Playing basketball changed Batouly Camara’s life forever when she was a child. That’s why Batouly founded W.A.K.E. (@w_a_k_e__), which stands for Women and Kids Empowerment, an organization that hosts basketball camps in New York City and Guinea, and whose goal is to empower girls and introduce them to new opportunities.

You may best remember Batouly Camara from her days on the court at UConn, but she’s stayed plenty busy since then. She wrote a children’s book, “A Basketball Game on Wake Street,” made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, was honored at the ESPYs, and plans to travel to Africa to pursue an Olympic dream. In this week’s UConn Report podcast, hosted by Hearst Connecticut Media’s Doug Bonjour, Camara discusses her latest ventures both within and outside basketball.

UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey will coach the Huskies for the first time since 2019 for Sunday’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against High Point after it was announced Monday that head coach Geno Auriemma has to quarantine for 10 days due to a positive COVID-19 test. It’s not the first time she’s coached the Huskies in Auriemma’s absence.

As a former UConn women’s basketball player, Batouly Camara is no stranger to success. However, the 24-year old graduate is beginning to rack up awards and honors at a staggering pace as well. Camara was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 sports list, which highlights young people who are making a difference in their field. Camara was part of three Final Four teams with the Huskies, but made the list because of her work empowering women around the globe

Jamelle Elliott figured she was done with coaching. At least for the foreseeable future. She’d spent more than two decades in the industry — first as an assistant with her alma mater UConn (1997-2009) and then as the head coach at Cincinnati (2009-18) — before deciding that, at age 43, it was time to change paths and pursue another passion of hers. Then came an opportunity to get back into basketball.

“I’m so thankful that when I went to UConn I had a great experience on the basketball court, I had a great experience in the classroom, I had an amazing experience creating with players who were human, who were real, who were at the forefront of these fights as you look at a lot of the WNBA teams who were kneeling and were part of those movements and who were loud about it, and who were proud about what they were fighting for, as they should,” says Batouly Camara.

Jamelle Elliott, who helped usher in the UConn women’s basketball dynasty as a member of the 1995 national championship team and later guided the Huskies to five more titles as an assistant coach, was officially appointed to the staff after serving in an interim role since February, the school announced.

Former UConn forward Batouly Camara’s vast off-court contributions were recognized Sunday night when she was named one of seven recipients of the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award during the ESPYs.
The award honors the efforts of young people who use sports for good in their communities. Camara, who just completed her redshirt senior season in Storrs and earned her master’s degree in sports management, started her own nonprofit (Women and Kids Empowerment or W.A.K.E.) in 2017 to empower girls and women in the U.S. and across the globe.

For the last 34 seasons, Chris Dailey has worked closely with Geno Auriemma to build UConn women’s basketball into the dynasty it is today. Together, they’ve won over 1,000 games, 51 conference championships, and 11 national titles. But Dailey does have one trophy that Auriemma can’t claim: a 1982 AIAW championship with the Rutgers Lady Knights. The AIAW was the predecessor to the NCAA for women’s sports and that year was the first time the NCAA sponsored a women’s basketball championship. So it was the last year of the AIAW Tournament.

UConn Today (Neag School alumna and associate athletic director for the UConn National ‘C’ Club, Jamelle Elliott, is featured)