EXCLUSIVE: Sabrina Ionescu Giving Back to Eugene Community With First Youth Basketball Camp
When a University of Oregon student started a Change.org petition in April 2019 for Nike to sell replica jerseys for Oregon's women's basketball team, it garnered thousands of signatures within days.
When Sabrina Ionescu's No. 20 jersey hit the shelves at The Duck Store in November 2019, it sold out within hours. Not to mention her New York Liberty jersey was the highest-selling WNBA jersey in the 2021 regular season.
Wherever Ionescu goes, fans follow. She was the face of the Oregon women's basketball program from her dynamic freshman season, before a record-breaking career that ultimately led to her becoming the face of college basketball.
So it was no surprise that when the NCAA's all-time leader in triple doubles announced her first ever "SI20" youth basketball camp in Eugene, it sold out in a little more than 24 hours.
The camp, which will be held on March 27 at Kidsports in Eugene, will allow 250 boys and girls — split between two three-hour sessions — from fourth to eighth grade to learn from Ionescu along with some of her mentors, including Kelly Sopak, who coached Ionescu from third grade through high school.
Ducks Digest sat down with Ionescu to talk about the opportunity to host her very own camp in Eugene, as well as her execution of her goals to continue bringing eyes to women's basketball.
© Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
"They're going to really be able to learn from a lot of my mentors and people that I've learned from," Ionescu said of what attendees can expect at the camp. "Also, the accessibility of having me there and being able to spend a lot of time with the kids and be able to dissect what they're doing on the court and to see if I can help in any way and being someone that they can talk with. I think that's something that's super important that I value."
Growing up, Ionescu didn't have an opportunity like the one she is presenting to kids in Eugene. Heck, she wasn't even allowed to play on the boys' team in middle school, leading to her playing the role of general manager and recruiting a team on her own.
The opportunity for Ionescu to directly inspire the next generation of basketball players, even while being just 24 years old and entering her third season in the WNBA, is invaluable to her.
"It's something you can't always put into words," Ionescu said of what hosting the camp means to her. "Maybe when I'm done playing, I'll be able to look back and think about how cool that really is. But even now, it's kind of humbling and honoring to be able to do that coming from how far that I've come through my basketball career, and now being able to give back and hopefully inspire young kids and be able to be a mentor for them is really something that I don't take for granted."
One aspect of the camp that intrigues Ionescu is getting to coach the kids in games, especially if she gets to have her own team at the camp. So what will Coach Sabrina look like?
"I'm obviously going to be cheering on every single camper, but when the game starts, it's going to be exciting if I do have a team at camp and if we do scrimmage to see what that's going to look like and how competitive I'm going to get," Ionescu laughed. "Then I'm going to remember that they're in elementary school and I should probably tone it down a little bit."
© Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Ionescu said that choosing Eugene as the location for her first camp was an obvious choice, especially after getting to meet so many adoring, inspired young fans as a Duck not just at Matthew Knight Arena, but on the road as well.
The camp has been in the works since around the time she was selected first overall by the New York Liberty in 2020. Kidsports, a non-profit organization that provides sports programs for children in the Eugene and Springfield areas, was another easy choice for Ionescu when mapping out her camp.
"Being able to go out there when I was in college and see what was built and how elite that facility is in Eugene, and how awesome it is for kids to be able to go out and participate in sports, it was a no-brainer for me to want to do it there," Ionescu said.
Hosting her first camp is just another step toward growing her own brand as well as the brand of women's basketball. Ionescu is no stranger to drawing eyes to women's hoops, as her incredible career at Oregon drew in a whole new audience to the sport.
From early in her career when Matthew Knight Arena was lucky to fill 1,000 seats, selling tickets literally for the price of the temperature in Eugene that day, to averaging more than 10,000 fans her senior year, Ionescu was the face of the burgeoning marketability of women's college basketball.
© Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
Her game attracted the attention of some of the best basketball players in the world, including Kobe Bryant, Diana Taurasi, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James. The attention toward Ionescu and the Oregon program grew and grew, leading to a first-of-its-kind jersey of an active women's college basketball player.
Ionescu recalled to Ducks Digest the story of how she first noticed just how much of a demand there was for No. 20 jerseys, shortly before the No. 1 Ducks tipped off their regular season home opener against Northeastern.
