Women’s basketball players keep dream alive by playing for Kansas City Majestics
Sarah Campbell always dreamed of owning a basketball team.
While Campbell’s dream is realized — in the form of the newly minted Kansas City Majestics — her goal now is to help the dreams of others come true.
Campbell, a former Central High School and University Missouri basketball standout, is head coach of the Majestics and a co-owner along with Dorthy Bumpus-Page, Dorthea Bumpus-Bradley and Eddie Glenn.
They are helping players, who gathered Sunday at the Brush Creek Recreational Center, keep alive their dream of a professional basketball career.
The team is a member of the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League, a semi-pro league with 35 teams across the country, according to the league website. The Majestics will play their home games at Belton High School.
Assembling the first roster was a challenge. If Campbell has her way, there will be plenty of turnover this season for all the right reasons.
“We have some very talented athletes, and for whatever reason those athletes are playing on this level, when I know and other coaches on our staff know that they can play abroad, they can play in the WNBA,” Campbell said. “Our job is to get them there, and I’m confident we can do that. That’s the whole reason for our team.”
Some players have come to Kansas City from far away to keep the basketball dream alive.
For example, Nicole Wells was inspired to continue her career by her 3-year-old daughter, Rozee, so Wells left her home in North Dakota to make a tryout and chase down her dream.
“I looked into it, got a ticket down here and tried out, and everything worked out,” Wells said. “I wanted to use this talent. It was something I was gifted with, from God, and I wasn’t getting any younger. I wanted to take the opportunity. It was a leap of faith.”
Lincoln Prep graduate Tanisha Smith finished her college career at Texas A&M, and was a second-round draft pick of the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2011. She moved back to town in February, just in time for the last tryout.
“I left Seattle because I wanted to finish school,” Smith said. “I tried going overseas, but then my mom got sick so I came back. Now I just want the opportunity again. I’m trying to get the exposure and the things I need to move back on to the next level.”
Campbell knows what it’s like to play while working full time. To that end, she said the Majestics will be a self-funded team, providing uniforms, travel to games and meals on game days at no charge to the players.
“We have some amazing shooters and some very creative athletes,” Campbell said. “As long as we maintain that type of roster with that type of talent, I think we’ll be around for a long time.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Women’s basketball players keep dream alive by playing for Kansas City Majestics."