Former Yorkville Christian star Micah Schnyders to host ‘Hoops 4 Hunger’ basketball skills camp again Saturday

Micah Schnyders can’t put into words the impact that Yorkville Christian the place and its people have had on him.

To come back and use the platform he’s been blessed with?

It’s the least he can do.

The former Mustangs’ basketball star, fresh off his first season at Eastern Michigan and a recent graduate, is returning to Yorkville Christian to share his basketball knowledge – and help those in need.

Schnyders, the 2020 Record Newspapers Player of the Year, is once again hosting the “Hoops for Hunger” basketball skills clinics from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3 at Yorkville Christian High School. Two sessions will be held, the first for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade and the second for seventh-graders through high school.

Registration is $20 and each camper is asked to bring food items for local food pantries. Representatives from the main organization the camp supports, All God’s People, will be present at the event.

“It feels like it’s my responsibility to help people in need,” Schnyders said. “It’s easy to take so much of everything I’ve been blessed with for granted.”

The inspiration of the event started with Schnyders’ grandfather Jacob Schnyders, who worked in the grocery business for 40 years and would give canned food donations to local food pantries.

Micah’s dad, Tim, took that idea, combined it with his love of basketball and started running camps for kids with the proceeds going toward a food pantry. Growing up, Micah was the demonstrator at his dad’s camp, doing the drills in grade school through his first year of high school.

With NCAA regulations adopted in recent years allowing collegiate athletes to earn compensation for their name, image and likeness, Schnyders could do events like this with his name and image. This will be the fourth such event.

“With the NIL rules passed I could do something cool in my name. It’s bigger than me,” Schnyders said. “We’re trying to make as much money as we can in honor of my grandfather Jacob Schnyders. He worked at a supermarket and any extra cans he would hand out to those in need. This is me trying to keep on that legacy and use basketball in a platform. I feel blessed to give back to people who need it.”

As a senior, Schnyders led Yorkville Christian to 24 wins and set school records for points and assists as a senior, averaging 25.5 points to finish with 1,587 career points. He started his collegiate career at Eastern Illinois, then played a season at Wheaton College. He appeared in 14 games off the bench for Eastern Michigan this past season.

He still has one year of eligibility left at Eastern Michigan and will exercise it while pursuing his master’s degree in marketing and communications.

“Super fortunate to wind up at Eastern Michigan, ended up being a good situation for me,” Schnyders said. “It came out of nowhere. The assistant coach there, Bob Simon, he was the coach at Siena when I was a senior. He came and watched me workout, got to a couple games. One of the workouts he wanted us to shoot at five spots until we missed a three. I hit two or three at the first spot, got to the next one and hit 58 in a row.”

The camp will start with one big group event, something like stationary ballhandling to get kids moving, and then break up into nine different stations. Stations will be devoted to vertical jumps, speed and agility, shooting, ballhandling, rebounding and defense, offense and movement, teaching kids to come off screens and more.

Yorkville Christian coaches Aaron Sovern and Jeff Schutt will man two of the stations. Guest instructors include NBA trainers, coaches with college experience and even a coach from the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. Schnyders also plans to have a guest speaker, an undisclosed former member of the championship Chicago Bulls.

“This is not just for boys; we want to get as many basketball players as we can, regardless of gender,” Schnyders said. “If you love to play basketball we want you in the door.”

Schnyders said as of Monday 250 kids had pre-registered for the camp. If they get as many walkups as last year, he estimated they could break 300. Registration is still open until midnight Thursday on yorkvillechristian.com. under the events tab. Those that want to come and sign up the day of the event can do so with $20 cash.

“We’ll take as many as we can fit in the Canyon,” Schnyders said. “It’s just amazing and such a blessing that so many people want to be a part of what what we’re doing. It leaves me speechless at times.”