Where there's a Will (Oliver) there's a way

Will Oliver has the perfect name for the lead character in his own adventure novel.

The story revolves around a 17-year-old boy who entered high school wanting to try everything, and he has followed his intrepid spirit so passionately that his football coach at North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, Vic Eumont, says "the kid is amazing."

There's only 24 hours in a day, but Oliver finds ways — and time — to live his life beyond the most imaginative of teenage audacity.


Last season, he was the Wolverines' standout kicker, making field goals from 51 and 50 yards. After games Friday night, he'd head to Culver City to play for one of his two ice hockey teams, not getting home until 1:30 a.m.

He also competes on soccer and lacrosse teams, plays the viola in the school orchestra, participates in a peer support program, was elected to the Student Athletic Advisory Council, made the honor roll, scored 1980 on the SAT and has a 3.2 grade-point average.

"I just keep going because the more I do, the more energy I get," he said.

Even as temperatures soared into triple digits last week, Oliver was practicing his kicking on the sizzling Harvard-Westlake synthetic turf field until his position coach decided he'd seen enough. And yet, Oliver refused to leave until he retrieved a loose football at the opposite end of the field and made one more kick.

"It's always one more with him," kicking coach Tony Peters said.

Even more surprising is that Oliver somehow keeps track of his many engagements without the help of a calendar, a Blackberry or a notebook to write down his schedule.

"I don't forget," he said. "It's etched in my brain."

So what's with the football-then-ice-hockey doubleheaders Friday nights?

"Come and kick a few footballs, go play hockey. It doesn't get much better," Oliver said. "I'm weird, I know."

He has the perfect disposition to be a kicker. Nothing bothers him. In fact, the more pressure, the better he is.

"I live for the pressure," he said. "It's one of the biggest reasons I do it. I'm super cool under pressure. I hit the best balls under pressure."

Eumont said Oliver will be a can't-miss college kicker.

Equally impressive is Oliver's commitment to experience as many different activities as possible.

"I've balanced it all my life, and I've had parents who've helped me with doing everything I've wanted to do," he said. "I've kind of stuck with it because I'm so passionate.

"You make time for what you love. I do things I want to do because I work so hard at them. You sleep when you sleep. You work when you work. You play when you play. You do it all hard."

There is one thing Oliver wasn't keen on doing — playing the viola. His mother made him do it as a seventh grader. Now he loves it.

"I practice at home, and it's real relaxing," he said. "I also have symphony first period, so it's kind of a nice way at 8 o'clock to start off your day with a little bit of music, a little bit of fun."

Of course, some of his fellow football players who find out he plays the viola say, "Are you kidding me?"

"It's become part of me," he said.

The school's head of athletics, Audrius Barzudukas, marvels at Oliver's daily odysseys.

"The high school experience is about trying different things," he said. "That kid is a trier. He came here a blank slate and he has tried everything."

Well, not everything.

Is there a Bungee jumping team?

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

twitter.com/LATSondheimer