"I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was getting ready for the game, and it was like you knew when everyone started to come in because the doors opened and it was like a madhouse to get the best seats.
"Our whole team was just staring into the stands, and everyone's like 'Sabrina, Sabrina, Sabrina, do you see all these jerseys?' And I was like, 'Yeah, I'm just trying to not focus on it.' It was one of those instances where you're just like, 'Whoa, is this really happening? Are all these people in my jersey?' And then hearing people tried to go up to the concession stands and it had already sold out. It was one of those moments of disbelief honestly, like I didn't think people would be buying my jersey."
© Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard via Imagn Content Services, LLC
But people were buying her jersey, and they were raiding the shelves for it like it was the latest pair of sneakers on the SNKRS app. The demand to buy a piece of history was enticing for so many Oregon fans, but also for fans of basketball and supporters of student athletes profiting from their name, image, and likeness.
The NCAA wouldn't approve the NIL rule changes to allow student athletes to do so until June 2021, but Ionescu said the call for Oregon jerseys while she was suiting up for the Ducks sparked the conversation for a change in NIL rules, especially with the way her jerseys were flying off the racks.
"Obviously, the jersey sales would have been nice when I was in college to be able to profit off of those," Ionescu said, "but I think that was definitely kind of the stepping stone to now having all college athletes being able to profit off their name and image."
Ionescu said that when it comes to her impact on the marketability of women's hoops, she is most proud of the awareness she helped bring toward the inequalities between coverage of men's and women's basketball, and the disparities in between the men's and women's NCAA tournaments last year.
"I think really just seeing where it's gone and how many more people are talking about it and watching it, and it starts with us that have the platform and ability to create that change and demand it," said Ionescu, who, along with current Oregon star Sedona Prince, were at the forefront of highlighting those disparities in the 2021 tournament "bubbles."
The Oregon women's basketball team has been a force for change in a number of ways in the past couple of years, ignited by Ionescu's goal to better the game for the athletes that come after her.
"It's been really cool to see the transition," Ionescu said of the growth of the sport. "Obviously it started way before our time, but even through our four years at Oregon, being able to see how that grew and changed. We kind of set the standard, and now the bar is going to continue to get raised."
© Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
The words "marketability" and "Oregon" go together better than thunder and lightning. Oregon has long been a step ahead of the competition in terms of providing the best experience possible for its student athletes.
The UO outdid itself with the 2021 launch of Division Street Inc., a platform founded by Oregon donors, including Nike co-founder Phil Knight, to "empower Oregon student athletes to elevate their NIL opportunities," per the company's website.
Ionescu, having graduated from UO with a Master's in Advertising and Brand Responsibility, was brought on as the Chief Athlete Officer of Division Street, ensuring that the voice of the student athlete is the priority in NIL endeavors.
She believes that the University of Oregon and its athletics programs have been a key actor in providing college athletes nationwide with the opportunity to profit from the NIL rule change.
"You have to be able to move and adapt with the times as things are changing, and I think that's where you really succeed, especially as a university," Ionescu said. "This has been a long time coming for student athletes."
Women's college basketball is continuing to reach new audiences thanks in large part to Ionescu's savvy and flare on the court, along with her fight off the court for the rights of student athletes.
© Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard via Imagn Content Services, LLC
If you know Ionescu and her fiery ambition to win, you'll know her goals and expectations for herself are as high as anyone's, and rightfully so. While her "unfinished business" on the court that she came back for at Oregon will forever remain unfinished, her "unfinished business" off the court is much bigger than any championship ring she'll earn.
"I definitely want to be the greatest ever," Ionescu told Ducks Digest, "but I think at the end of the day, that's on the basketball court. I think the even bigger picture is off the court, and how I can continue to inspire and change the game for women and for young girls and kind of just change the game of basketball.
"That's something obviously that I don't think I see right now, but hopefully when I'm done playing, I'll be able to look back and see the story I've had and the career that I've had. It's being written right now, but there's still a lot more to do. I'm really excited to have a whole career ahead of me and a lot more to do in sport and out of sport."
(Graphic: Dylan Reubenking; Photos: © David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports; © Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports; © Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard via Imagn Content Services, LLC; © Andy Nelson/The Register-Guard via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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