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INDIANAPOLIS – While WNBA All-Star Weekend was certainly the talk of the city in Indianapolis, it wasn’t the only major event going on. As part of All-Star Weekend, Basketball Without Borders, in conjunction with the WNBA and NBA, hosted one of their yearly camps at nearby University of Indianapolis. Washington Mystics guard Georgia Amoore, who was ruled out for her WNBA rookie season due to injury, was on hand as one of the camp’s coaches.
Basketball Without Borders plays a key influence in growing the game on a global scale, and several of the top high school age girl’s basketball prospects were on hand to participate in a two-day camp focusing on skill work and culminating with playoff games.
Georgia Amoore was an international prospect herself, having grown up in Australia before coming to the United States and ultimately being selected in the WNBA Draft by the Mystics. She starred at Loreto College during her high school years, and played in the now defunct South East Australian Basketball League, and the NBL before committing to play college basketball at Virginia Tech.
With the rise in popularity of the WNBA not just stateside, but around the world, Amoore believes camps like Basketball Without Borders are crucial to continuing to grow the game. Amoore wasn’t the only WNBA player who participated in the weekend’s camp. Seattle Storm guard Nika Mühl, who is also nursing a season-ending injury, stopped by to speak to the young campers as a former camp attendee herself.
“All eyes are on women’s sports right now. And I think basketball is growing, especially when you have camps like these, people who come back like Nika. . .just to be some of the ones that are international to come into the league, look at who is international in the league,” Amoore said during a media availability session after the camp. “You have Marine [Johannes], you have a lot of the French players, Gabby [Williams], I could go on and on. Even JJ [Jonquel Jones] who represents the Bahamas.”
“So many notable internationals that put themselves out there and represent their country, it shows you that it’s not impossible,” Amoore continued. “For someone like this, maybe they’re from Taiwan or maybe they’re from Egypt, and to have that representation, to have someone out there who’s like, ‘I’m an international, I’ve been through this, it’s possible to get where I’m at, it means so much. It’s something you can aspire to.”
Amoore suffered an ACL injury during training camp, and underwent surgery ending her rookie year before it even began. But during Mystics’ games, she’s been on the sidelines with the coaching staff participating in team huddles and seeing the game from a coaching lens.
As one of the team coaches at the Basketball Without Borders camp, Amoore admitted that once her playing days are over, coaching is something she definitely wants to pursue.
“It’s always gonna be a good opportunity to take a step back and look through different lenses. Eventually I know one day I do want to coach,” Amoore said. “So it’s kind of been cool to not only do that while I’m injured, but have so many different experiences. Like obviously I sit behind the bench during our games in the W, but to be able to come here and coach young females has been the best opportunity.”
