Volunteer Of The Month: Chris Gilliam Launches Girls Summer Basketball League

Green Hornets girls basketball commissioner Chris Gilliam never planned to coach three basketball teams, but doing so precipitated his nomination for Volunteer of the Month.

Gilliam launched the girls summer basketball league in 2025. Girls in fourth to eighth grade play six summer league games.

Gilliam and other volunteers put in a lot of hours to give girls the chance to play basketball year-round. The group collaboration was key to starting the league, according to Gilliam.

“It’s good to be recognized for something I’ve been doing,” Gilliam said. “It’s pretty positive in the community.”

The Greater Severna Park Athletic Association, known as the Green Hornets, offers multiple sports for boys and girls to participate in including baseball, football, soccer and lacrosse. Approximately 135 girls played in the summer basketball league this year, according to Gilliam.

“When you have that many kids and that many families relying on your communication, organization and logistics, it makes it feel important,” Gilliam, a government contractor, said. “I think enough people would say I take it pretty seriously. I kind of run the program how I would want it to run if I was a parent.”

The addition of a summer league provides an outlet for athletes to play year-round.

“We have so many great girl athletes in this area,” Gilliam said. “I think if they start to focus a little bit more on basketball, we could … really dominant in basketball like we are in soccer and in lacrosse.”

Gilliam added that he enjoys watching the girls develop into better players. He coaches a rising fifth-grade team and his youngest daughter’s recreational basketball squad. Gilliam is a father of two girls.

“I’ll see a girl one summer, and then the next summer they can do things that they weren’t doing the previous summer,” he said. “I think that’s where I get the most enjoyment out of it.”

As the commissioner, he believes it’s important for kids to play on sports teams with kids from different neighborhoods and elementary schools. When young boys and girls get outside their neighborhoods and schools, it makes the experience better, he shared.

Hard work and commitment are two values Gilliam teaches his teams.

“I always tell people athleticism will only take you so far,” Gilliam said. “You have to put the work in, you have to put the time in, and that goes for anything in the world. If you don’t put the time in to be better or do better, you’ll never get better.”

Gilliam played power forward at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and pursued professional basketball in Denmark, Germany and Luxembourg for a few years. He said his time playing in Europe gave him a new perspective, which is to prioritize developing basketball skills over winning championships.

“Everyone remembers how you developed a kid and took a kid that couldn’t dribble,” he said. “Now they’re one of the best players and they’re going to play in college. I think that’s more memorable than the amount of championships that you know a given team wins.”

Mark Parme, a deputy commissioner of the league, said Gilliam has elevated the program.

“He’s got a vision in mind to make the Green Hornets basketball program one of the best in the area, and he’s committed to making that happen,” Parme said. “I’m happy to be a part of it, proud to work next to him and help him achieve that any way we can.”