Cameron Brinkhas become well-known for her career as a professional basketball player, but her life in sports is nothing new, thanks to her parents, Michelle Bain-Brink and Greg Brink.
The basketball star was born in Princeton, New Jersey, on Dec. 31, 2001. After years of work, Cameron was signed to the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks in April 2024.
The forward’s sporty parents met at Virginia Tech, where they were both studying on basketball scholarships. There, they became friends with Dell and Sonya Curry – parents of famous NBA point guard, Stephen Curry.
Despite Michelle and Greg’s love for the game, they didn’t push their passion onto Cameron, especially since she was more interested in art as a child. “If you’re the one pushing your kid into the sport, it’s not going to end well for anyone,” Michelle told Just Women’s Sports. “They have to want to do it.”
Of course, Cameron eventually caught the basketball bug, having found her competitive streak at a camp later on. She was also inspired by attending Stephen’s games as a child: “I loved him and I loved the atmosphere,” she told Just Women’s Sports. “It all felt so normal to me. It was just what we did. I grew up around it.”
From her parents’ longstanding friendship with Stephen Curry’s parent to their careers at Nike, here’s everything to know about Cameron Brink’s mother and father, Michelle Bain-Brink and Greg Brink.
Michelle and Greg attended Virginia Tech at the same time. Both there on basketball scholarships, their practice facilities shared a hallway where the pair regularly saw each other.
They were friendly with one another for a long time, passing glances and jokes for years. But Michelle wanted to take things out of the friend zone, so when she realized that Greg would never make the first move, Michelle took the reins.
Their first date? A game of pick-up basketball — and they’ve been together ever since.
While Michelle and Greg played basketball at Virginia Tech, Sonya played volleyball and met Michelle through being roommates. Alternatively, Dell and Greg met playing basketball together.
All four of them stayed in the same dorm, but Greg and Dell lived separately in the men’s wing. Sonya and Dell have since divorced, but the families remain close.
Like many college friends, Michelle, Greg, Sonya and Dell built a forever bond. Making it official, they both made the opposite couple the godparents of their children.
When Cameron was playing college basketball at Stanford, the Brinks would stay with Stephen and his wife Ayesha to attend Cameron’s home games.
Both passionate about sports, Michelle and Greg took jobs at Nike after graduation. While they ended up returning to the United States, Michelle and -
Greg’s positions with the athletics brand took them to Amsterdam for three years, starting when Cameron was 8 and ending when she was 11.
Previously the CFO of Nike North America, Greg later became the VP of supply chain for Nike Asia Pacific Latin America, which was his last position at the company before his retirement.
Two years before Cameron was born, Michelle gave birth to the couple’s son and first child, Cy.
Cy maintains a private internet presence, but the public does know one thing that keeps him connected to his basketball-obsessed family: He stands at a towering 6’9”.
Additionally, Michelle posts photos of him on her Instagram account, where she shared that he was a Dean’s List student at the University of Washington in 2018.
While Cameron was born in Princeton and lived in Amsterdam as a small child, the family moved to Beaverton, Oregon, when she was 11. Michelle and Greg continue to reside there today.
Despite calling Oregon home, it wasn’t always a comforting place for Cameron. As she told Just Women’s Sports, she was bullied for her height in high school (Cameron is 6’4”), causing her to transfer to another school for her final year.
“She suffered a fair amount of body-shaming, even from her teammates,” Michelle told the outlet. “It made her very self-conscious.”
Throughout all of the trials and tribulations that come with striving to be a star athlete, Cameron’s parents have always been in her corner.
As reported by The New York Times, Michelle and Greg struggled not being able to watch her games in real life during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as they had hardly missed one throughout her entire life. “You forget what it is like to make eye contact with her as she’s coming off the court going into the locker room,” Michelle told the outlet.
Cameron was a freshman in the days of isolation and on one of those solitary days, Michelle “took books and a container of macaroons to her daughter.” While Michelle didn’t expect to see Cameron that day, she was in the lobby of the team hotel at the same time, also bringing a care package to leave for her mother. Per the Times, the mother-daughter duo “yelled ‘hello’ and ‘love you’ to one another,” their first face-to-face conversation in three months.
Years later, when Cameron was officially signed to the WNBA, Michelle wrote on Instagram: “Through the literal blood, sweat and tears only those closest to you know how hard you have worked to get to this point. Your sic just scratching the surface of how far you can go and through it all always remember you are loved.”
Related Articles
Follow Us