Following a one-year delay due to the Covid Pandemic, David ‘DJ’ Jones, former professional player and Founder of Shooting For Success Basketball in San Antonio, Texas has officially assumed the role of Head Coach of the Vietnamese Women’s National Team after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City in mid-March. Jones is responsible for training the team for the upcoming SEA (Southeast Asian) Games May 12.
Vietnamese National Team Players were still arriving to town as of this week. The team held its first official practice, March 26.
“We are starting very late so my only thought process at the moment is that we have to work overtime, Jones told me over What’s App. The team’s schedule includes practice every morning from eight until noon.
That is not to say Jones hasn’t been in the gym already.
He has.
David Jones has frequented training sessions with his daughter, 24-year-old Mailee Jones, who has played for the Vietnamese Women’s National team since 2020.
“It’s the dream of a lifetime for me to not only coach this women’s team but to coach my daughter on it,” Jones said. “We get to win together again.”
Jones recalled playing professional basketball overseas and bringing Mailee to practices with him when she was just a toddler. As Jones moved into coaching Mailee remained by his side. Upon moving back to the United States and launching his own basketball development organization, Mailee played ball for her dad, oftentimes being the lone girl on a court full of boys. As she grew Mailee helped her father with his basketball camps and clinics. Even as recently as December, as Mailee was forced to return to San Antonio due to the pandemic, the female baller helped her father with Shooting For Success during the day while training with him at night.
Now the basketball pair will put all that training and years of mentorship to the test as they aim to lead the Vietnamese Women’s National Team to victory. They’ll play a good number of games in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
“I am excited to bring an American style of competition and play to the Women’s National Team,” Jones has said. Jones is known for his shooting mechanics and shot. Mailee has a reputation as a shooter. “You will see a lot of shooting and a lot of scoring from this team at the SEA games,” Jones confirmed. “We will be ready.”
The SEA games will run through May 23.
If the team fares well they could earn a bid to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. It would be the first time the team qualifies.
Jones is set to return home to the Alamo City in June for his youth organization’s summer camp season.
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