I once took WNBA’s Mo “Savage Beauty” Billings who was a junior at UCLA at the time to play with me against grown men of the Drew League at Santa Monica CC in 2017.
The Drew players were my guys and I wasn’t going to let her get hurt. I was close to her dad Chuck who gave me so much advice on how to raise my own daughter Giselle who is an art major in college now.
Mo’s a physical special like few exist on earth, think a female version of Giannis Antetokounmpo. She used her 6-4 frame and more than held her own with my Drew League buddies that day.
Mo played so hard and so well that she actually humbled their spirit over and over in our hours of games.
She proved that women belong in high level men’s games. Women deserve respect.
Mo is in broadcasting besides playing overseas and just became an author recently. She is a brand. Mo is fire. She plays for the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA besides playing overseas.
Here’s my californiapreps article on Mo that was featured on Yahoo Sports:
https://sports.yahoo.com/savage-beauty
Mo helps out kids that don’t often get a chance, lust like her folks raised and taught her, like Chuck taught her. She’s the epitome of Tupac’s poem about the rose:
Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams
It learned to breathe fresh air
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
When no one else ever cared
Mo can dunk a 10 foot rim no problem, but even more impressive she can use her imagination to control her future. I was lucky to get the download of tools that her adoring dad Chuck shared with her to take on life’s difficulties.
My Drew League people told Mo as she left the gym “Come back fam, you were the most skilled among us, had the most hustle. Your body is the strongest. Your mind, soul, and spirit is the most fierce girl.”
They gave her props. They all stood, gave her this roaring clap and hand salute as if she were the new captain of the ship in Santa Monica. She would come back over and over again to play there with them.
Click on this link for Mo's Instagram page
Point is I admire Gabby Robinson like I do Mo Billings, as a great person on many levels for the sacrifices she’s shown in life thus far.
I’ve spent so many dozens of hours watching and talking to Gabby. She isn’t just a person I’m doing a story on, she’s a friend. I’m real to her, her to me.
I feel the reader should really know this. I’ve seen it all as a teacher, a writer, a talent evaluator, a mentor in 24 years. Gabby is as dope as it gets!
If I took Gabby to the exact same Drew League guys I took Mo to play with she’d do very well. I’ve taken elite prep girls to play vs. NBA guys that ball at Santa Monica City College in the past. I want to help kids in open runs. Gabby can go like that!
Gabby is a physical specimen, running downhill as a guard in prep. She draws you in like Mo Billings. Mo is so special that West Coast Premier named a whole team after her. I bet things will be named after Gabby Robinson in the future also.
Gabby could be legend. Go out and watch her. Bear witness to her game now. Consider being a part of her journey as I have been.
The 1st minute I met Gabby I broke out some SLAM shorts and threw them to her while saying,”You are FIRE at this Ladera Sports Complex. I wished you had played guard for my boys AAU team in 2004. We had kids go on to Kentucky, kids on the front cover of SLAM, our whole team team went D1.
I told Gabby, “Girl, I have a crystal ball from being in this game for 20 years. You are TUFF. You will burn this AAU world down with your game Gabby Robinson!” Gabby just laughed in a cool way. Everyone knows E-Woods is crazy!
I quit coaching back in 2004 and now I just write with my fire pen about fire players and people. I try to mentor players who want some advice. Gabby is that special.
You may say I’m gassing her up but I’ve seen her put in the work. This kid wants all that smoke. She’s always the toughest player on the court. The most fierce player all in for all the rebounds around her, and she’s only a 5-10 guard.
She’s always the most classy person in a crowd. Always acting like a lady, yet bubbly and serious about her future no doubt. She has gears and a vision to gradually improve herself constantly.
She’s a super unselfish person that makes that extra pass when needed if it helps her team be efficient. She loves her teammates with all her heart, and they love her back.
I’ve noticed this since the beginning of her Mater Dei days up to now where she’s killin’ it with a Corona Centennial team that is trying to stay healthy and compete at a high level.
