{"id":705055,"date":"2026-04-08T11:01:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705055\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T11:01:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:01:38","slug":"lady-ballers-clinic-by-hawks-promotes-girls-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/705055\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Ballers clinic by Hawks promotes girls’ basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The Atlanta Hawks partnered with Google for the first Lady Ballers clinic of the year in March, providing girls aged eight to 15 with on-court practice and hands-on STEM-based activities. 40 young female athletes of all skill levels participated in the clinic hosted at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation and Aquatic Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To celebrate Women\u2019s History Month, the organization wanted to create a special clinic to spotlight the importance of women\u2019s sports. Jon Babul, Vice President of basketball programs for the Atlanta Hawks, said, \u201cWe have a responsibility. We are the pinnacle of basketball in our state. We\u2019ve got to set the example.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the Saturday afternoon clinic, athletes ran drills focusing on shooting mechanics, rebounding, ball handling, footwork, defensive positioning, and passing. The STEM component included the creation of \u201ctrashketballs\u201d and \u201cmoon darts\u201d led by Google volunteers and Hawks staff, teaching the athletes about force, motion, and gravity, and how they relate to basketball. <\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy Atlanta Hawks\/Ryan M. \/ KG Photo Crew<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you run at a certain angle and you\u2019re trying to cut off the person you\u2019re guarding, you know, it\u2019s science, it\u2019s math, and we\u2019re just connecting the dots,\u201d Babul said.<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of the Lady Ballers program in 2018, over 1,000 young female athletes have participated in clinics and camps. The intention behind the program is to create a safe, encouraging space for girls to learn the sport and foster a lifelong love for basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGirls are trying the game, but then they\u2019re leaving the game in seventh, eighth, ninth grade for a handful of reasons, but we know that some of those reasons are controllable,\u201d Babul said. \u201cDid they have a good experience? Did they play for a good coach that was positive and a good role model?\u201d The Hawks host clinics for coaches as well to ensure that young athletes get the best instruction possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lady Ballers\u2019 clinics and camps<\/a> are open to all young girls who want to learn basketball, whether it\u2019s their first time on a court or their hundredth. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend a lot of time with intent to bring in the right people to be able to design great experiences for girls of every skill level,\u201d Babul said. \u201cWe have 100% confidence in our coaches that there\u2019s a passion there, there\u2019s smiles, there\u2019s interpersonal relationships being developed, especially during a week of camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through its eight years, the Lady Ballers organization has established itself as one of the leading basketball developmental programs in Atlanta. The staff has seen girls come back year after year to continue their sports education. Babul said, \u201cGirls basketball is so important, and I believe that providing a great experience that\u2019s safe, that\u2019s fun, that\u2019s enjoyable and educational, if you can do that and check those boxes, they will come back. And that\u2019s what it\u2019s proven.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy Atlanta Hawks\/Ryan M. \/ KG Photo Crew<\/p>\n

Support local media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Hawks partnered with Google for the first Lady Ballers clinic of the year in March, providing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,11515,677,88297,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-705055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-basketball-camp","13":"tag-hawks","14":"tag-lady-ballers","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116368750664040747","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}