Former ISU women’s basketball player Lindsey Wilson made an impression on young hoops hopefuls last weekend at the Lindsey Wilson Basketball Camp.

The camp began Friday night and concluded Sunday night as Wilson and fellow ISU women’s basketball players told 26 girls that it’s okay to be confident and athletic.

“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” Wilson said. “This camp is a place where girls can be confident, tough and feisty, instead of thin, lady-like and non-confrontational.”

The camp emphasized skills through participation in drills and pick-up games. Campers received prizes such as basketballs and T-shirts based on statistics they accumulated throughout the weekend.

“It’s a great chance to interact with the younger girls,” Wilson said.

“I just wanted to give back to the community, now that I have the time where I’m not traveling so much and no school.”

Thirteen-year-old Ames resident Abbey Adkins said the camp was a good learning experience. She said she enjoyed interacting with the camp instructors.

“We’re learning a lot of new drills and how to be confident,” Adkins said. “It’s really neat having old players as coaches, because they were my role models. I used to watch them play all the time.”

Tracy Gahan, former ISU women’s basketball player who completed her eligibility in the 2001-02 season, said the camp’s attendance numbers were ideal for instructing the girls on new skills.

“We’re doing a lot of individual skills,” Gahan said. “With only 26 girls, it’s great because we can break down into groups and work on ‘V-cutting’ and other drills.”

“We’re also playing some one-on-one, two-on-two and so on. We’re starting out simple and letting the skills build upon each other,” she said.

Wilson hasn’t had much down time since graduating from Iowa State in May.

The WNBA’s Connecticut Sun drafted her with the No. 34 pick of this spring’s draft, and she just missed the final cut. But that wasn’t the end of Wilson’s hoop dreams — she recently signed a professional basketball contract with the Sporting Basketball Club of Athens, Greece.

Wilson will be making her first trip to Greece in three weeks.

“The WNBA was a great experience for me,” Wilson said. “It reaffirmed that even though I didn’t make it this year, I can play at that level.”

Wilson said signing overseas can be hit or miss, and she was fortunate the Sporting Basketball Club was looking for a point guard.

“I’m super-excited for this opportunity,” Wilson said. “I’ve always thought Greece would be a fun place to play.”

Fortunately for Wilson, she won’t be making the trip overseas alone. Gahan, who signed with the Peiraikos Basketball Club, will join her in Athens.

“I’m so excited to play again,” Gahan said. “The country is beautiful, and the people are great. It’s exciting that Lindsey and I will be in the same city.”

Gahan said she’ll miss Wilson as a teammate, but is looking forward to competing against her when their teams meet up.

“I’ll miss Lindsey’s leadership and positive influence on the court,” Gahan said.

“But it will be thrilling to play each other, to go all out on the court and know that once we leave the court we’ll still be best of friends,” she said.

Wilson led the Cyclones in scoring and assists throughout her career and was a member of three all-Big 12 conference teams. She led the league in scoring in the 2002-03 season with 19.2 points per game and was a three-time academic all-conference choice, while also earning district academic all-American honors for two straight years.

Wilson currently holds the career school record for assists (589) and the single-season marks for assists (207), field goal attempts (472) and three-point percentage (.537).