Brycen Jones chases down a ball in a drill Monday morning during the Play 2 Wynn basketball camp in the Vicksburg JROTC building.

The Play 2 Wynn basketball camp, coached by Donna Brown-Wynn, held its first day of camp Monday morning at the Vicksburg High JROTC building on Lee Drive. This is the 13th year the camp has been conducted.

The former Vicksburg High School star and Mississippi State Lady Bulldog was very hands-on and energetic in teaching the kids the fundamentals of the game of basketball, which according to her is the most important aspect of the game.

Brown-Wynn credits the importance of fundamentals to her former head coach at Mississippi State Jerry Henderson, who died in May 2014.

“Fundamentals are so important. Coach was a fundamental coach as far as angles and inches, balance, your shooting, heading to the basket, pass-and-cut,” Brown-Wynn said. “I took those things away from him. He was a technical coach and he made sure you were at this angle and turn this way. He might get mad I’m saying all of this. He was the coach that influenced me a lot.”

Many of the drills that took place during the first day included defensive schemes, learning to use your left and right pivot-foot on offense and defense and layup lines.

Others included dribbling up and down the court with both hands, learning a cross-over dribble and bouncing the ball between your legs.

Brown-Wynn and her coaching staff displayed great energy and a willingness to help develop the skills of young basketball players in the Vicksburg area.

“It’s been a big thrill for me. I like showing the kids the fundamentals,” her husband Mike Wynn said. “Everybody can pick the ball up and run up and down the court, until you actually know the fundamentals of the game. The kids get a kick out of it and they learn something. It’s all about teaching and learning.”

At the first day of camp, basic fundamentals were the main focus. Coaches stressed the importance of finishing a move with the correct hand on the corresponding side of the court. If you are dribbling the ball down the right side of the court, use your right hand or else a defender can steal the ball.

Quickness, balance, getting the right angles and focus are the many aspects of the game basketball that were taught on the first day.

From the time the kids walked into the gym until day ended, Brown-Wynn and her camp staff already see improvements in their campers and look to see their skills develop in the future.

“They all have the potential to be great basketball players,” Mike Wynn said. “You can’t make it without the fundamentals.”

Basketball plays a pivotal role in the Wynn family and seeing kids improve and become better basketball players brings great joy to their lives.

“The fact that we can instill and teach them something is special,” Wynn said. “You never know how far one of these kids might go.”