Over 100 youth basketball players took part in a basketball skills camp hosted by a Norman native and former NCAA basketball player.
Hosted at the Young Family Athletic Center this week, 130 youth athletes attended the Basketball 101 Camp, a fundamental skills and drills camp hosted by Stacy Hansmeyer.
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Hansmeyer graduated from Norman High School, where she played under coach Sherri Coale, before attending the University of Connecticut. While at UConn, she was a member of the basketball team all four years and was part of the 2000 National Championship team.
Following her college playing career, Hansmeyer coached at the University of Oklahoma for 10 years. Since leaving OU, Hansmeyer has offered private and small group basketball training as well as put on various basketball camps.
This week, Hansmeyer put on the camp for around 130 youth basketball players.
“ It’s been the biggest blessing that’s been so much fun,” Hansmeyer said. “I do a lot of private training, a lot of small groups, but it’s just really exciting to reach a bigger group and to be in front of a bunch of kids.”
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Hansmeyer has over a dozen assistants helping put on the camp, which separated the athletes into four courts based on their ages. The coaches ran athletes through a variety of dribbling, shooting and other basketball drills throughout the three-day camp.
Many of the assistants were basketball players who had private or group training with Hansmeyer, including several who took part in past camps hosted by Hansmeyer. She added that some of the assistants are members of the ninth-grade boys’ basketball team she coaches.
“ My first invite is always them and… they come and they’re a part of it. So I’ve got Norman High School guys, Norman North guys,” she said. “I just have, guys and girls, I should say, I just have a lot of the high school community come.”
Hansmeyer said she has had several athletes go on to play in college, including Norman native Chantae Embry, who played at Texas Tech University and Southern Methodist University, and has returned before to help out at Hansmeyer’s camps. Madi Williams, who played at OU, has also assisted in several camps.
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Hansmeyer said she never trained Williams but made a connection with her based on their experience and time at OU.
“ It’s just great to have those kids that have had the dream of playing college basketball and then achieved it… to come back and to be standing in front of these kids and providing a goal or a dream that, ‘Hey, you can be this. It is possible. Here’s a kid from Norman High School. Here’s a kid from CCS. They have gone on to college and have been able to play basketball on a full-ride scholarship,” Hansmeyer said.
