Justin Hoeveler, President of US Sports Camps, has an extensive background in youth sports.
Throughout his career, Hoeveler has served as the founding CEO of Youth Enrichment Brands since its establishment in late 2021 and is currently the President of US Sports Camps and the Chief Growth Officer of YEB. Before that, he worked as a director of operations for Priority Sports, a sports agency based in Chicago that represents more than 50 NBA players.
The partnership between US Sports Camps and basketball legend Diana Taurasi marks a significant step toward encouraging girls to participate in basketball going forward. Taurasi had a legendary career in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, spanning two decades, where she was known for her scoring prowess and all-around game. She became the first player to surpass 10,000 career points, won three WNBA Championships and six Olympic Gold medals, and is the league’s all-time leading scorer.
Taurasi will present the TAURASI Snow Valley Basketball Camp, an all-girls (raging from 11-18 years old) basketball camp, from July 24-27 in Santa Barbara, Calif.
“Investing in the next generation of athletes is incredibly important to me,” Taurasi said is a U.S. Sports Camps press release. “I am honored to join US Sports Camps to present the Taurasi Snow Valley Basketball Camp this summer and provide an environment for young athletes to challenge themselves, learn the game the right way, and build lifelong habits and friendships. Basketball has given me so much, and I couldn’t be more excited to give back.”
Hoeveler sat down with Ballislife to discuss Taurasi’s partnership agreement and the growth of the WNBA.
Ballislife: What brought you to bring in Diana Taurasi as a partner of US Sports Camps?
Hoeveler: Anytime you have the chance to partner with a goat or one of the goats of basketball, you jump at the chance. But then beneath the surface, you see the amazing alignment with Diana (Taurasi), such a trailblazer, such an incredible competitor, obviously, the most accomplished, she is a role model. Our mission at US Sports Camps, the mission of Snow Valley basketball camps has been to develop incredible basketball players and incredible people, and teach life skills through sport. And Diana just represents everything that’s amazing about women’s sports. We’ve been such a fan of her from afar, and the opportunity to partner with her and bring her pedigree, her character, and her genuine interest into a basketball camp like Snow Valley. It’s just a no-brainer when the opportunity presented itself.
BIL: How were your interactions with Taurasi like leading up to the partnership agreement?
Hoeveler: (It’s) incredibly positive. I mean, she has been very clear from the start that she cares about developing skills in young female basketball players, but also developing life skills. So basketball plus life skills and developing character. And again, that’s what Snow Valley has been about. From the start, her interest and her motivation has been incredibly clear about what she wants to get out of this next chapter, influencing and the next generation, and for us, particularly Snow Valley, which is so rooted in fundamental development, skill development, (and) personal development. Again, it was each conversation that got us more excited. And we’re just getting started in this partnership with her.
BIL: What significance does Taurasi’s addition hold for Snow Valley Basketball Camps, both now and in the future?
Hoeveler: Her involvement, brings light to just the incredible tradition of Snow Valley basketball and even on a larger level, the importance in value and benefits of summer time, basketball development and personal development. There’s a lot of attention, focus, kind of this trend and in gameplay and travel and all of that in the summer for a lot of players. And for 50 years at US Sports Camps, summer is a time for growing your passions or finding new ones in sport.
And we believe deeply in the value of skill development and fundamental development as being core to to basketball improvement and progression. So, that perfectly aligns with what Diana (Taurasi) sees in the game as well. She’s known for being an incredibly hard worker.
(At) Snow Valley, you work hard at that camp. I went to the camp, actually, and I ended up playing a year of college basketball. I went to the camp, and still remember waking up early in the morning to do defensive drills and play games where you apply what you learn during the day into the night. And it’s just an amazing basketball camp experience that gets players better. And I still remember vividly, you walk into the camp the first day a little bit nervous. You don’t know a lot of new kids, a lot of new faces, and you walk out of that camp four days later with this incredible sense of confidence for working hard during the week, developing skills, making new friends, having experiences that you you will remember for life.
So the partnership with Diana brings the right attention to the value of summer being a time for individual improvement, skill development and new perspectives to get better as a player or to pursue your passion.
BIL: With Taurasi joining the longest-running basketball program through a partnership, what are you continuing to develop?
Hoeveler: The camp started in 1961 and marrying that with a legend of the game, who is now retired, and more focused on giving back in a really meaningful way, not just a token way, a really meaningful way of really impacting and communicating all that she had learned, all that made her great to the next generation.
And it’s especially relevant right now in a time of too much technology and challenging time for girls with social media and all the mental anguish that it can bring, Diana (Taurasi) was herself. She was the ultimate competitor. She sets an example for embracing what makes individuals unique, individualism, and for us, marrying all that she represents with this tradition focused in fundamental development, skill development, personal development. It’s just incredibly exciting for the future of this camp and this relationship in general.
BIL: With the growth of women’s basketball, particularly due to Taurasi’s longevity and legacy, how are you encouraging more girls to get involved in the sport?
Hoeveler: I mean, what an exciting time for girls sports (and) girls basketball. We’ve been around for 50 years. US Sports has been promoting youth sports and the transformation that happens from playing youth sports, and we’re really proud of how we’ve worked with amazing women coaches in our history. Such as the Doug Bruno basketball camp, which is a legendary basketball camp based in Chicago that attracts girls from all over the country. It’s been around for 40 plus years. So the Doug Bruno basketball camp, we work with amazing high school coaches like Alicia Komaki at Sierra Canyon (Calif.). We run the UNLV basketball camp, Chicago Sky, (and) LA Sparks (basketball camps).
So, we have deep tradition in girls basketball, and this partnership brings some of that to light. But we are incredibly excited about all the developments on a macro level in the sport. Caitlin Clark following in the footsteps of Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Sheryl Swoopes and many others, and now Paige Bueckers. And for us, we’ve had a 30-year partnership with Nike. Nike has been an incredible proponent of women’s sports and women’s basketball, and so we’re incredibly excited to continue to connect those dots, where we execute best, which is in the summertime camp space, and focusing on scale and personal development.
We believe deeply in the power of sport to change lives, we believe deeply in creating more opportunity for people of all backgrounds and status as much as possible. But it’s especially obviously an exciting time in girls sports. And we want to continue to be the go to place for girls to go and pursue their passion in sport, in multiple sports, try multiple sports with us. Like one trend that we don’t love as much is just this early specialization we believe in sampling and exploration and playing. Volleyball is growing and girls flag football is growing, and, of course, basketball, but, I believe you should be able to pursue all three of those and not have to choose one sport too early.
BIL: What do you think about the growth of the WNBA, and how do you think it will affect young girls in camps in the future?
Hoeveler: I mean, you see increased visibility, right, of the WNBA and professional women’s basketball, you see these amazing athletes that continue to push the game forward. We’re here, based in the Bay Area, and the Golden State Valkyries has set an attendance record in their first season. So what Jess (Smith, the team president) has done there, she has been incredible in building that franchise. It’s so cool to feel the atmosphere and the energy in the city around the Valkyries, just using the local example. But it’s such an exciting time in this space. And we want to continue to push it in all the right ways.
This Taurasi partnership is the first of many steps, but it’s just a monumental step for us in bringing attention, again, back to skill development and fundamental development, and development as a player in the summertime.
