NATCHEZ — When Jacqueline Champs’ son Jacquan Johnson started his own basketball team, the Natchez native knew she would support him in his endeavors.

But Champs didn’t think she would become as involved as she did.

Johnson loves basketball, and he looked forward to playing for the Mississippi Bobcats AAU team again this summer, but didn’t get a call from any coaches about practice times.

Champs said her 13-year-old son came to her with an idea.

“He said he wanted to start his own team and a few days later, he said he had about 12 guys from school to play,” Champ said. “I asked if he had a coach, so he and his friends went out and found a coach (Dennis Davis. Jr.), too.

“That was a Tuesday, they entered their first tournament that Saturday.”

Champs said she was proud of her son for taking the matters into his own hands in a positive way, and she would do her best to attend games.

But a call at 3 a.m. Saturday while she was working at the Paragon Casino in Marksville, La., quickly got her more involved with the day-to-day operations of the team than she imagined.

“My son called me and said someone who was supposed to take a few of the kids down to Hammond, La., backed out at the last minute and they needed a ride,” Champs said. “I didn’t think I could do it, but I drove to Natchez to take them.”

Champs was currently living in Marksville while her son stayed in Natchez with close relatives to continue schooling at Morgantown Middle School.

Champs drove the 78 miles to Natchez at 4 a.m. to meet her son and his teammates in the Walmart parking lot before gathering four of them in her car to travel 121 miles to Hammond for the basketball tournament.

“When I felt myself getting sleepy, I said, ‘Lord, it’s in Your hands’ and for some reason, a spark went through me and kept me up the whole way,” Champs said.

When they made it to Hammond, Champs’ duties were far from over.

She helped get her car full of players into a hotel room, then helped reimburse coach Davis most of the money for the team’s entry fee into the tournament.

Champs said it was noticeable that the Dream Team was the new team on the scene.

“I saw all of those teams in their perfect uniforms, then I looked at our boys in their T-shirts,” Champs said. “But this is something children did. Adults helped those other teams get their jerseys. The kids got this far on their own.”

But it all seemed to pay off. The Dream Team won first place in their first tournament, and Champs said she was filled with joy to watch her son sprint up and down the court doing something that he loves.

“This is something he loves to do, and it keeps him busy and away from the streets,” Champs said.

Davis said he feels like basketball is a great way for children to put their focus into something positive.

“This is the age where the kids are teenagers, and we need to be in the children’s lives because they can get lost really fast in this world,” Davis said.

Since then, the team has won first place in the Mayfest tournament in Natchez, and is preparing for their next tournament in Jackson, and Champs is doing everything she can to get the team on their feet.

Champs, along with Cynthia Williams, has helped the team get fundraising help from Krispy Kreme donuts to help buy jerseys instead of the T-shirts they first wore.

She said she is now in the process of getting the team’s name and jersey numbers put on the uniforms.

Champs realized with all she is doing to help the team, she had to move back to Natchez from Marksville, and get transferred from Paragon Casino to the Isle of Capri.

The move back home will also help her in another way. Champs is also studying business marketing management full time at Alcorn State University.

Davis said dedicated parents like Champs and Williams are hard to come by, and the more they become involved in their children’s lives, the more they save them from being lost in the streets.

“We need more people like them,” Davis said. “If it weren’t for them. we probably wouldn’t be where we’re at now. We just started from scratch, we didn’t have any money and we don’t have sponsors. But now we have already won two tournaments.”