One of Northern Nevada‘s most decorated basketball players, Gabby Williams, is giving back to her hometown this weekend by hosting an inaugural “Gabby Williams Basketball Camp.”
“My goal is just to give kids things that I didn’t have,” Williams said. “Just having that experience out of state, out of the country and bringing it here, giving them the advice that maybe I never had as a kid or just the kind of tools that I never had.”
Williams is holding two one-day camps for all levels at the Boys and Girls Club at the Pennington Campus in Truckee Meadows, across from Reno High School. Saturday’s camp featured beginner/intermediate campers and Sunday’s advanced camp. Williams recalled her memories of her growing up in the gym, when her father, Matt, founded the local youth basketball program, Jam On It.
“Of course, I was a gym rat,” Williams recalled. “My dad had camps all summer long since I was three or four years old, so it seemed very normal to always be in the gym, so now it feels good to finally be in charge of it.”
Williams led Reed High to a large class state title during his sophomore year in 2012 before injuries shortened his junior and senior basketball seasons. She earned McDonald’s All-American honors and earned Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year honors twice in track and field. One of the top recruits in state history, Williams helped guide UConn to the NCAA championships in 2015 and 2016 while earning All-American honors. She was named National Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. During Williams’ four-year career with the Huskies, she helped guide UConn to a 148-3 record.
Williams was the fourth overall pick in the 2018 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky and spent time with the Los Angeles Sparks and Seattle Storm. Williams won a bronze medal with the French team at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and is currently playing overseas with Team France heading into the Paris 2024 Olympics. Williams has spent more time in Northern Nevada recently after of his father’s death in March.
“I’ve been training with Walt Hopkins and being around his girls while he’s training really inspired me, like I wanted to do a little more,” Williams said of the idea of hosting a camp. “Also, just at the moment, this is the longest I’ve been in Reno, so the fact that I had a weekend that didn’t conflict too much with any tournaments, it just seemed like the right time to do it.” ”
Hopkins, a Sparks native and Reed High graduate, has spent more than a decade coaching at the high school, college and professional levels, including a two-year stint as an assistant with the Minnesota Lynx and two seasons as head coach of the New York Liberty . Hopkins spent 2008-12 with Reed’s men’s and women’s basketball programs and was an assistant girls’ basketball coach when Williams helped guide the Raiders to a major state title in 2012. He is helping Williams coach at camps. this weekend.
“He’s known me since I was really young,” Williams said of Hopkins. “He was one of the first guys that really coached me and taught me things like that that I had never learned from Reno. We both went to the NBA around the same time, so it was crazy to have someone else who’s like a brother to me from Reno follows the same professional path as me. Whenever I’m home he trains me and makes sure he keeps me in shape and that’s been great.”
As Williams prepares for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with Team France, she hopes to inspire those around the world who can also achieve their dreams as momentum continues to grow around women’s basketball.
“I think it just shows that when you put women in the spotlight and when you cultivate them, people want it, people want the product, we have a great product to show,” Williams said. “I think the NIL agreements with the NCAA have changed everything, I think that’s really been the difference. It’s just proof that when you give us the opportunity, we will show up and people want this, it’s no longer a niche thing that La People really have to work hard to be a fan. Now it’s easy, we have the advertising, we have the marketing, we have the visibility and it’s working and I think that’s proof that everyone watches women’s sports. “.
To register for Sunday’s camp, click here.
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