As the 70 girl's basketball players registered for Mid Penn Motion's Girls' Elite Skills Camp Sunday, September 9th at Trinity High School, little did they know of the special surprise guest that Mid Penn Motion had planned for them. They had just completed an exceptional skills camp with featured coach, Mike Miller, Head Women's Coach at Messiah College, Larry Sassaman, Assistant Coach, and their top Messiah players. Moments later, Carla Thomas, a former star Mid Penn Motion AAU player and now with the WNBA's Chicago Sky, was introduced to a tremendous ovation. Carla, from Mechanicsburg, had come home to share her basketball journey with the area's future girl's basketball stars and they were delighted. "Mid Penn Motion and AAU gave me an opportunity to play with other great players from other schools like Jill Glessner and Kara Stetler from Trinity and to travel the country and compete against the best players. AAU was the best thing for me", Carla told the players. After a question and answer session about her basketball career, Carla gladly signed autographs and posed for pictures with the throng of enthusiastic lady hoop players.

Well known among the mid-state's basketball aficionados, Carla Thomas began her stellar basketball journey by leading her Mid Penn Motion AAU team to Nationals. In 2002, she led CV High School to a AAAA State Basketball Championship and in 2003 was voted to the Associated Press All State-First Team and named a McDonald's High School All-American. She was heavily recruited by many major Division I colleges and received a four year scholarship to play at Vanderbilt University, in the powerful Southeastern Conference (SEC). As a freshman at Vandy, Carla was named to the National All-Freshman Team and picked up numerous All-SEC Honors during her sophomore and junior seasons. As a senior, Carla Thomas was voted the MVP of the 2007 SEC Tournament for the second time and was selected to the First Team-All SEC. At the conclusion of her college career, she ranked among the SEC's statistical leaders in an amazing five categories, including scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and defensive rebounds.

Carla's amazing journey continued this spring, being selected by the Chicago Sky in the first round of the WNBA's 2007 draft. With her first WNBA season behind her, Carla is off to France to play professional ball in Europe during the WNBA off season. While she'll be an ocean away, her gentle voice, warm smile and encouraging words will remain in the hearts of 70 fortunate young lady basketball players from the mid-state.