Cameron Brink Shares Impressive Ambitions for Inspiring the Next Generation

The Los Angeles Sparks forward has undertaken various initiatives to encourage young girls to pursue basketball (and any other passions they might have).

Cameron Brink / Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

This September, Cameron Brink held her third annual basketball camp, Next22. The 22-year-old first hosted the camp in 2022, when she was still a basketball player at Stanford. Then, the camp was intended to host 22 girls (hence the name), with the goal of giving them the opportunity to make connections and grow as athletes. Though the camp has since grown in size, the goal remains the same.

The now professional basketball player, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, stated last fall that her initiative is not intended to curate the next generation of professional basketball players. Rather, “it’s about making connections. It’s about leadership skills. It’s about connecting within your community. And the biggest thing for me is [fostering] self-confidence and self-esteem—because that’s what sports do for girls.”

Recently, Brink teamed up with TOGETHXR, the female-led media company, and DICK’S Sporting Goods to continue that mission. She headed to City Swish in Los Angeles, where she had the opportunity to speak to and play basketball with a group of young girls. In addition to sharing her own story with the attendees, she took the chance to reiterate the motivation behind her inspiring initiatives with the next generation.

“It means everything to me to inspire the next generation,” she said in a video posted by the TOGETHXR Instagram account. “My dreams are playing out. I hope that I can be that for girls. I hope I can show girls to be unapologetically themselves and to just be fiery and love the game. Not just basketball, but anything—just go for it in life.”

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Much like her Next22 camp, she viewed the City Swish event as an opportunity “to invest” in the next generation, something Brink considers really important.

Early in her playing career, Brink stuck with the sport not for the game itself, but for the friendships she gained from it. Her intentions with Next22, City Swish Los Angeles and any other next generation initiatives she might partake in is to share that very same idea with young girls. “That’s what I want to remind girls of: You can make such great friendships and learn such great skills” through basketball, she stated.

Of course, Brink would also likely be proud to one day say that any one of her former campers had gone on to play professional basketball—but that’s far from her main goal.