This kid Gabby is amazing to E-Woods and I’m truly amazed by her mom Tiffany who I could talk to for hours on end about her limitless passion for her kid’s future.
Gabby is definitely about the most talented player you will find, with a long list of super impressive offers from great college basketball schools like Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Virginia, Illinois, Fullerton, and so many more it would fill this page and make your head spin.
She’ll be going into her final AAU season with great energy, as she knows what she wants in a college program in particular.
What impresses me more than the recruitment buzz surrounding Gabby is the respect that the basketball community has for her and her family. It’s truly staggering. People just love them on such a deep and profound level.
I’ve become close to 100’s if not 1,000’s of kids from doing dozens and dozens of female hoop stories. These past 7 years I’ve focused more on the female game than the male game.
The Robinson family is the epitome of the phrase, “They get much respect.” Let’s hear Gabby talk about her younger years learning to play hoops, “I loved to do gymnastics when I was a really young kid. I was supported in everything I put myself to doing by my family at a super young age.
“I was just a little kid that was allowed to run in her own little kid world. I even gave a shot to doing soccer. I started to love basketball at the age of 7 or 8 because I have a tall and athletic dad, Danny, that would go out and play hoop with his ‘little girl’ he loved so much and wanted to share the game with.
“My mom was fantastic at softball at UCLA. My dad played for Cal Fullerton’s basketball team in the early 90’s. He had a mindset and was determined to help his kid learn the ins and outs of women’s college basketball. We’d watch so much women’s college basketball on DVD.
“Great players. The Mabrey sisters were a favorite to key in on. Just the players and programs from the past that could really get my IQ up and help me understand the game at a high level for a kid.
“It’s something we shared and I’ll treasure. I feel it gave me an edge as I became competitive in the sport of basketball.”
I switched gears and asked Gabby to tell readers what she does for a hobby and what she wanted to improve in her basketball game.
She said, “Nowadays I love to take long walks on the beach when I can. It was easier when we lived closer to Mater Dei. That’s my calm happy place.
"I don’t get much time to myself nowadays. But when I do, I like to go to ramen restaurants with my friends. That’s like an adventure for us.
“I was taught to be of service to others. At Mater Dei we used to make Easter baskets for others and that left such a good feeling in my heart. I want to do way more of that kind of thing in the future.
“I want to work on my mid range game, and I already am working a lot on my jumper. I’m putting a lot of energy into this and will continue to do so. I’m willing to put the time into it. I take pride in my defensive intensity.
“I want to be a broadcaster when I grow up. So on the court I try to communicate with my teammates what we can do to help each other.”
Another player I’m close to that is very similar to Gabby in personality and game is Jayda Curry who dominated high school basketball at Corona Centennial.
Jayda was not appreciated in terms of rankings by many outlets or in terms of offers by elite college programs across the nation. But me? E-Woods? I always told people she would dominate college basketball and go on the WNBA.
I’m Jayda Curry’s biggest fan outside her family. Lol! I try 100.
The college that Gabby chooses will get a player that impacts in a big way I predict. She is so much like Jayda in terms of a great personality, work ethic, drive, being a cool person, making others better around her.
Click this link for Erik's story on Jayda Curry
How can Gabby measure up to Jayda? Gabby just has to work on her outside jumper. Jayda had her cousin as her trainer growing up, along with an incredible IE based Brent Summers and phenom NBA/ WNBA Olin Simplis of Wasserman Agency Pro Sports to further refine her skill set.
Gabby is just like Jayda: when either is going downhill in transition on the fast train no one can stop them. I recommended both Jayda and Gabby to go train with Olin Simplis because I care deeply for them.
I see huge things ahead for them in life, and as college players. I’m so proud that Jayda gives back to her old high school at Corona Centennial when she can to help Gabby and others.
It’s been only a couple years since Corona Centennial won a state title with a powerful lineup under the great leadership of Coach Martin Woods.
