We welcome a new Savannah Williams to the ViewCrew. We are excited to learn about the events she is involved in and championing. Please connect with her and give some feedback by scanning the code. We look forward to more from here. – Chris Murphy
Basketball: Is it just a sport?
By Savanna Williams
Is basketball really just a sport? Quite simply, it’s all about one’s perspective and experiences. For example, in my experience as a child I was not exposed to organized basketball like AAU. I went to one NBA game and zero WNBA or NCAA games. However, I would play at open gyms with my pops and my brothers. In retrospect, though I didn’t play AAU, I was always playing with males – both boys and grown men. At my time at Robertson Road Elementary I would play basketball at recess and after school until they locked the gates, and on the weekends I would go to Robertson Road Park to practice and play pickup games.
By the 6th grade I was at a private school that had a gym so I would be in there shooting during break and lunch, and after school. It wasn’t until then, that I actually played with all females during P.E. The highlight of my youth is playing an intramural game, so to speak, once a year against alumnae. The gym was always packed! From junior high to high school, I had received MVP 5 times and the Dean’s Sportsmanship Award my senior year. Even after all that, I did not have the experience of playing in a league so college basketball wasn’t a possibility in my mind. Social media wasn’t like it is now, I didn’t have a coach to guide me and I didn’t get any scholarships. One day when I was in a basketball class at Modesto Junior College, a female from the women’s basketball team told me I should try out. I played there for a year and ended up in Washington state to finish my second year at Green River Community College. I went on to play Pro-Am basketball in Lakewood and when I returned to California, in San Francisco at the Kezar Stadium. I say all of that to say that if I can accomplish all that, solely on pure passion and skill, imagine what else I could have accomplished with proper support and resources. I wasn’t informed about the possibilities of playing college basketball, let alone playing in the WNBA or overseas. That is why I am making the effort to expose our youth to the possibilities within basketball, that I wasn’t exposed to.
A common perception of basketball is that it is an outlet, a workout or a fun activity; and that it can get you into college.
Basketball is also a job: whether an athlete, a coach, a trainer, etc. Cities with professional sports teams provide even more
jobs. NBA players make millions of dollars and most of them put that money back into the communities they were raised in. See where I’m going with that? For some, “basketball is just a sport, a game, a ball”, but for us basketball pioneers it is a tool to build our youth and communities, a career pathway, a means of income and a platform for societal change. Basketball is the epitome of evolution and it can be life changing.
You can get involved and start a new path at Boys Summer Camp Featuring Gabe Vincent, NBA guard for the LA Lakers | July 1-3 | modestoslamnjam.com. Check out girls Summer Basketball Camps | Camp 1: July 1-3 | Camp 2: July 8-11 | modestomagic.com
