For senior men’s soccer student-athlete Victor “Vic” Williams III, New York University has been the perfect place to continue expanding his already unique life experiences. The vice-president of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, he interned this past summer with the New York Yankees and has parlayed his passions and leadership abilities to help create the NYU Stern Sports Society while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average juggling his many commitments.
HIGH SCHOOL AND LONDON
Williams was already the youngest student in his high school class at John Burroughs School in St. Louis and then he graduated early in May 2020. “I was 16 years old and I had the opportunity to attend Richmond American University in London. I played for a showcase team, facing football academies like Blackburn Rovers, Bradford City, Grimsby Town, Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday. I was playing with my age group at first and then progressed quickly into playing with the oldest team,” he shared. “After a year, I trained with the Bradford City Academy team as the man who oversaw our program was a former player who made that happen for a few of us.”
He did not take that experience for granted. “I was one of the few Americans over there, so it was nice that I was able to play in big stadiums, including the historic Bradford City Stadium. I dreamed of playing in England and being around the best teams,” he described. “It was such an awesome experience that I had a chance to play over there for three years.”
Despite enjoying traveling all over Europe and getting to play in large stadiums, Williams did miss playing soccer with his friends back home and truly enjoying the sport. “It was more of a co-worker relationship with my teammates, especially when I was playing with the older teams. I sensed them looking at me, thinking ‘Who is this American kid coming over here and trying to take food off my table.’ It wasn’t as welcoming as one may expect. Being a younger kid, I was more naïve than I am now. It made me grow up quickly as my parents weren’t just an hour flight away,” he pointed out.
He took full advantage of being in Europe, making frequent trips to Spain and France. “There were some down times and some up times, but both helped me grow into the man that I am now. It instilled a lot of positive values and attributes that I hope to take forward as I continue not just through school, but through life,” he said. “I was able to chase my dream with incredible memories that I’ll be able to share with my future kids and hopefully grandkids. It was an experience I would never pass up in a million lifetimes. I would make the same decision over and over. It may be an unorthodox path, but it opened my world view and helped me think about different things in a global way.”
RETURNING TO THE U.S. AND CHOOSING NYU
Williams returned to the U.S. when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. “My two younger sisters couldn’t drive at the time, and I needed to take some of the pressure off my father’s shoulders because he is a surgeon and working all the time in addition to caring for my mom and my sisters. It was an easy decision for me to come home and help take care of my mom and my family,” he explained. “Fortunately, everything worked out great. My mom is doing great and is cancer-free. I make sure to pray about her remaining that way every night.”
In addition to helping his family through a difficult time, Williams also wanted to prioritize his education, admitting that he focused more on soccer in England even though he still maintained strong grades. “I really wanted to make sure I was taking care of the academic piece. I spoke to our academic advisors at Burroughs about my future. Soccer is a finite thing as I obviously knew I wasn’t going to be like (Lionel) Messi or making a ton of money playing,” he acknowledged. “The advisors were very helpful, and I wanted to make sure I was maximizing my education, as Burroughs is a great school and prepared me well. I wanted to make sure that I went to a great institution and made the most of the investment my parents made in my education.”
He looked at schools in places he thought he would enjoy living, particularly in California and New York. “I wanted to go somewhere where, whether I played soccer or not, I was going to enjoy school and my life while I have less responsibility and fewer real-world problems to deal with. New York City is such an extension of my time in Europe where there is always so much to do and feeds into my super social personality,” he communicated. “I spoke with my good friend Isabella, who went to NYU and she said, ‘Vic, NYU would be the perfect place for you, it fits you to a tee.’ That was all I needed to hear. I made my decision and it has been a great one.”
THE INJURY AND RETURN
Williams started his NYU career by playing in each of the team’s first five matches, averaging nearly 49 minutes in his first four appearances. The fifth match changed his career forever when he suffered a catastrophic injury against Penn State-Harrisburg. He was officially diagnosed with an extensive bilateral core muscle injury involving the lower abdominal and adductor structures around the pubic region accompanied by stress fractures in both pubic bones, pelvic floor failure, and structural damage/weakness of the inguinal floor on both sides. Essentially, the injury encompassed multiple structures across both sides of his pelvis.
