Vitto Brown helping community achieve their dream while he strives for his

Former Wisconsin Badgers basketball player Vitto Brown is ready to give back to his community as he moves forward in his basketball journey.

It has been four months since the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker to the Florida Gators in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. It has also been four months since the Badgers program lost four of its most successful players of all time.

One of those players, Vitto Brown, is not ready to give up basketball just yet- and he believes his journey is only beginning.

Brown became a huge part of the Badgers’ success during his four years in Madison, specifically in the latter half of his career- seeing a spike in minutes from just over six per game his sophomore year to over 25 his junior year. A stretch four that can battle down low with the bigs or step out and knock down a few triples, Brown failed to hear his name called during and after the NBA Draft last month despite having a few workouts with NBA teams leading up to it.

As many players have learned in the past, the NBA Draft does not make or break one’s professional playing career, and Brown is determined to keep chasing his dream.

“My current plan is to go to the [NBA] G League and work my way up to the NBA,” Brown told Badger of Honor.

In the meantime, while he is working out and improving his game and waiting for his shot, Brown has decided to give back to the community and share his plethora of basketball knowledge to those who have the same dream as him: Making it to the NBA.

Now that he is back in Ohio, Brown has decided to start his own basketball camp and share his experiences and expertise to the youth of the area.

“Finally being home during the summer allowed me to set it up,” Brown said. “I’ve wanted to give back to the up-and-coming Bowling Green basketball players in hopes that they can take from my experiences and improve their game.”

What started out as a floating idea has now turned into a reality for Brown and the Bowling Green community and he is excited to get started on the first of many youth basketball camps in which he can teach kids the fundamentals of the game and get them ready for what’s to come.

“The main focus of the camp will be on the fundamental skills of the game- shooting form, passing, defense, and dribbling primarily, along with mental concepts,” Brown said when asked about what he will be teaching the participants.

Despite being the main name of the camp and the ringleader of it all, Brown will not be doing this alone and those who are participating in the camp will be getting a wide variety of knowledge from various different backgrounds. Former players, coaches, and teachers of the game will be along side Vitto to help run this event. Most of Brown’s high school and youth coaches from the area will be in attendance, some of whom played ball in college themselves. Universities such as Chicago State, Tiffin, Amherst, Indiana Tech, and Northern Kentucky will all be represented.

While the smooth execution of this camp, which takes place Saturday, July 29, is top priority for Vitto and his “staff,” he hopes that after this debut he can make it a regular happening.

“[I] definitely plan on doing more in the future, and if I end up living around Madison I definitely would have ones up there too,” Brown said when asked about future events.

According to Vitto’s Twitter account, it looks like he recently visited Madison, but tells Badger of Honor he does not plan on making another trip any time soon.

“I probably won’t see Madison for a while unless I end up getting on a team around that area,” Brown replied when asked about getting back to Wisconsin next. “[I do] miss my brothers, AKA my teammates. We talk pretty much everyday whether it be through Snapchat or group chats.”

Regardless of when Brown gets back to his alma mater next, he will be using everything he learned under Bo Ryan, Greg Gard, and the rest of the basketball program to strive for his goal, all while helping others get to theirs.

When asked if there was one thing he learned from Madison that he will be implying during his camps, Brown responded:

“Fighting through adversity and having confidence in yourself.”

Vitto’s first camp of many will take place this weekend and for that time being, his focus will be on improving the fundamentals and skills of all that attend his sessions. After that, it’s back to focusing on improving his own game and getting ready for that next level of basketball in his career.

“Right now I’m training back home getting ready to make a G League team and make a name for myself,” Brown added about his post-University of Wisconsin plans. “The two workouts I had with the Bucks and Kings were great tests for me to see how I measured up with other NBA draft prospects and gave me a better idea of what teams expect from players.”

Brown hopes his camp will send a message to kids to work hard and fight for their dreams, because it does not come easy. There are hundreds of thousands of basketball players out there with the same dream to make it to the NBA, but Vitto is bound to make sure all his participants at camp know the same thing:

“Have a dream. And do all that you can to reach that dream. Believe in your dream.”

Follow Vitto Brown on Twitter @SenseiSwat33 for more info on all of his camps and to follow his journey.