One of Northern Nevada’s most decorated women’s basketball players, Gabby Williams, is giving back to her hometown this weekend hosting an inaugural “Gabby Williams Basketball Camp”.
“My goal is just to give the kids the things that I didn’t have,” Williams said. “Just having that experience from outside of the state, outside of the country and just bringing that that here, giving them the advice that maybe I never had when I was a kid or just the the kind of tools that I never had.”
Williams is holding two one-day camps for all skill levels at the Boys and Girls Club of Truckee Meadows’ Pennington Facility across from Reno High School. Saturday’s camp featured beginner/intermediate level campers with the advanced camp on Sunday. Williams recalled her memories growing up in the gym as her father, Matt, founded local youth basketball program, Jam On It.
“Absolutely I was a gym rat of course,” Williams recalled. “My Dad had camps throughout the entire summer since I was three, four years old so it just felt very normal to me to just always be in the gym, so now it feels good to finally be in charge of it.”
Williams guided Reed High to a large-class state title during her sophomore year in 2012 before injuries cut her junior and senior basketball seasons short. 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 the state’s history, Williams helped guide UConn to NCAA Championships in 2015 and 2016 while earning All-American honors. She was named the 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 No. 4 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 National Team in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and is currently playing overseas with Team France ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Williams has spent more time in Northern Nevada recently following her Dad passing away in March.
“I’ve been working out with Walt Hopkins and just being around his girls that he’s training, it just really inspired me, like I wanted to do a bit more,” Williams said of the idea to host a camp. “Also, just the timing of it, this is the longest I’ve been back in Reno, so the fact that I had a weekend that didn’t conflict too much with any tournaments, just felt like the right moment 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 level including a two-year stint as an assistant with the Minnesota Lynx and two seasons as New York Liberty’s head coach. Hopkins spent 2008-12 with Reed’s boys and girls basketball programs and was an assistant girls basketball coach when Williams helped guide the Raiders a large-class state title in 2012. He’s helping Williams coach this weekend’s camps.
“He’s known me since I was really young,” Williams said of Hopkins. “He was kind of one of the first guys who really trained me and taught me some things like that I’d never learned from Reno. We both kind of went to the NBA around the same time so it was kind of crazy just having someone else who’s like a brother to me from Reno kind of go through the same career path that I did. Whenever I’m home, he works me out to and trains me and makes sure I stay in shape and that’s been great.”
As Williams gears up for the 2024 Paris Olympics with Team France, she hopes to inspire those around the world they too can achieve their dreams as momentum continues to grow surrounding women’s basketball.
“I think it just shows that when you put women in the spotlight and when you grow it, people want it, people want the product, we have a great product to show,” Williams said. “I think the NIL deals 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’ll show up and people want this, it’s no longer like a niche thing that people really have to work hard to be a fan. Now it’s easy, we have the publicity, we have the marketing, we have the visibility, and it’s working. People love it and I think that’s just a proof that just everyone watches women’s sports.”
To sign up for Sunday’s camp, click here.