VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR)- A few things are certain every summer in Virginia Beach: humidity, the occasional summer storm, and the Paul Webb Basketball Camp.
Now in its 61st year, the camp packed 120 young players ages 6 to 17 into the gym at Corporate Landing Middle School this week, putting the fun in fundamentals.
"For a person who coached for 30-some years, there are actually more people who know him through the camps than they do as a coach," said Eddie Webb, Paul Webb's son and the camp's director.
This annual summer event was started more than six decades ago by the late head coach and has grown into a staple of the Hampton Roads hoops community, though its roots began a little bit west on I-64.
"He and a friend of his who was coaching at the University of Richmond, they got together in 1965 and they decided they wanted to do something on campus so they started doing them there and they've been going every since," Webb noted.
The camp offers drills, games, guest speakers, and life lessons — all with a focus on building more than just basketball skills.
"I want them to learn teamwork, that it's not one person who carries the team, that it takes five and to teach them how to play together," said Webb. "I think that's really important."
Camp counselor Mark Butts, a former coach at First Colonial, said the results speak for themselves — both in the gym and in the numbers that keep coming back year after year.
"61 years, which shows you that the kids are getting something out of it," he pointed out.
Webb said the retention rate backs that up.
"They realize that their kids are having fun. We probably get 75 percent of the same kids back every year so that means they're having fun and they're learning something."
For Butts, watching young players grow over the course of a single week is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
"If I can see a kid improve, and this happens, from Monday to Friday it's unbelievable,:" he said of the rewards of being involved with the event. "Especially with the little ones and you see that they grow from Monday to Friday, it's unreal."
Paul Webb passed away in December 2023. Nearly three years later, those who knew him say his impact on Virginia basketball is impossible to overstate.
"You can't say Virginia basketball without Coach Webb. You just can't say it," said Butts. "That's what he's meant to the basketball community."
For Eddie Webb, keeping the camp going is the most fitting tribute he can offer his father.
"He loved basketball, but he loved being around the kids with basketball and I thought that this is the best thing I can be doing to remember him- just keep something going like this for him."
Butts recalled what it was like to watch Paul Webb observe the camp he built.
"When he would come in and sit on the sideline and you could see him looking at the kids and looking at the drills, you could see it in his eyes how much he loved it," he recalled.
The final week of the Paul Webb Basketball Camp tips off next week at Corporate Landing Middle School. For more information, click here.
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