Instead of clicking her red heels three times and uttering the phrase “There’s no place like home,” Vicksburg native Donna Brown-Wynn simply drives down from Tennessee to give back to her community.

Brown-Wynn has done so by holding her “Play 2 Wynn” basketball camp for the previous 13 years. For the 14th edition, she’s hoping a minor tweak will get even more people involved.

This year the camp, which begins Monday and continues through next Friday at Vicksburg High’s ROTC building, will take place in the evening. Activities will run from 5 to 8 p.m. each day.

Brown-Wynn believes the switch will benefit parents who couldn’t make the original drop off time of 9 a.m. in years prior.

Belmont University, a private liberal arts university in Nashville, Tenn., has donated shoes for the camp as well. Brown-Wynn was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Belmont from 1996-2009. She played and later coached at Mississippi State as well.

“That’s the type of thing I want to do when I come home,” she said. “We’re going to work on basketball but here’s sneakers for a kid who can’t afford it or a kid who didn’t bring the right shoes that day.”

Defensive fundamentals and court vision is the cornerstone of this year’s camp. As a coach of two fifth-grade and a seventh-grade boys’ travel teams, Brown-Wynn said younger players don’t execute proper technique.

“They tend to keep their head toward the person they’re guarding instead of snapping their head to where the ball is being passed to. That’s one of the biggest things we’re going to work on,” Brown-Wynn said.

She added that players should jump to the pass, keep their eye on the ball and their defender.

“If you do not jump to that pass, I’m going to cut in front of you for a layup,” she said. “If you jump to that pass you’re going to be in position to cut it off.”

Agitating a defender and applying constant pressure help make an opponent uncomfortable. If a defender can disrupt the ballhandler for the time they’re holding the ball, it could lead to turnovers and disrupt their offensive flow.

“I teach them to say ‘ball, ball, ball’ for four seconds. They’re applying pressure talking and causing chaos and havoc. I don’t want that kid to be comfortable with that ball,” Brown-Wynn said.

Not every player is comfortable with being chatty on defense. Brown-Wynn attributes this to a player’s personality.

“I deal with kids on the other side of the spectrum where I don’t have to tell them to say it. It’s in them to say ‘ball’ and be aggressive,” she said. “It’s a tremendous difference when you have all five players on the floor and they’re all talking on defense. It creates that chemistry and unity.”

In regards to how young players see the court, Brown-Wynn said they have to have their eyes up so they can see their teammates.

The camp isn’t solely about teaching basketball fundamentals.

Brown-Wynn teaches life lessons and advises her campers about bullying, peer pressure and doing well in school. She wants smiles when she walks in and when she leaves camp each day.

“I love doing these camps,” she said. “It’s a way of me giving back to my community. I want to help these kids get better.”

PLAY 2 WYNN BASKETBALL CAMP

4 The 14th annual Play 2 Wynn Basketball Camp will begin Monday at the Vicksburg High School ROTC building on Lee Street. The camp is for children ages 6-17, and the registration fee is $100. The camp will run Monday, June 20 through Friday, June 24, from 5 to 8 p.m. each day. For more information, email Donna Brown-Wynn at dbrownwynn@gmail.com or call her at 615-974-4015.