Insideyouthbasketball camp run by UConn men's star Donovan Clingan: 'Bucket list thing'

Jul. 10—"Ever since we won the national championship, NIL has been wild," Clingan said during a break before closing the event with an autograph session. "But camps like this, I enjoy just seeing the kids happy, seeing them smile. Kids look forward to this. To make them happy and make their day is awesome."

The camp, for players ages 6-16, featured individual drills and 5-on-5 play with campers split into six teams. Cost to attend was $150. Kids received a shirt featuring the logo of Next Gen Camps, which collaborates with top athletes nationwide to put on such events, individual and group instruction — and some up-close-and-personal time with Clingan, quickly becoming one of the most recognizable basketball players in the nation.

Clingan, listed as a 7-foot-2 center last season and maybe now an inch taller, was a two-time Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year before helping UConn to a national championship as a freshman. He is projected as a lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. So he's become a fascination. Young players look up to him figuratively as much as literally.

"It's crazy what one year can do to change your life," said Clingan, who committed to UConn after his junior year at Bristol Central High.

Rockville boys basketball coach Tim Cooper held the microphone and was the main organizer for Sunday's event, moving players station-to-station and gym-to-gym. Seven of his Rockville players worked as instructors. One was particularly interested in how he'd handle a brief game of 1-on-1 with Clingan, who obliged.

Rockville junior Thomas Bannon was asked what it was liked to be dunked on by Clingan.

"Oh, no, that wasn't me," Bannon said. "That was my brother — my twin brother."

Identical, for sure. Thomas Bannon and Matthew Bannon are both 6-feet-2. Matthew is the Bannon who left with a heck of a story to tell.

"It was hard," Matthew Bannon said of playing against Clingan. "It's a whole different game when you're playing against someone that size. I can't even put it into words. There was really nothing I could do against him. It was fun, though. When he goes to the NBA and becomes a superstar I can say, 'I got dunked on by him.' A big moment in life, to get dunked on by someone in the NBA."

Clingan offered a blunt report on the competition.

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"He wanted to dunk on me, so I blocked it," Clingan said, smiling. "He wanted me to dunk on him, so I did."

An equally interesting interaction came when Clingan spent time with Anthony Daniels, of Milford, Mass., who at 6-8 towered over other campers. Daniels turns 13 next week and is entering eighth grade. He has spent the summer playing elite youth basketball in the Northeast. Daniels had a game earlier Sunday in New York, then attended Clingan's camp with his father, Andy Daniels.

"I've been following Donovan for a while, watching YouTube videos [of Bristol Central games], and then when he went to UConn I'd watch his games," Andy Daniels said. "We were really looking forward to meeting him. Donovan was asking how tall he is and what not, and he talked about some things for him to work on. He said footwork is the big thing. You can learn shooting, moves. But work on the footwork first."

Clingan was about 6-5 at when he was 12-going-on-13 — three inches shorter than Anthony Daniels.

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"He broke his foot about three months ago, as he was just starting to get a little better," Andy Daniels said of his son. "During the X-rays, they said all his growth plates are still there. So, potentially, he's still got a lot of room to grow."

Andy Daniels said he was long interested in having a player for his son to emulate and has found that in Clingan, who couldn't yet dunk while in middle school. Daniels is getting close.

Clingan gave Daniels a tip: start by dunking tennis balls, then mini-basketballs, and work your way up to dunking a full-sized ball.

"And that's what I've been telling him!" Andy Daniels said. "He wouldn't listen. But maybe he'll listen to Donovan."

When Anthony Daniels approached Clingan toward the end of the camp for a picture and an autograph, Clingan, seated at a table while signing jerseys and fliers, said, "Got to stand up for this one."

The walls of the main gym and an auxiliary gym were lined with parents, most of them taking photos and recording video of their children training with each other and chatting with Clingan, who averaged 6.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 13 minutes last season for the Huskies. He shot a team-best 65.5 percent from the field.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Jeff Wilson, a UConn fan from Uxbridge, Mass., while sitting in the bleachers and watching his son, Cole Wilson, 11, participate in drills. "It's a bucket list thing. It's not every day that you get to do a camp with a D-I college athlete. I watched all the games with my son. It's awesome. He's still trying to learn the game and I try to explain it him, and I'm trying to get him to like a team. I'm pushing UConn on him."

