For Batouly Camara, “sport was freedom” ever since her childhood. “Freedom to identify, freedom to travel, and freedom to get a free education which I don’t think I’d have otherwise.”
The former UConn basketballer has made a name for herself not only in the world of college athletics, but also with her activism. Her goal? To bring education, academic and physical, to girls in Guinea. She hopes to bring to others the same opportunities she had as a child, through sports and education.
Alongside her volunteer work, Camara has published a children’s book titled “A Basketball Game on Wake Street,” which she hopes will inspire a young generation of athletes.
Batouly Camara Links Sports and Education
Camara’s parents hail from Guinea, but she was born and grew up in New York City. “My dad would say, ‘education is the vehicle for change,’” she recalls.
Throughout her successful career as a college basketball player, Camara also maintained a strong academic showing, and plans to obtain a Masters degree from Connecticut’s Neag School of Education. “Going to Guinea, I can tell kids about their options,” she explains. “Including continuing their education. And I can show them: This is what I do.”
Camara is also not shy about about her identity as a Muslim, something that feeds her activism in turn. “It’s a core part of my identity that I grew up with,” Camara tells The UConn Blog. “Having the support of my teammates, they listen to you, they ask me questions, we talk about it. Being able to show that and be accepted and have it reciprocated means a lot to me.”
An Injury-Ridden Basketball Career
While at UConn, Camara has continued to stand out as a basketball player and activist, despite some recent injuries. Unfortunately, after a left knee scope in November of 2019, her recovery time has stretched out. This limited her ability to participate in the last season.
Nevertheless, Camara hopes to continue to play basketball. If not professionally, she at least hopes she can use basketball to help and inspire others.
“People think sports and think professionals – but there are routes,” Camara says, “ways to stay in sports, way to influence those around you.” This is her goal with her activism.
“A Basketball Game on Wake Street” by Batouly Camara
“Sport went from being kind of like a safe haven [for me] to something that transformed into something that I really value, but really wanted to pour into others,” Camara tells the Hartford Courant’s UConn Insider podcast.
She brings this attitude to life with her multiple activism and volunteering endeavors, which include the non-profit Women and Kids Empowerment (WAKE) and her children’s book “A Basketball Game on Wake Street.”
The book focuses on how sport brings everyone together and features a pickup basketball game between girls of all different backgrounds and abilities. Camara tells The Middletown Press that the book was inspired by a game she participated in while on a volunteering trip in India, where she played with a young boy who called over his deaf friend to play using sign language, and then another with a prosthetic arm. “It was just a beautiful moment,” she says.
In a recent TEDx talk entitled “A Mirror of Hope: Seeing is Believing,” Camara further discusses her activism in the West African country of Guinea, her parents’ country of origin.
She references numerous studies that claim that “a girl’s self-perception and self-confidence can be improved when participating in sport.” A UNICEF study states that 1 out of 10 African schoolgirls will drop out of school or simply skip.
Her organization, WAKE, seeks to encourage girls through both education and physical activity. The goal: to keep young girls in school and to open up more opportunities in their future.
“My ultimate purpose is to create spaces for women to dream,” explains Batouly.
