Colorado State women’s basketball player Brooke Carlson gives back to Batavia through camp

Brooke Carlson had no idea what type of turnout she would have at the second annual basketball camp Thursday at Batavia.

Carlson, who currently plays at Colorado State, had sent out the lone post on X (formerly Twitter) just two and a half weeks before the camp, and was worried that it would lead to a lack of participants.

How well did word get out? She spent the entire night before printing out extra t-shirts to make sure every camper got one.

“It’s crazy, I was not expecting this,” Carlson said. “It’s really cool to see how much I got out of it and how much everybody wanted to come and support it.”

Around 80 kids from first to eighth grade attended the youth camp, which was split up into two hour-long sessions where the Batavia standout, as well as a mix of former and current players, led the kids in a variety of games and drills.

But for the Bulldogs’ all-time leader in career points, assists and steals, her big goal of the camp was to give back to the town that supported her through her high school career, and has continued to do so into college.

“It’s just amazing to do something that I can give back to the community and they love it,” Carlson said. “It’s crazy to see how much of an impact I actually have. I feel like you don’t realize that while you’re playing until you see it firsthand.

“It’s amazing. I love that I have that impact.”

One such camper was incoming fifth grader Giuliana Colamatteo, who was attending her first camp with Carlson but had seen her attend plenty of other camps while she was still at Batavia.

And to Colamatteo, the energy that the Bulldogs legend bought could be felt from the start.

“She’s a big impact on me in basketball,” Colamatteo said. “She really helps me with my skills. She showed me how to do different things. She always does these camps and has other kids come around and gets other kids exposure to basketball.

“Not everyone has those kinds of people in their community.”

Her impact has also been felt outside of just the youth camp, but throughout almost every youth event that goes through Batavia. Bulldogs girls basketball coach Kevin Jensen said the impact has even been felt through the youth camp the team holds in June over the past two years after her graduation.

“She’s a big part of the reason why our youth numbers that are at our camp in June have exploded the last two years,” Jensen said. “She was just joking, because I said, ‘Yeah, our camper numbers over last two years have been huge,’ and she’s like, ‘Oh that’s because of us.’ And I know she was just doing that to be joking, but it really is true.”

In her first season with the Rams, Carlson started 15 of the team’s 32 games and averaged 7.7 points, 2.6 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 steals a game to help her be named to the Mountain West Conference All-Freshman team.

And according to Carlson, the Fort Collins faithful have welcomed her in a very similar way the Bulldogs community did during her high school days.

“It was amazing to see how much support I got right away, and I loved every moment of it,” Carlson said. “The community there is kind of like Batavia. It’s very close. They like to support women’s basketball, and I love it.”

Carlson hopes to continue coming back home to Batavia to host the camp annually, and also hopes that it can continue to grow further past the Batavia community to the neighboring communities.

“I’m excited to see it keep growing and what I can do with it,” Carlson said.