Basketball icon Lauren Jackson brings 'She Hoops' program to the Snakepit

That was the unforgettable experience for almost a hundred of Wollongong basketball's next generation on Monday, with Australian sporting icon Lauren Jackson bringing her 'She Hoops' girls clinics to the Snakepit.

Widely regarded as the best Australian player to ever bounce a basketball, Jackson's now contemplating a fourth Olympics with the Opals a decade since last competing in London.

The return at 42 would come more than two decades after her first Olympics at age 19 in Sydney in 2000, one that saw the Opals claim silver.

Having initially retired from international basketball for a third time after helping Australia qualify for the Paris Games in Brazil in March, the Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer has been named in the Opals squad for Paris.

It would be an incredible story should it eventuate, but the mother of two has enough to occupy her domestically with the She Hoops clinics being held around the country.

Illawarra Hawks head of community Kevin White said having Jackson put Wollongong's next generation through its paces at its home of basketball was "massive" for the region.

"To open this opportunity up to young girls, I don't think it's ever happened where girls have had access to such a calibre player on court," White said.

"It's obviously a great initiative started with Lauren and her team and Basketball Australia, but it's also helped along by the way Australian basketball associations are trending in general.

"There's a massive push for the Illawarra Basketball Association to drive female participation in our sport. To get behind this and help bring Lauren to town and obviously drive that participation in the female space is huge.

"She's one of the greatest basketball players ever to play in the world, and to have her in the Illawarra, in Wollongong, running a clinic with a hundred or so girls, it's a pretty special thing to be a part of."

White said Jackson's presence in driving female participation was part also part of a broader Hawks plan for both a future WNBL franchise, and facility to house it alongside its NBL squad in Wollongong.

"As a club, we have a desire to not only have the NBL team in town, but have a WNBL team as well," White said.

"Hopefully in the next few years the club can have an answer around that WNBL side of things, but I don't think it stops there.

"You look at the guys that have come through the Illawarra Basketball program in Xav (Cooks) and (Angus) Glover, there's a huge push from the IBA in that women's space as well.

"To have Ruby MacDonald, Ella Dent, Asha Phillips, girls who are from this region to come back and play NBL1 (for the Hawks), which is currently the highest standard we've got, is a huge step in the right direction.

"Ruby was down in at the COE (Centre of Excellence), similar to Lauren, she's gone to America, attended college, now she's back here to pursue a professional career.

"Who knows where his career goes, but to have those girls coaching along with Lauren so these young girls can see their current role models is also an awesome thing."

He may have more than 300 NBL games to his name, but the significance of having the GOAT on deck on the Pit wasn't lost on White, or the parents sitting in the bleachers.

"I remember watching her as I was growing up and to seeing what she went and did in America what she's done around the world," White said.

"She [first] retired in 2016 through injury and everyone thought her career was definitely cut short. To see her at 42 still trying to push for her own goals and her own drive is inspiring for anyone.

"Some of these girls won't realise the opportunity that they've got in front of them today, but years down the track I'm sure they'll look back and remember this moment because it doesn't happen all the time.

"When you walk into the stadium, as I did this morning, the parents and grandparents who are sitting here in the stands watching the kids on court, they're the ones with the smiles on their faces because they understand what is happening right now."

That was certainly the case for parent Claudia Harrison, whose daughters Alana and Gabriella took part in Monday's clinics.

"I think my husband and I were more excited than the kids," Ms Harrison said.

"It was pretty easy to convince them. They play in the junior comps here, so they were very excited [to see Jackson].

"We go to the Hawks games and the girls really enjoy it. They started with the mini-hoops here so they started really, really young and it's a sport they're not quitting.

"Kids sometimes start something and they decide they don't like it anymore, but they love basketball. It's really good to see."