As he twists and flies through the air, junior Ron Williams catches a glimpse of the clock. Though he only has 20 seconds left, he plans to make every one of them count. Cheers erupt from the crowd as the buzzer sounds. Once again, William’s time is up and it’s time for the third quarter to start.

In September of 2019, Williams became a part of Team Big Air, which allows him to perform stunts with a group at every Dallas Mavericks home game.

“When I do tricks it feels like a flight,” he said. “My heart is racing and I’m having the time of my life. Lots of people choke when they are in front of thousands of people for performance, but I think it’s the best part.”

Williams decided to audition for the team after being persuaded by a fellow gymnast.

“I became well known in the area of gymnastics and tumbling that I do,” he said. “A lot of people knew me. One of the people who did have connections heard about the tryouts, contacted me and had me go to the tryout.”

Williams has been doing gymnastics for six years.

“I saw my aunt do a back hand-spring when she was a cheerleader and that’s when I decided I wanted to be better than her and get into gymnastics,” he said.

Team Big Air is not only contracted to do performances for the Dallas Mavericks.

“We don’t only perform at Mavericks games,” Williams said. “We’ll go to actual company events or any place that will hire. We also do high school assemblies, state fairs and national fairs.”

Williams is the youngest of the four members on Team Big Air.

“I am 16 and the rest of the people are in their 20s and 40s,” he said. “Even though I’m the youngest, I feel like I’m at least on their level performance wise.”

Williams’ favorite part about being a part of Team Big Air is performing in front of crowds.

“Performing in front of 50,000 people is pretty fun,” he said. “I love the adrenaline rush that comes with it and the fact that the audience doesn’t know what to expect.”

After graduating, Williams said he still plans to be a part Team Big Air.

“I plan on traveling with the team whenever I’m done with high school,” he said. “When that happens, I’ll be doing separate performances not only for the Dallas Mavericks, but also for Team Big Air when they go to other countries and states.”