Craig GATA BB team excited to have played at VT

Pam Dudding

Contributing writer

Basketball is a fast paced, exciting sport which has opened its doors to girls in Craig County on a travel team the last few years. 

Recently, on Jan. 12, the Craig County Girls 6th grade “Get After Them Aggressively” GATA Academy travel basketball team was invited to play at halftime at the Virginia Tech girls basketball game.  

Virginia Tech was playing Louisville. 

“Ed Robitson, a local AAU Basketball coach reached out, knowing my daughter Emily was on a travel basketball team and VT was in the need to find teams to play at the girls halftime game,” Gina Smith shared. “Timothy Clarke, Senior director Chief of Staff for Virginia Tech women’s basketball set everything up.” 

“Craig County student, Emily Smith and her teammates had the experience of a lifetime!” her mother, Gina shared. 

There are currently nine girls on the GATA 6th grade girls travel basketball team. One player, Brooke Boone was unable to attend, therefore they picked up two guest players, the Elder sisters to make a total of 10 players to play a five on five game. 

They played five on five for eight minutes on the Virginia Tech court for the halftime show. 

Afterwards, they were invited to have a meet and greet with the college players, coaches and staff. 

They asked questions and many received autographs from the Virginia Tech players. 

The GATA Academy team coach is Erick Burger, who was born and raised in Craig County. Also, assisting was Matt Rickman. 

“It was such a great experience for all the girls,” Smith shared. “I just want to say thank you to the VT Athletics and staff for including our local youth and community. It surely put a big smile on our girls faces!”