Area Athletes Attend Hoop?Camp
By LINDSAY ANDERSON, Staff WriterArticle Photos
It's not often that kids have the likes of Joe Alexander and Alex Ruoff giving them tips on the basketball court. But 17 local boys and three others from Ohio did get to meet the West Virginia University basketball stars during the university's summer basketball camp thanks to Elkins resident Roy Simms' Give Back Foundation.
Simms started the Give Back Foundation two and a half years ago when a friend asked him to put together a team of 10 to take to the Nike Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas. Since then, Simms has helped middle school and high school boys fulfill their dreams of attending basketball camps in the region.
"The purpose of this organization is to give kids the opportunity to earn their way to camp and to understand how to travel, meet new kids, and how sport really intermingles with real life," said Simms.
This years camp, which went from June 29 to July 2, went very well according to Simms.
"I think the camp was very successful for our kids," he said.
Four students attending camp through the Give Back Foundation won awards at the camp. Dalton Crislip won the foul shooting contest and was the 10 for 10 camp winner; Nic Hammond won the camp hustle award; Hunter Fath was one of the Big East team champions in the 13 to 14 age division; and Tyler Gray was one of the Big 10 team champions in the 11 to 12 age division.
Hammond, who broke WVU's camp record in the hot shot competition last year for scoring 92 points in two minutes, said he enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends at the camp.
"I think it went really well," he said. "My game got better while I was down there. They worked us pretty hard."
The upcoming sophomore at Elkins High School said he was able to spend quite a bit of time with WVU forward Cam Thoroughman and assistant coach Billy Hahn and also did drills with Alex Ruoff.
"It was good," said Hammond. "He taught me some drills I can do on my own."
Zack Doyle from Springfield, Ohio, attended the camp and said that besides the good food available to campers, his favorite part of camp was playing games with other campers.
"The camp was pretty good," he said. "The competition was good. The teams were well-rounded."
Doyle said he also enjoyed getting to watch the WVU players play a scrimmage game, sign autographs and take pictures.
"It was just a good camp," said Doyle. "Everything about it was good."
Simms said it was wonderful for him to see all of the big name WVU stars meet the kids.
"I think that some of them were pretty overwhelmed," he said. "The kids just went crazy. It was great."
Simms said he was thankful for everyone who participated, all the sponsors, and for the Gainer, Fath and Gray families who helped with transportation.
"It was a great success," Simms said. "The kids were very well-mannered and that's a blessing that we have in our community."
