Bay City's Jones honors dad, shares basketball knowledge at camp
Chandi Jones, former WNBA player, started a basketball camp to help teach children in the Bay City area basketball. Jones started the camp after her father passed away a year ago.
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Brittany Wyche tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee last year, but she has no intention of letting the injury prevent her from excelling in her favorite sport.
Wyche took the advice of Bay City coach Sherby Wilkerson and attended the inaugural David and Chandi Jones Basketball Camp.
"My coach told me about her," said Wyche, who will be a sophomore next season. "She told me she was an all-American and she was also good in track too. I told coach Wilkerson I wanted to be an all-American just like her. That's what I'm trying to do."
Jones did her best to help the boys and girls at the Bay City Junior High School gym become better basketball players at the two-day camp, which wrapped up Friday.
"My father and I always wanted to come back here and do a basketball camp," Jones said. "After his death, my mom and I talked about it and we felt like it was the right time to go ahead and do it."
David Jones passed away on June 17, 2009, at the age of 57.
He coached at Bay City and the University of Houston and taught his daughter almost everything she knows about basketball.
Chandi Jones wants the camp to become a lasting tribute to her father.
"We all loved Bay City and I know he would be proud of me coming back in and doing this," Jones said.
Jones felt right at home in the gym where she helped lead the Ladycats to two Class 4A state tournament appearances.
She also won a total of eight gold medals in the long jump and triple jump at the state track and field meet.
After graduating from Bay City, Jones was the Conference USA Player of the Decade at the University of Houston, played for the Detroit Lynx and Minnesota Shock in the WNBA before spending four seasons playing professional basketball in Europe, most recently in Spain.
Jones was the first female player to have her jersey number retired by the University of Houston and will be inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Honor in November.
"This gym is what made me," Jones said. "I practiced here everyday, all day with my father. There are so many memories here. This is where it all started for me in this gym right here.
"I did feel like when I said different things to the kids that I was repeating the same thing my dad said to me or I heard him say to his other players."
Many of the campers were not familiar with Jones' accomplishments, but they were having fun while learning about basketball.
"I wanted to get better with my defense and hopefully my shots," said Chavonne Bluntson, who will be a junior at Tidehaven. "I've learned a lot. More kids should do it because it will help you."
"She taught me about the triple threat," added Elizabeth Reyes, who will be a freshman at Bay City. "That will help me next year."
Jones enjoyed teaching the concept of the triple threat, which she considers the bedrock of her success on the court.
"The basic fundamental in basketball is the triple threat," Jones said. "You get down in your stance with the basketball down low. In the triple threat you can either pass, dribble or shoot."
Jones, 28, took a break from playing basketball after her father passed away and has been staying with her mother, Janice, in Houston.
She is unsure whether she will return to Europe or to go into coaching.
Whatever Jones does, it will involve basketball.
"I've grown up around it all my life and it's pretty much all I know," Jones said. "I love the sport and I love being around it. I always knew whenever I was ready to stop playing, I would be coaching."