by Adam Wells
WPSD Local 6
July 10, 2024
Used with permission.
Last month, after nine years as a professional basketball player, Paducah Tilghman alum Chelsey Shumpert finally was able to celebrate a championship.
“The last thing I wanted to accomplish was to win a championship,” Shumpert said. “I didn’t understand why it took nine years for me to do it, but now I do.”
Shumpert did it as a member of the Gladiators, a women’s professional basketball team competing in the Ivory Coast. For her, after playing with six different professional teams from England, Germany, Syria, and Dubai, it was the perfect team to win a title with.
“I did it with the right people and the right environment,” she said. “I celebrated like I always wanted to do. In Africa, they took me in, they accepted me for who I was, and took care of me.”
Now back in the United States, Shumpert is looking to return the favor to those in her hometown as she is trying to help the next generation live their championship dreams.
“I want to give most kids a fair chance of living their dreams,” Shumpert said. “Whatever their heights, whatever their weight, it doesn’t matter. You can fulfill anything you want to do and it is your path.”
AJ Martin, who runs the Global Basketball Academy and has trained Shumpert for the last three years, works with other young area basketball players. He says that Shumpert’s name has come up quite often.
“She is the first name that we talk about,” Martin said. “We have so many girls that are really buying in to basketball. Caitlyn Clark has something to do with that, but to have a pro like Chelsey in our own backyard is a big plus for us.”
“They have a dream they want to fulfill as well,” Shumpert said. “No matter what comes, you can fulfill those dreams.”
As for Shumpert’s dreams, she says they aren’t over just yet.
“I have way more to give,” she said. “I am starting to live in my purpose. The journey is not just for me, it is to inspire who I am around.”
Shumpert’s next opportunity to play will come in December when she will travel to Morocco to play.