Mirror selfies & hotel gyms: How these Gamecock workouts became gameday rituals
Everyone has different priorities when checking into a hotel.
Some go check out the pool and hot tub situation. Others look for where the continental breakfast and free coffee will be located in the morning. And some might just head straight to their rooms and plop down on the bed.
Molly Binetti’s top priority after she checks in at a hotel is unique and intentional. She heads straight for the gym.
“That’s always the first move, is to go scope it out,” she told The State .
The choice makes sense given Binetti’s profession. She’s the South Carolina women’s basketball’s sports performance coach, a role she’s held since 2018. She’s responsible for keeping Dawn Staley’s players in shape throughout the year.
But Binetti isn’t scouting out the hotel gym to host a team workout for the Gamecocks. Rather, she’s making sure there’s ample space for Staley and the rest of South Carolina’s coaching staff to get a workout in on gamedays.
How the ‘Game Day Gang’ came to be
Check social media the morning of any day the South Carolina women’s basketball team has a game, and you’ll see a picture posted to X, formerly Twitter, by Binetti.
Binetti is front and center in the image, posed in the mirror of either South Carolina’s basketball weight room or a hotel gym. Beside her will be Staley, with her signature shirt-in-mouth mean mug. And surrounding Binetti and Staley could be anyone on South Carolina’s staff, including from associate head coach Lisa Boyer, head athletic trainer Craig Oates and various assistants, student managers and practice players.
Binetti’s mirror selfie posts are a gameday guarantee. And just like clockwork are Staley’s eventual social media reposts of those selfies — often captioned with some variation of “Game day gang got it in! Thanks Molly!”
While the “Game Day Gang” has grown in recent years, it started as a smaller crew. What used to be a simple pregame workout with Binetti and a few grad assistants turned into a routine for several in the program.
“I’ve been doing it since my first year, which was eight seasons ago now,” Binetti said. “ When Craig got here , I made him start doing it with me. But it still was maybe two, three, four of us throughout the years. ... I think in that 2024 season, we had a huge group in Paris. There’s probably 12 to 15 of us in there.”
The story of exactly how Staley got involved varies slightly depending on who you ask. The consensus is, she became a regular member of the Game Day Gang in 2024. Once she joined, Boyer, Staley’s long-time assistant, soon followed.
“We’re prepping for Clemson, we had just gotten done with the workout. We were at shootaround, and [Staley] had asked a question about it, and then all of a sudden, she was just like, ‘Hmmm, maybe I’ll join,’” Binetti recalled. “And then next game day, she showed up. So that meant, of course, Boyer showed up too.”
When the team is at home in Columbia, having a large group for the pregame workout isn’t a problem. But things can get tight in a hotel gym. And you can’t reserve that space, so there are times when hotel patrons walk in and do a double-take when they see Staley and her staff working out.
The Game Day Gang’s workouts and faithfulness are all thanks to Binetti, Staley said.
“It all got started and originated from her, and then everybody else was just joined in,” Staley told The State.
What goes into the workouts?
The Game Day Gang workouts take place any day South Carolina plays a game. Yes, that includes such big-time postseason games as the national championship.
“I look forward to a game day [workout] on national championship day. How freaking cool is that?” Staley said.
The workouts typically start early in the morning, but the exact time depends on when the game tips that day. For example, if South Carolina plays at home on a Thursday night, the workout will probably be around 9 a.m.
“On the road, it’s always before shootaround,” Binetti said. “Usually it ends up being pretty early, 7, 8, something like that. But it’s just kind of dependent on our schedule. I think we’ve done it as early as 5:30, 5:45, 6 a.m., if we’ve got a noon game. It doesn’t matter the time, Coach is always there.”
Binetti creates the workout plan then can modify it to whatever specific participants need. Some workouts are higher reps with lower weights, and some are just the opposite.
“I try to balance doing stuff that I want to do training, but I also understand that’s not the normal everyday person,” Binetti said. “So I try to cater, tailor it. I think most people want a total body workout. They kind of like more of a circuit style. I switch it up just based on if we’re here, if we’re on the road, and kind of what they have. It really forces me to be creative.”
When South Carolina is traveling, a lot of the workout specifics depend on what equipment the hotel gym has to offer. That’s why Binetti makes a beeline straight to the gym when the Gamecocks check in to their hotel.
Some hotels have more equipment than others. Regardless, Binetti welcomes the challenge .
“Hotel workouts are some of my favorite,” Binetti said, “both personally and also [it] just forces you to kind of be creative. So I come up with a bunch of random things.”
A perfect example of Binetti making do with what minimal equipment came last year while South Carolina was on the road at Clemson. The workout wasn’t exactly a fan favorite among those participating.
“Whatever hotel we stayed in at Clemson ... they didn’t even have a gym,” Binetti said. “So I brought out my bands and we did a workout in the ballroom, body weight bands, just random stuff. So that was probably like the worst-case scenario. I can make do with nothing.”
It wasn’t a popular workout with the Game Day Gang.
“That was probably one of the worst workouts that we’ve had, honestly,” Binetti said.
On the flip side, Binetti highlighted the hotel (of which she forgot the name) South Carolina stayed in during its trip to Los Angeles for The Real SC game against Southern Cal as one of her best hotel gym experiences.
“Their gym was free to anyone that stayed at the hotel. But it’s also like a club, like there were memberships for people,” Binetti said. “It was massive. It had everything you could ever think. That was probably one of the best ones. ... We’ve had some pretty good gyms, but that is at the top of my list.”
‘I feel more accomplished,’ Dawn Staley says
For Staley, the pregame workouts are something she actively looks forward to. Initially, Staley didn’t want to join in. But now it’s hard to imagine her not being there.
“For me, when we’re on the road or when we’re at home, it’s pretty much a little bit of time in which I can decompress,” Staley said. “Because you’re not prepping for practice or anything like that. And I really didn’t want to do it, but when (Binetti) asked me, I really couldn’t turn her down. I’m happy I do it, because I feel a lot better about it. I feel more accomplished.”
The workouts are great way for Staley’s staff to stay active during a long season, but it’s also another way to build camaraderie among the group, Boyer said.
“Some times are harder than others, but Molly puts us through it, and it’s a great tradition, and it’s a time for us to come together,” Boyer told The State. “... Molly’s great, she gets us ready, gets us fired up, and it’s an opportunity for us to come together as a staff and as a unit and do our part.”
