball) court five days a week. I’m in the weight room three times a week — sometimes I go before and after school. Usually I’m in the gym for at least three hours a day,” Williams said, also mentioning that he’s been off sugar for four years “for peak performance.”
Williams qualified for the national tournament after winning the Missouri High School State Racquetball Championship for the second consecutive year. Because of this, he entered nationals as the No. 1 seed, earning him a first-round bye.
In his first two games of the tournament, Williams defeated Liam Smith, the No. 16 seed from Oregon, by scores of 15-2 and 15-4, respectively. Racquetball games are played to 15, and each match is won by winning two games. If each side wins one game, a tiebreaker game is played to 11 points.
A victory in the quarterfinals against the No. 8 seed, Caleb Marshall from Madison Academic High School in Tennessee, followed, in which Williams yet again won the two games by a substantial margin: 15-5 and 15-2, respectively.
Williams next took on the No. 4 seed, Ayan Sharma from Amador Valley High School in California, winning with scores of 15-3 and 15-4. This triumph put Williams in the final against the No. 2 seed, Alejandro Robles Picon from Sierra High School in California. The championship round, held March 1, followed a familiar pattern, with Williams beating the Californian in two straight games by scores of 15-12 and 15-9.
It should be noted that Williams’ win marks only the second time since the national championship event began in 1988 that a player from St. Louis has won the individual championship. Lindbergh High School alum Eli McCulley, a senior in 2025, brought the title home last year — beating Williams, a freshman at the time — in the final match to do so. The two Missourians battled last year in Portland, though McCulley ultimately came out on top, narrowly winning the two games with scores of 15-14 and 15-12. Losing so close to victory last year made this tournament’s win even sweeter for Williams.
In addition to playing on Vianney’s racquetball team, Williams shared that he often enters tournaments individually. He also competes for the Junior National Team, which he has been a part of for three years.