HARDWICK – The sixteenth annual Hazen Summer League tipped off last week in Hardwick and head coach Aaron Hill and the 23rd edition of his Hazen Hoop Camp will be available to a wide array of ages for both boys and girls in the second week of July.
Hazen will have two teams representing the Wildcat logo at Summer League this year, made up of high schoolers and middle school players, and another team of Hazen grads made up mostly from the ‘22, ‘16, ‘10, and ‘09 championship teams. Hill and Wildcat junior varsity coach Adam Gann will coach the varsity and middle school teams. They will compete against a stout Spaulding team made up of Crimson Tide graduates, a team from the Danville area, and a team made up of graduates from Peoples Academy. The three headed monster of former Crimson Tide greats Cooper Diego, Tavarius Vance, and Riley Severy combined for 78 points and 31 rebounds to lead their Lyndon/Spaulding team to a 101-75 win over the Bagley Boys to claim 2023 Hazen Summer League Championship honors. Wildcat great Tyler Rivard scored 27 and pulled down 18 boards in the loss. The ‘24 season tipped off on Wednesday and games will be scheduled every Monday and Wednesday evening at the Cat Den from now until the first week of August.
For five days in July and for only $35 dollars, your son or daughter can get expert basketball tutelage from Hill, his staff, along with current and former Wildcat greats at the Hazen Hoop Camp. The legendary Wildcat head coach has brought six Division III state championships to the town of Hardwick over the past quarter century, including over 400 career wins at Hazen before the age of 50. There are spots still available to sign up, the camp runs from July 15-19, and it is co-ed. Hill and company will be teaching grades 3-6 from 9 a.m.-noon and grades 7-9 from 1-4 p.m.
This will be the first Summer League and Hoop Camp for Hill as the Hazen athletic director as the cooperative agreement between the Craftsbury Academy (CA) and Hazen Union athletic departments begins this coming fall.
“It’s been amazing that we’ve been able to keep both of these going this long and all the credit goes to the support from the community and the dedication of the kids. . . We are excited to continue developing the relationship with CA and give the kids opportunities to compete,” said Hill.
ed note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to merging of the Craftsbury Academy and Hazen Union athletic departments. Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union Communications Specialist, Lisa Stinson said, “This past spring, the schools entered into a cooperative sports agreement with shared responsibility for the program. The cooperative agreement between Hazen Union School and Craftsbury Schools is in effect for the high school sports of soccer, baseball, and softball and in effect for the middle school sports of soccer, baseball, and Nordic skiing. Golf will also be included in the agreement this fall.”
