Youth summer basketball camp Hoops on the Hill becomes community staple

From a pandemic-era pastime for two teenagers to a program that has impacted the local Chapel Hill community for the past four years, Hoops on the Hill changed what attending a summer basketball camp looks like.

In the summer of 2020, Will Tyndall and Evan Aycock were rising seniors at East Chapel Hill High School looking for something to do. Aycock’s mom suggested they start an outdoor basketball camp to provide a productive outlet for their boredom. 

They advertised the idea on UNC's campus, printing out flyers for a $15-per-day youth basketball camp to be held at UNC's South Campus Recreation Complex. Tyndall and Aycock placed those flyers around Franklin Street and local basketball courts, hoping to draw some interest.

Initially, they struggled to find consistency in numbers. Some days, there would be as few as one or two campers.

“We didn't know how to get people to come," Aycock said.

A basketball camp unlike any other

The loosely-structured camp ran Monday through Friday for just two weeks that first summer. Anyone was welcome to attend; children of all ages, genders and skill levels played against one another in pick-up games. That was something that made the camp unique.

“We’ve had kids as young as seven and as old as 17, and kids who could barely catch a basketball to ones that will probably play in college,”  Tyndall said.

As long as the combined skill level of the teams was balanced, this dynamic worked well, Tyndall said. The younger players were taught by older, more-experienced competitors. In contrast, older kids learned to be responsible and mature while playing with younger teammates.

The small number of participants was initially discouraging, Tyndall said. Still, he and Aycock decided the time they spent with the kids and the support they received from the community was worth it.

Hoops on the Hill picked up traction in the following summers, and by 2023 the pick-up games had grown from just two campers to nearly 70. Some days this past summer, it felt like “half of Chapel Hill” was at the camp, Tyndall said. 

East Chapel Hill junior Bennett Corley was one of the first people to attend the camp in 2020. He went on to participate all four summers. 

“I went to, I think, the second week of Hoops on the Hill they ever had," Corley said. "I think that was one of the only things I did during that time, and it was a really good thing they did for kids — it gave them something to do. I always had a great time being a camper there.” 

A Chapel Hill tradition comes full circle

Aycock and Tyndall decided this past summer would be their last. As they shift their focus toward their career goals, the pair have handed over leadership of the camp to a new generation of teenagers.

Before entering their senior year of high school, Corley and Sam Smith of East Chapel Hill and JJ Wilcox of Durham Academy will take over the camp starting next summer.

“They are really good basketball players but more importantly, they are really good kids and leaders,” said Aycock.

Corley said the uniqueness of the camp will not change. He wants to keep the same relaxed structure that campers have become used to under the leadership of Tyndall and Aycock.

“It was a major blessing,” Corley said of taking over the camp. “How many lives [Tyndall and Aycock] get to touch by doing something that simple — I feel like we all share a love for just the sport of basketball.” 

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