In high school, we see many two or three sport athletes, but in college, it’s a bit more rare. Brittany Gamby, known by her teammates simply as “Gamby”, began playing basketball at UNC Wilmington in 2009 under Coach Hancock. But in 2012 Coach Adell Harris was put in charge of the women’s basketball team and Brittany Gamby’s spot on the team came into question. 

According to Gamby, now a liberal studies graduate student, the season under Coach Harris started off well, and it wasn’t until she got sick mid-way through the season that she was pulled aside by Harris for a private talk. Harris told Gamby that she didn’t think her heart was in the sport anymore, and that she wasn’t trying hard enough to want to be there. And though Gamby had wanted and expected to play basketball for her entire time at UNCW, Gamby quit the team- a mutual agreement between her and Harris.  

“Basketball was like a relationship to me,” Gamby said.

It was the challenge that first attracted her to the sport. She said basketball was all she could think about while she was at school. She would come home and practice for hours. In college, it was even more demanding, sometimes requiring her and her teammates to spend up to four hours in the gym.

As word quickly got around campus that Gamby was no longer playing for the women’s basketball team, she began getting calls from other sporting departments, including the women’s golf team. Coach Ho, a veteran head coach for the women’s golf team, contacted Gamby about trying out for the team.

At the same time, Gamby was also contacted by the women’s softball coach, Kristy Norton. Before Gamby met with Coach Ho, she attended an open tryout for softball, and what she lacked in years of practice, she made up with in athleticism and speed. For a couple of months Gamby practiced both one-on-one with Coach Norton and Coach Ho, on the field and on the driving range. In the spring of 2013, Gamby competed for UNCW in the Seahawk Classic golf tournament before making the decision of which sport she was going to pursue going into her last two years of eligibility.

Softball came naturally to Gamby. After years of sprinting on the basketball court, her speed was just what Coach Norton was looking for. Gamby joined UNCW’s softball team in April, mid-way through their season. She began playing at second base after Coach Norton asked the shortstop Lauren Buckworth (known as “Bucky”), if she was comfortable with Gamby playing there, since the two positions are very close and require a lot of communication and trust. As it turns out, Buckworth and Gamby were in the same graduating class and knew each other before meeting again on the field. Gamby helped the Lady Seahawks finish their spring season by playing at second base but batting number 9 in the lineup.

This past fall season Gamby met with Coach Norton almost every day to perfect her swing. Over winter break she went home and met up with her former high school coach and hit against her top two pitchers. A quarter of the way through this spring season, Gamby’s hard work began to pay off. Gamby started batting leadoff, and has had a stellar season thus far, hitting .306. a drastic improvement from last year’s average of .255.

This season is Gamby’s last year of eligibility, and while she won’t be on the team next year, the impact she had and her dedication to the sport is enough proof that no matter what happens, she is going to thrive.