Hear what coach Woods has to say about Gabby, “Gabby is a true blessing to our program and I believe she will help elevate our program to higher levels over the two years that she’ll be with us.”
Olin Simplis has this well deserved reputation in SoCal and the state of California for the ability to get his players to be ready to take over each level they step into.
He’s helped 10-15 great NBA/WNBA talents like Charisma Osborne of UCLA, Marina Mabrey, Spencer Dinwiddie, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Mo Billings, and so many other prep, college, NBA/WNBA overseas pros.
Gabby sacrifices traveling 2 hours each Sunday to get in the lab with with Olin to improve her skills to the next level. Olin says of her, “Gabby is the best junior guard in the state of California. Period. She’s working on her jumper and many aspects of her game and she’s just a great person to be around.”
Click on this link for Olin's Instagram page
Brent Summers is a legendary trainer out of Westchester High who is a great influence for kids. Brent used to train Russell Westbrook. His daughter Sydni is a great shooter that holds many offers, a great kid personally that plays on the Corona Centennial High team with Gabby.
Brent trains so many kids that are going on to elite level careers but he also takes time to train regular kids as well.
Brent had this to say about Gabby, “She is a hard worker and is building good skills. She’s getting better and better with a good attitude the whole way through.”
Look at Gabby and you’ll see more than her gwiz IG handle that also says “I’m a scientist.”
Click on this link for Gabby's Instagram page
She speaks so well, it’s like she’s already a broadcasting expert like my girl Mo Billings of the WNBA Dream.
That comes from her mom letting her answer the phone for her insurance company and handle some of the family business.
It’s impressive that Gabby has been offered to play for many elite EYBL teams but she is into Team Militant, which is not an EYBL team that plays on the circuit in front of scores of college coaches.
Gabby has always believed in her Team Militant teammates and coaches; they believe in her. That’s all that matters to her. It’s all about what her dad planted as a seed for his little girl.
It’s like what I saw with my good friend Chuck Billings who would have his daughter, his 3-year old Mo, doing pull ups to build up strength and give her a tool box.
Chuck is passed, gone way too soon, but his amazing daughter shines bright in the world as a beacon to inspire others, as Gary Curry does with his kids Layla and Jayda Curry.
It’s also what you saw with Danny in taking the time get his daughter Gabby to appreciate the Mabrey sisters from Notre Dame.
Dara Mabrey is a senior at Notre Dame, Marina plays for the Dallas Wings, Olin trains her. Michaela Mabrey is an assistant coach at Notre Dame and brother Ryan plays basketball at Miami of Ohio.
Getting into the details of basketball that early like Gabby and her dad did? That’s respect. Study it well, it pays off in game. Spend the time to perfect it, to build one’s body into a machine. Most kids never ever take the game that serious.
This story goes deep, really deep. I know a few of the Mabrey fam. As does Olin Simplis who trained Marina to the W, and is training Dara to the WNBA. He trained Ryan to college basketball. We all know each other to one degree or another. Gabby belongs to Girls Rock, run by Olin.
Gabby Robinson, her mom, her dad, their circle have this passion like few have ever played. That’s the difference. They sacrifice. They will succeed in life and it’s an honor to share their story. 100.
Gabby? She’s like the neatest person you could hope to meet. I’ve seen 10,000 kids and players play. And when I go to see Gabby play I still get goose bumps wondering how much she’s improved since the last time I saw her play.
Gabby is soul R & B singer Alicia Keys, Girl On Fire. They both sing these dope fire lyrics, Alicia moves her fingers across the black and white piano keys, Gabby plays the hoop game. You can feel them belt out lyrics from their soul in what they do best:
She got both feet on the ground
And she's burning it down
Oh, oh oh oh oh, oh,oh,oh oh
She got her head in the clouds
And she's not backing down
#Gabby will be burning down the AAU in the spring and summer! No doubt.
