Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Joni Taylor, perhaps better known in Meridian by her maiden name Crenshaw, returned to her hometown of Meridian last week to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony in her honor at the Velma Young Park basketball courts. The courts were dedicated at the ceremony as the Joni Crenshaw-Taylor Basketball Court.

“To have my name on a court that has anything to do with Velma Young is just incredible. I grew up knowing the Young family,” Taylor said.

While she was in town, she also held a basketball camp at Meridian High School that benefitted young girls in the area on Saturday. Taylor, the 1997 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year at Meridian High and a renowned coach who has trained players on college and USA national teams, taught the girls basketball skills and tools that they can practice on their own.

Taylor said she went to plenty of basketball camps when she was younger. They gave her confidence in her abilities on the court because she was able to hold her own against bigger and better competition.

“This is something I wanted to do to give back,” Taylor said. “Somebody came back and did that for me, and I think it’s important that they can see what people from our community have done so they can have a dream and a vision.”

Meridian Parks and Recreation Director Thomas Adams, a former professional basketball player, said basketball is more prevalent among boys, so holding a camp for girls gives them an environment where they can get out onto a court to develop some basketball skills and a love of the sport.

“I think that’s great by her to give back to the community like that,” Adams said. “It means the world I think to a lot of the younger generation, especially the girls, because she’s very inspiring to them. The road she took to get to where she is today and coaching at the highest level of basketball, in womens’ sports at that, it’s a plus for the girls here in Meridian.”