“We initially tried conservative treatment because I wanted to avoid another surgery, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. In January 2025, I had an extensive bilateral pelvic and groin repair with bilateral aponeurotic plate repair, adductor release/partial tendinosis and fasciotomy, and bilateral inguinal floor repair,” he described. “I had previously undergone a bilateral sports hernia repair in January 2023, so we knew from the beginning that the recovery could take longer.”
His recovery was extensive and included being bedridden for several weeks and in a wheelchair for a period. “I had to work my way back to walking normally before I could even think about running or playing soccer again. For months, physical therapy was just about being able to get through everyday life without pain,” he explained. “I dealt with a lot of setbacks and plateaus along the way, including recurring inflammation and sensitivity, tremor-like shaking during parts of rehab, and eventually steroid injections in areas that remained irritated.”
Williams missed the entire 2025 season before returning to the pitch against Wilkes earlier this month. “It was very difficult for him being unable to perform for as long as he did. I don’t have enough words to describe his dedication and care in taking care of himself, staying connected to the team, and being invested in the team on the sidelines,” remarked NYU men’s soccer head coach Kim Wyant. “Vic is the ultimate model of a teammate. His attitude was super positive and he was always supportive of the team. We are elated that he returned to the field. He is still limited in minutes, but everything is going in the right direction.”
In his next appearance against SUNY Maritime, Williams scored his first career goal in just his seventh appearance in more than two seasons. “For more than a year, rehab basically became part of my everyday life. I was in the athletic training room constantly, putting the work in, and trying to make small improvements even when progress felt slow. That’s why finally being able to play for NYU again this fall, and then scoring my first goal, meant so much,” he expressed. “There were points where simply being able to move through daily life without pain was the goal, so getting all the way back onto the field made everything I put into recovery worth it.”
STERN SPORTS SOCIETY
Williams became good friends with classmate Arjun Krishnan, who also served as manager of the NYU men’s soccer team and shared Williams’ love of Arsenal of the English Premier League. The two connected quickly. “We came in at the same time and two days after I got there, I e-mailed Kim and told her about my experience in analysis and that I wanted to work with the team in some way. We eventually sorted something out for me to do video analysis and work with GPS (a tracker device used to monitor and analyze a player’s movement during training and matches, providing data on speed, distance, and overall performance), which was being implemented,” Krishnan explained. “We would watch Arsenal matches together and I traveled with the team. I remember his injury clearly. We would then discuss tactics together and it was interesting having a player’s perspective.”
“We would have conversations about sports business all the time and he had the idea to start a sports business-centered club. We felt there was a gap that needed to be filled because there are a lot of students at NYU who are interested in sports business and sports finance,” Williams described. “We wanted to create something that brings students together who are interested in the business side of sports while giving them exposure to professionals and career paths that they may not have otherwise encountered.”
In January, Krishnan came up with the idea for the club and immediately shared the idea with Williams. “Even though he is not a Stern student, he was a part of the Sports Business Society in our School of Professional Studies. He was all in and we started bouncing ideas off each other. It took six months to put together the application and have the club approved. We presented together, pitching the idea in front of a room of about 70 people. It was a rigorous process,” Krishnan explained.
The two worked hard together over the summer despite Williams interning with the New York Yankees and Krishnan working for TerraCycle, an innovative recycling company in New Jersey. “We took a lot of time over the summer to really build this out after the group was approved earlier this year. Arjun and the team he assembled hunkered down to make sure everything was tip-top and ready to go for the fall,” he explained. “On top of everything else I had going on this summer, I was busy, but I was happy to work on this because it was really rewarding. I wish this opportunity existed when I transferred here from being abroad, but I am happy to provide it for other people and hopefully it continues to grow and can become the biggest sports business club or student organization in the country. That is our hope, capitalizing on being in New York City,”
“We would always say that we had our 9-5 job and then our 5-9 job, which was building this club. It has come to fruition. I think it’s going to be great and I’m happy to have Vic by my side with all of this,” Krishnan effused.
