Overtime Select is Player Made and Ready to Play
Overtime Select tips off this weekend in Atlanta with top high school talents ready to compete for the OT Select Championship.
More history is ready to be made in this exciting period of women’s basketball. Overtime Select, a brand new league featuring top talents between the ages of 15-18, tips off their inaugural season this weekend in Atlanta.
64 of the best high school players across the United States are split up into 8 teams to compete for the OT Select Championship. Among that group are the best players from the 2025 and 2026 classes in Aaliyah Chavez (ESPN #1 in class of ‘25), Jazzy Davidson (#2 in class of ‘25) and Jerzy Robinson (#1 in class of ‘26)
While the time has now come to officially launch, this league has been years in the making. From the first Overtime Takeover event in 2019, to pitching the OT Select idea at WNBA All-Star to brand partners, Senior Director of Athlete Relations and Partnership Development Shea Dawson has been on board from the beginning.
“It’s always kind of been buzzing,” said Dawson. “Like ‘when are you going to do more for the girls?’ So it was like ‘oh, you want us to do something longer?’ And that’s when the brand partners really were like ‘hey if you guys build something for the girls we’re on board’.”
Once the go ahead was given, the captains were selected. One of the unique aspects of OT Select is the roles the captains played in creating the league.
“That’s the beauty of the league as well is that it was built by the girls and their parents,” said Dawson. “We had conversations with the parents and the girls first and said, ‘would you guys do something like this? How long should we do it? When do you think we should do it?’”
The input went further than just the foundation of the league for the captains. From getting say in the rosters to designing their team names and jerseys it was a collaborative effort the entire way between players, parents, and Overtime.
So what makes this different from another AAU Tournament or Summer League? The emphasis on player development.
I can tell you that when I hear that term I immediately think of which coaches are being brought in to develop skills on the court, and that is happening, but Overtime has taken a more holistic point of view to what being a player in 2024 means.
Overtime approached their player advisors with the question “what do you wish you had in high school?” and after hearing from the likes of Breanna Stewart, Paige Bueckers, Flau’jae Johnson, Seimone Augustus, and many more players, a plan was created.
On top of the hoops being played, there will be both Mental Health dialogue taking place with an in-house doctor as players learn to deal with the pressures of being at the top of their game in addition to a full NIL Summit and media training opportunities with the goal of fast tracking the development of players on and off the court.
“Basketball is great but what else can you bring to the table to make your basketball experience amazing?” said Dawson. “That is having brand partnerships. That is understanding how to advocate for yourself. That is being in a place like Overtime where there’s people around who you don’t know what they do but they do have influence in the world. So how to conduct yourself.”
After talking to the players who have made names for themselves, Overtime Select is posing the question: what if we give these girls the resources early? Imagine what they can become. We will get the first look at what that reality looks like as Overtime Select tips off.