DAYTONA BEACH — Every summer, Vince Carter poses the same two questions.
He stands in front of more than 100 youngsters, ages 7-17, in the Mainland High School gymnasium bearing his name and asks if they want to be professional athletes “or professional people.” Their hands rocket up.
Then, he inquires about if they’d be willing to put in the work it takes. The hands remain in the air.
Any time he needs to, Carter reminds them of their answers during his Vince Carter Youth Basketball Academy. This year’s iteration of the annual summer camp runs from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday-Friday.
“This week has been pretty darn cool,” Carter, 47, said.
He has been leading the camp since he was a student-athlete at North Carolina. Because of the NIL rules of the time, the first edition featured his high school coach’s name, Charles Brinkerhoff, not his.
“It's always great to come back and give back,” said Carter, a Daytona Beach native and 1995 Mainland alum. “... We do this with my family. These are not outside people. This is our family who all think like I think, who all are passionate about kids. All of my family works in education or work in a field of helping people. That's what you need.
“The energy is great. My name is on the shirt, but these guys work their butt off with these kids. It's just great to see all of them have a passion for helping the kids grow.”
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The event centers around basketball, but Carter emphasizes it is not an elite camp. It is open to boys and girls of all ability levels. They will be taught basketball skills, teamwork and life skills.
The objective: fun.
“We just want to give these kids the baseline,” Carter said. “This is not an elite camp by any means. But this is a baseline to get you into that elite camp, get you into that job interview, get you into whatever you want to do because you'll be disciplined. You'll understand the work ethic and what it takes to be a professional person. Now, you do the work. You can become that professional person you dreamed of. You could be that NBA, NFL, whatever professional person. But you have to have that baseline. You can't skip steps.”
Grind hard enough, and you might just end up in a hall of fame.
That’s where Carter is headed later this year. He will be formally inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in October.
It caps a busy year for Carter, who broadcasts on the YES Network and as an alternate studio analyst for the NBA on TNT.
In May, the Brooklyn Nets announced plans to retire his jersey number next season. Last week, he was revealed as one of the three cover stars for NBA 2K25.
Carter still makes appearances in Daytona Beach, though. He attended multiple Mainland athletic events last school year.
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