Thus, the Stern Sports Society (S³) became a reality, giving NYU students a dedicated, business-focused platform to engage with the sports industry. It is organized around four programs, each built for a different path into the sports industry:
- FINS: Markets and financial strategy
- COBS: sports business writing
- WISE: community and mentorship for women in the industry
- Mentorship: direct 1-on-1 membership
Along with a third co-founder, Julia Jacobsen, Williams and Krishnan presented before first year students at the beginning of the semester. “There were about 500 or 600 people in the auditorium. None of us had ever presented before so many people. We weren’t expecting too much as we know sports is a niche, especially within the business school,” Krishnan acknowledged. “After everyone has presented, each club has its own room where people can walk in and talk to the leadership. We were the last one to present and when we got to our room, it was jam-packed with people. Our presentation ended at 7:30 p.m. and we probably didn’t leave the room until 9:30. It was a constant influx of people, and we must have talked to at least 300 people. It was an incredible experience. It certainly showed that there was a baseline interest for this.”
“We wanted to ensure there was programming where people are learning through education, modeling techniques, and anything else related to the financials around sports. We are taking deep dives into case studies about sports finance,” Williams remarked. “We are also having a large speaker series where we bring in some heavy hitters to talk to us.”
The speaker series kicked off on Sept. 24 with a Citibank panel featuring Managing Director & Head of Sports Advisory John Hutcheson. The impressive lineup over the next few months features Liverpool Football Club Head of Global Sales Amanda Granito, Fenway Sports Group Chief Financial Officer Julie Swinehart, Premier League U.S. Managing Director Akash Jain, Catapult Chief Executive Officer Will Lopes, and Overtime founder Daniel Porter.
YANKEES AND FUTURE GOALS
Williams worked with one of the most iconic sports organizations in corporate and community relations. “A lot of the work I did centered around evaluating community partnership opportunities, so I did a lot of research and due diligence on non-profit organizations to support community initiatives,” he said. Never one to limit himself, Williams made sure to meet with as many people as possible. “I wanted to learn about every sector of sports business, making a lot of connections. I got to meet people in all the different departments from sponsorships to marketing and the financial team. I had a few extensive talks with the legal team because that is what I want to pursue,” he indicated.
Toward the end of the eight-week internship, he shared his capstone report that evaluated eight potential partnership opportunities. “I presented my recommendations in terms of fund allocation for each potential partner to the leadership team for the Yankees Foundation (which supports various outreach efforts to provide educational, recreational, and social outlets for New York City residents). It was an awesome experience,” he stated.
“It didn’t surprise me that Vic was working a world-class organization. He is a such a great guy, very personable, accountable, and dependable. He is everything you would want to represent a team, university, and organization,” Wyant commented. “He is the first SAAC vice president we have had in my time at NYU, which is great for him and our program. We are lucky to have him and whatever organization or business he ends up with will be fortunate.”
“We operate differently and it’s nice to have that dichotomy between two people. I am more meticulous and he shows his passion in a social way and brings people together. He has an infectious energy that can’t be understated. He brings such a high level of enthusiasm and motivation. We shared a relentless level of love for the game of soccer and that translates into our passion for the sports society,” Krishnan stated.
Williams is majoring in sports management with a minor in business studies with a concentration in sports law. He intends to pursue a JD-MBA, a dual degree program in which a student earns Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees concurrently. “I would like to step into the corporate law space, preferably in mergers and acquisitions or intellectual property, which are interesting to me. I could see myself working in that capacity for a while and eventually I would like to leverage that into working in sports,” he explained. “I could see myself working in a league office or something similar in the legal space. I asked people when I was working with the Yankees whether that transition from the corporate space into the sports law was something people can do and it turned out that was exactly their experience.”
He notes that the possibility of combining his love of sports and law would be ideal. “Playing soccer has given me the opportunity to go all over the world, so that’s kind of nice for me. I think taking my business and legal acumen and applying it to sports would be the coolest job in the world and something I could find a lot of joy in doing,” Williams commented.