By Mike Drake
Peninsula Pirates forward Cami Butler was born in Sandy, Utah. She has been playing basketball competitively since she was in middle school. Butler also played volleyball but decided to focus on basketball. She said, “I played competitive volleyball throughout high school, but my dad pushed me to play basketball and I liked it more. There was more resources available for me to be successful at it than with volleyball. I was fortunate enough to have people train me to play basketball for free.”
Butler isn’t relying on basketball to shape her future, she currently holds a 3.7 GPA and hopes to continue her academic career at a university. She said, “I’m going to a university whether I play basketball or not. I want to go to the University of Utah to study sports medicine. I’m always willing to help other out.”
Butler moved away from Utah for the first time in her life to attend Peninsula College. “It was really scary moving away from everything that I knew, but I wanted to get out of Utah. I wanted a new start and everyone here was so welcoming that it made it easy to adjust. I originally came to P.C. because one of my old teammates from high school, Whitney Nemelka, came here.”
Butler enthusiastically spoke about the support that the sports programs get from the Peninsula College administration, “I think that it’s incredible how you see Dr. Robins at every game checking on us and cheering us on. Rick Ross is everywhere, all the time and he’s so personable. I have a friend that runs track at a university in Idaho, and she doesn’t even know who their athletic director is. So I think it’s amazing how involved everyone is in our success as a team.”