It started with a toy basketball hoop and a small plastic ball. Michael Brewington said his daughter’s basketball journey began when she was just a year old.
Now, MaKenna Brewington, an Elon Elementary student, is 7 years old and receiving national attention on social media for her ball-handling skills.
MaKenna was recently in the running for Youth Athlete of the Year, a national competition that supports the Why Not You Foundation, founded by Super Bowl champion and veteran NFL quarterback Russell Wilson. She finished in fifth place in her group.
When he’s not working with his daughter, Michael trains local student basketball players. He said he first noticed MaKenna’s talent on the court when she was five years old.
“Over time, I just saw something special in her, like ‘I think I have something,’” Michael said. “As a parent, you feel like, ‘Alright, everybody thinks their kid’s special.’ But I’ve been hearing it from other people, which confirmed what I was feeling about her.”
As a trainer, Michael takes the same drills he uses with his other players and challenges MaKenna with them during practice. He said she can keep up with the older kids.
“Whatever drill I do with her, I do with a high school or college player, and she’s only 7. Her basketball IQ is amazing,” Michael said. “She rarely watches basketball, but you wouldn’t know that from watching her play.”
Those difficult drills are one of MaKenna’s favorite parts of the game.
“I like practicing on my own, and I like my dad doing challenging stuff for me,” MaKenna said.
Michael said MaKenna’s strongest asset on the court is her ball-handling skills, which he features heavily on her social media account. MaKenna’s Instagram account currently has over 2,000 followers. Her most popular content is of her dribbling the ball between her legs, combined with sophisticated moves like head fakes.
MaKenna’s videos also landed on Overtime, an Instagram page for sports content with 10 million followers.
“We just keep doing what we’re doing as far as putting in the work, and everything else will follow,” Michael said. “It says a lot that she’s getting this kind of attention. It lets me know what we’re doing is right.”
The work MaKenna and Michael do on the court isn’t just about building her skill set. It also builds a father-daughter bond between the two.
“The relationship that we have, I think it started here,” Michael said. “She always just wants to be around me, so me training her, I feel like she’s more receptive to what I’m saying.”
On the court, MaKenna said she enjoys learning from her father, but also playing against him.
“We can play one-on-one. Sometimes, he’s a little bit slow,” MaKenna said, laughing.
In those one-on-one matches, MaKenna is confident with the ball, even finding time to trash-talk her dad.
As for her future, Michael said he isn’t sure what MaKenna will pursue, but he hopes she puts her everything into it.