With WNBA season over, Aces’ Gray happy to help young campers seek their dreams

With the Las Vegas Aces’ season behind her, guard Chelsea Gray spent some time on Saturday focusing on the future — the 120 kids participating in CareSource Nevada’s Point Gawd Basketball Camp.

At Mojave High, Gray was the main attraction for these young hoopsters, who soaked up the chance to learn from the six-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She loved playing the part of coach, showing the younger kids how to dribble the ball and helping the older ones improve their shooting technique.

“It’s all about your community and the impact you’re able to have on a lot of these kids,” Gray said. “I hope this is a lasting memory for some of these kids and they’re able to talk about it for a while. … They’re just having fun being out here.”

After helping with dribbling, passing and shooting drills, Gray held court during a Q&A session with the aspiring athletes. In a change of pace from her usual postgame press conferences, Gray talked about her favorite players as a kid (Magic Johnson and Allen Iverson), what she’d be doing if she didn’t play basketball (working in the music industry) and her favorite food (seafood).

With the hard-hitting questions done, the kids broke off into groups for games against their fellow campers. Having such a decorated pro athlete on hand gave the young players something to shoot for.

Seventh-grader Jordan Austin (named after NBA legend Michael Jordan) likes to emulate Gray’s swagger and loved the chance to play as she watched.

“She’s kind of inspirational,” Austin said. “I’m trying to go to that pro level, and it gives you some experience in what skill level you need.”

Gray said she loved getting to teach not just basketball skills, but teamwork. She said that growing up, she was always in the gym, going to camps just like this one and spending time with her friends.

Gray was more than happy to encourage the next generation of athletes — an effort appreciated by parents in attendance.

“It has been truly amazing to me to watch my daughter get to interact with an actual WNBA player, and one of our favorites,” said Alannah Conway, mother of second-grade camper Ariyah Glasper. “To have her pour back into the community has been truly, truly awesome.”

Saturday’s event was the latest in CareSource Nevada’s outreach with youth sports camps. Previously, the nonprofit managed healthcare organization has put on similar events with Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Tre Tucker and the UNR men’s basketball team.

“We like these kinds of events to get kids to be active,” CareSource Nevada Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tracey Green said. “That’s really our mission, is to be in the community, to be addressing the community’s needs. … We want to have fun, and then talk about healthcare.”

While the younger athletes practiced fundamentals in the main gym, older students competed against each other in Mojave’s auxiliary gym. Gray rotated between the two areas, offering advice, celebrating buckets and posing for photos.

Getting to learn hands-on from Gray was an uplifting time for these students, many of whom got into basketball from watching Aces games.

“It’s been inspiring, because it makes me feel like I can do hard things,” fifth-grader Mariah Gaylor said.