Taking Her Shot

Phoebe Grace Gonzalez-Cottrell, the 14-month-old daughter of Salvation Army New London Corps Captains Adriana and Brandon Gonzalez-Cottrell, works on her ballhandling skills in Conn’s Luce Field House during a Jan. 19 basketball clinic hosted by the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy and the Department of Athletics for the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club of Greater New London.

Sun guard Courtney Williams, former Sun forward and current Sun

Assistant General Manager Morgan Tuck, and Conn’s own Jenna Whelan ’22, who played many games in the gym and is now the Sun’s communications intern, coached the 25 participants from the Boys & Girls Club, who ranged in age from 6 to 12.

“The clinic was a collaboration with people from the community and a lot of different departments on campus. It’s cool to see all these different synergies happening,” said Associate Director of Community Engagement Patrick Lynch, who oversees Conn’s Pre-K-12 community partnerships.

The Gonzalez-Cottrells have run the Boys & Girls Club since August 2020. They brought the children to Conn in two waves on a Salvation Army bus from their center on Governor Winthrop Boulevard in downtown New London. The children also attended clinics run by Conn’s men’s basketball team during the fall semester.

“Our facility has no gym, so we’re very grateful to Conn College for opening up theirs for the kids to use,” said Brandon Gonzalez-Cottrell. The Sun event, he added, was especially exciting. “The kids were buzzing for days after.”