Playing basketball at the collegiate level isn’t for everyone. So for the campers at the Bonnie Henrickson basketball camp, playing in Kansas University’s Allen Fieldhouse left a lasting impression.
“It was amazing,” said Ashley Harry, a junior at Skutt Catholic High in Omaha, Neb. “Just playing in so much history and just thinking about how Paul Pierce and all those greats played in there.
“It was just amazing. At first, you walk into the stadium and you get the butterflies. But once you start playing, it’s just like a whole different experience. It’s like you’re playing the game of your life.”
Wednesday, it was the WNBA division that got to step onto James Naismith Court on the camp’s final day. The WNBA division was made up of high school players, with fifth- and sixth-graders making up the SEC division and seventh- and eighth-graders creating the Big 12 division.
Both individual and team awards were handed out for each division Wednesday.
Leaving with the most hardware in the WNBA was Jordan Kramer, a freshman at Jefferson County North. She was the winner of the 1-on-1 competition in the division and was named the top offensive player in the league by the coaches.
Kramer also was a member of the first-place team of the WNBA after it lost just one game.
“It’s just great to earn offensive player,” Kramer said, “and win a championship.”
While Kramer was dubbed offensive player of the league, Harry earned the MVP award.
“I really didn’t expect to get it, because there were so many great players that came out here,” Harry said. “So just to get it is an honor in itself.”
Vickie Dolan, a ninth-grader at Olathe Chisholm Trail Junior High who attended the camp two years ago, won the knockout competition along with the speed lay-up drill and played in the all-star game.
“The all-star team is where they pick two to four players from each team and set up two teams that play against each other,” Dolan said. “And we won.”
Henrickson, the Jayhawks’ coach, was present to hand out awards, which ranged from T-shirts and trophies to miniature and game-size basketballs autographed by the KU women’s team.
“The more competitions we have, the more kids we can recognize,” Henrickson said. “What I like is, it’s not the same few kids getting all of the awards. We do different things where you can recognize success in a lot of numbers.”
Getting to see different talent levels at the three-day camp was especially significant for Harry.
“It was actually a great experience just to work around them. It’s just different competition,” Harry said. “I’m not playing the same person over and over again, like the girls in Nebraska. You get to play different players and find new moves that you need to do. It works itself out.”