The Daniels' and Wilsons traveled many miles to attend — but not as many as the Wojtyniak family. Michelle Wojtyniak and her husband live in Mount Airy, Md., the hometown of Josh Boone, who played three years at UConn before departing for the NBA in 2006, and about 20 miles north of Gaithersburg, the hometown of Jordan Hawkins, last season's West Region most outstanding player.

The Wojtyniaks made the six-and-a-half hour drive to Connecticut on Friday, spending the weekend with family in the state, so their son, Lucas, 9, could attend the camp.

"Clingan has been his favorite player this entire year," Michelle Wojtyniak said. "He picked him out from the beginning. Loves him. Kid from Connecticut, all that kind of stuff. So we've been watching. [Lucas] also tall for his age, so the center position."

Michelle and her husband met as UConn students and graduated in 2005. They attended a few games last season and watched many others at Washington D.C.-area alumni events. Michelle is originally from Beacon Falls, Martin from East Haddam.

Pernell Clemonts might have had the easiest commute on Sunday. He lives in Vernon, not far from Rockville High. Clemonts was raised in Bristol, where he says much of the talk at restaurants and barber shops is about Clingan. Clemonts' son, Jeremiah, 11, lives during the week with his mother in Bristol and found out he would attend Clingan's camp when he arrived at his father's home on Saturday.

"I wanted to surprise him," said Pernell Clemonts, who watched Jeremiah alongside his two daughters. "He just loves basketball. It's his thing. He has a hoop in the driveway and he goes out there and shoots for hours and hours and hours. He's more of an NBA fan. I don't know how many college players he knows. But basketball, in general, is what he knows and loves."

Meredith Ziegler of Mansfield had two sons in attendance — Jake, 11, and Timmy, 6. Ziegler works at UConn, in the school of fine arts.

"We actually have a summer bucket list for our family and once they found out they were like, 'Write that down, we're hanging the autograph of Donovan Clingan in the room,'" Ziegler said. "We watched every game this season. If we weren't up at that time, we'd record it. They were pumped up. My youngest said, 'Donovan Clingan is so tall I can walk between his legs.' And Jake said, 'I'm going to ask him who he looks up to in the NBA.'"

Three of Clingan's former teammates are at the outset of their professional careers. Hawkins, 21, was a lottery selection in the June draft, selected 14th overall by the Pelicans. Andre Jackson, 21, was taken in the second round, 36th overall, by the Bucks. Adama Sanogo, 21, the most outstanding player at the Final Four and a mentor to Clingan, went undrafted but signed with the Bulls.

Clingan, 19, is approaching that world quickly. He will enter the starting lineup at UConn next season as a sophomore, with his playing time likely doubled. Every expectation is that he will declare for the draft after the 2023-24 season and officially enter the NBA during next summer's draft.

Clingan is already making a good living, his success pairing well with his local ties to create unique business opportunities. Clingan lets his agent handle scheduling. On Sunday, it was announced that Clingan could sign only jerseys and fliers and not basketballs — likely due to NIL obligations on another front.

Many of his summer days have been packed with NIL events and appearances. Off the top of his head, Clingan couldn't recall what was next on his schedule. There's a chance he will be at Fenway Park on July 21 as part of ceremonial first pitches before a Red Sox game in honor of UConn's national championship.

Spending a few hours in a Connecticut high school gym on Sunday brought him back to his roots.

"I just look at it like, high school is easy," he said, laughing. "Basketball isn't easy anymore. Looking back on it is crazy. I was known here in high school, but to be known nationally is just wild. It feels good that I'm doing well, but I still have a lot of work to do. I still have to take it to the next level."

Asked what advice he tried to share with young players, Clingan said, "If you really love it, you just have to put the work in every day. It's a great game to play. It's a lot of fun and you meet a lot of great people. But I just tell them, if you really love it, you also have to put the work in and be the best version of you."