As I entered the John Amos Field House on Thursday morning, July 13, I saw that dorms 4B and 2B were seriously fired up. Clustered in the short hallway just outside the gymnasium, the gray-clad young men of 4B shook my hand and welcomed me.

Assistant basketball instructor Joshua Sloan, running class for the day in Steven Privratsky’s absence, flung open the gymnasium doors and led the campers in a lap around the basketball courts as “Be a Man” from the movie Mulan rumbled through the speakers. Assistant instructor Danielle Adler proudly told me that the song was her idea.

Assistant instructor Brett Roberts led the group through a series of stretches, challenging the boys to call out the name of a National Basketball Association team before each one. “Toronto Raptors!” “Phoenix Suns!” “Golden State Warriors!”

While 2B shot free throws on the near court, 4B navigated an obstacle course on the far court. The course included four cones to dribble around, a target to bounce a pass off of, and a narrow opening between two pads to slip through before making a driving left-handed layup. Ten campers had to complete this routine in approximately 2 minutes, 30 seconds to beat the Philadelphia Youth Camp record.

Dorm 4B came close on two separate attempts, but unfortunately some inaccurate passes, a 15-second penalty from knocking over the pads, and a handful of missed layups brought the young men up short.

The campers gathered around as five workers tried to make as many free throws as possible in 30 seconds. Miss Adler defeated the four guys, netting 11.

Dorm 4B split into A Team and B Team, with the B Team players departing for the far court. Both sides ran layup lines and practiced a pass-and-cut offense called Read and React, meant to create a wide-open shot.

“Hopefully, if done right, all it is, is a layup,” I overheard Mr. Sloan telling Miss Adler, assistant instructor Eva Hochstetler, and kitchen volunteer Toni Woemmel, who was spectating during a break in her work schedule.

The game started slowly for 4B. Despite their mistakes against the more skilled 2B, they remained engaged and continued to play hard.

The highlight of the opening minutes for 4B was fourteen-year-old Garret diving to the floor for a loose ball, his knee skidding along the hardwood to make a ghastly screeching sound. Eight minutes into the game, sixteen-year-old Jesse hit a jump shot, breaking a 10-0 scoring run by 2B.

By the end of the first quarter, it was clear that 4B could use some support against their opponents. After asking me to officiate the rest of the game in my suit, Mr. Sloan took off his referee whistle and entered all six feet, seven inches of himself into the game for 4B, eliciting groans from the boys of 2B.

The game ended half an hour later, with 2B getting the win, 42-26. Dorm 4B ran the offense much better with Mr. Sloan on the court, but it wasn’t enough to complete an epic comeback. However, Dorm 4B’s B Team redeemed their A Team brothers by winning, 30-24.