NEW MEXICO
Ex-Laker joins Navajo pro to empower Native youth
Analyss Benally, a professional basketball player from Shiprock, is running free camps for Native American youth across the Southwest
Shiprock native Analyss Benally has traveled the world and taken roles in movies thanks to basketball. Maybe that round ball can have the same effect on today鈥檚 youth living on the Navajo Nation.
That鈥檚 part of the message Benally, a professional basketball player in Europe, tried to impart during a two-day basketball camp at the Shiprock High School gym this week.
Andre Ingram, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers for two seasons, joined Benally at the ABFive camp and provided similar messaging to about 50 children of all ages in attendance.
鈥�(Basketball) let me see the world, it鈥檚 done a great deal for me, it opens up opportunities,鈥� said Ingram, who played six games with the Lakers in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. He is the NBA G League鈥檚 career leader in three-point field goals and games played.
Benally, a 2016 graduate of a high school in Kansas, played college basketball at San Jose State before embarking on a professional career, winning nine championships with teams in Albania and Kosovo. She also had a small role in 鈥淩ez Ball,鈥� a 2024 movie set in New Mexico and produced by LeBron James.
This summer, Benally is helping children realize that basketball can be a pathway to success.
鈥淚 want to be a positive representation for my community,鈥� she said.
Benally鈥檚 ABFive is a result of that desire to create a resource for Native American communities.
The brand started as a Facebook page created by her father, Brian Benally, to keep friends and relatives updated on Analyss鈥� college and professional basketball journey. Benally decided to use that label to develop basketball camps for Native communities.
ABFive now hosts camps throughout the Southwest, the most recent being Tuesday and Wednesday at the SHS Chieftain Pit.
The morning session of the camp included drills aimed at improving dribbling and shooting skills. For instance, campers played a game in which they dribbled a ball inside a square that progressively shrank. The objective was to knock other kids鈥� balls out of the square while protecting their own.
鈥淛ust getting kids to move has a huge impact on them, getting them out of their comfort zone and seeing them gain a little bit more confidence in themselves. 鈥� It really opens up the window of what sports can do for them,鈥� Benally said.
She said basketball was her classroom.
鈥淚t taught me how to speak to people. It taught me how to be in rooms. It builds friendships, it builds bonds, it builds communities,鈥� Benally said.
Ingram has ties to New Mexico through his wife鈥檚 family, many of whom live in and around the Navajo Nation. When he found out Benally was running basketball camps for Native youth, he suggested it would be 鈥渃ool鈥� if they did a camp together.
鈥淲henever you receive a huge blessing to play in the NBA 鈥� you have an obligation to take it back to where you came from or to take it back to places that don't have access,鈥� Ingram said.
Benally and ABFive will be in Phoenix on July 17. The camp will be open to children in second through eighth grades.
鈥淲e really want to hit every single place in America and all the tribes all over the place,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 would really love to take it worldwide.鈥�
Isabella Campbell is an intern with the New Mexico Local 近距离内射合集 Fellowships and Internships Program, which places emerging journalists in newsrooms across New Mexico. Learn more at . She can be reached at icampbell@abqjournal.com.
