GBCA Girls Live Event Kickoffs Featuring Over 100 Teams
The wait is finally over in girls’ high school basketball in Georgia as the Georgia Basketball Coaches Association inaugural Girls Live Event kicked off on Thursday. 108 high school teams and three days of basketball games as teams compete against one another in front of college coaches and recruiters in the GBCA’s first summer event for girls’ high school basketball.
Mirroring the boys live event, the girls’ event creates another opportunity for exposure and takes advantage of the open window period in which college coaches and recruiters can see some of the state’s top talent competing with their respective high school teammates and coaches, while simultaneously shining a light on the state and the amount of girls basketball talent within it.
“This is such a great opportunity for our girls. I’m so glad it’s finally here,” Wesleyan Wolves head coach, Carolyn Whitney said, echoing the sentiments of many of the coach and players of the boys event in the fact that “it’s such a great chance for a lot of coaches to be in one place at one time,” to see some of the best that Georgia has to offer.
Whitney’s feelings were pretty much the same across the board, including for Calhoun head coach, Jaime Echols. “It’s something we’ve been looking forward to as soon as it started getting talked about, so to be here amongst all these great teams together on the same site, very exciting,” Echols added, saying the event, “checks every box”.
When speaking with the coaches, they each felt that the live event not only offered the opportunity to play in front of college coaches and recruiters, but they got to see their girls compete against some of the best talent in the state, and for Southwest Dekalb Lady Panthers head coach and GBCA member, Kathy Richey-Walton, “some of the best talent in girls high school basketball” national is in Georgia.
“For all these teams to come together and showcase what we have at one location is really going to help grow our sport,” Walton added as she reflected on how much work has been done by the girls’ basketball community in the state to help shine a light on the student athletes in Georgia. The GBCA Girls Live Event will continue on Friday and Saturday.
