ue Of
Defense
STEVE STEIN STAFF WRITER
T HE D ETRO I T J EWIS H N E WS
A Pistons
guard gives
JCC youth
pointers on
basketbal I
and life.
14
hey worked on their jump shots and their de-
fensive techniques. They went head-to-head
with their instructors, and they enthusiasti-
cally answered trivia questions in an attempt
to win trading-card sheets.
They had replicas of jerseys worn by bas-
ketball stars Chris Webber, Shaquille O'Neal,
Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Isiah
Thomas, Larry Johnson, Alon-
zo Mourning and Bob Lather.
With the beginning of school
looming just around the cor-
ner, the nearly 100 boys and
girls ages 6-16 who took part
in the Lindsey Hunter Bas-
ketball Camp at the Maple/
Drake Jewish Community
Center earlier this month
looked like they were trying to
make the most out of one of the
highlights of their summer.
Mr. Hunter missed part of
the camp because his mother
was ill, but the children en-
joyed listening to, working
with and "playing against" the
young Detroit Pistons guard
when he was there.
It's a good bet that one of the 0*k,.
first things many of the young-
sters will tell their classmates
this fall is they were on Brendan Suhr was an
the court trying to play
instructor.
defense against one of
the NBA's rising stars.
Barry Mestel:
"I got a chance to play
What's so funny?
some 3-on-3 against
Lindsey Hunter and a
couple of his friends Nearly 100 youngsters
attended the camp
(other instructors)," said
at the JCC.
Brandon Barnett, 10, of
Bloomfield Hills. "We lost, and Lindsey
dunked over me, but it was great."
Nicole Lupiloff, 9, of West Bloomfield,
also played Hunter in a little 3-on-3. Her }-
team lost" too, but Nicole said she had fun !ia,
at camp, and "we got a lot of free stuff like
a miniature basketball, trading cards, a
pennant and a water bottle." 6-
Russell Barnett, Brandon's father, and
Debbie Katz, Nicole's mother, both said their
children attended several sports camps this
summer and the Hunter basketball camp
ranked among the best.
"Every day after she returned from the bas-
ketball camp, Nicole insisted upon taking me
on the driveway and showing me what she
had learned," Ms.
Katz said. "She's a
heck of an athlete who
loves sports, and I
think she got a lot out
of that camp."
The Hunter camp
was more than just
dribbling and dunk-
ing, however. Mr.
Hunter had messages
he wanted to impart
to the youngsters.
"Lindsey said it was
important to have the
right attitude when it
comes to basketball,
school and your fam-
ily," said Brandon,
who will be a fourth-grader this fall at Co-
nant Elementary in the Bloomfield Hills
School District.
"He also said if you have the proper atti-
tude, and you set your mind on something,
you can accomplish anything."
"We had a word we had to focus on every
day at camp. The one I remember is effort,"
said Nicole, an incoming fourth-grader at
Ealy Elementary in the West Bloomfield
School District. "It's important to do your best
when you're playing basketball and when
you're in school."
The fact that Mr. Hunter and other speak-
ers discussed more than just basketball im-
pressed Russell Barnett.
"They tried to instill some values that the
kids could use on and off the court. In other
words, they tried to give them some life skills,
and, as a parent, I appreciate that," Mr. Bar-
nett said. "From what Brandon told me, it
looked like the instructors successfully got
their messages across to the kids."
Besides Mr. Hunter, the other featured in-
structors at the camp were former Pistons
assistant coach Brendan Suhr, now an as-
sistant with the New Jersey Nets, and Bar-
ry Mestel, president of
Winning Ways Inc. in
Florida.
Mr. Suhr is president
of Rochester Hills-based
Off The Court, Inc.,
which organized the
Hunter camp. This is the
second year that Off The
Court has promoted
camps featuring local
NBA stars in JCCs
across the country. About
10 were held this sum-
mer, and Suhr hopes to
increase the number to
30 next year.
"JCCs have a perfect
infrastructure for my
kind of business," Mr.
Suhr said. "The demo-
graphics are good, and
there's usually a strong
family membership base.
Plus, I've found they've
been very good to work
with."
Other camp instruc-
tors included Brian Clay-
ton from the Maple/
Drake JCC physical ed-
ucation staff along with
JCC basketball regulars (
Jonah Amsell, Howard
Ditkoff, Brad Herold, Jeff
Klein, Ronnie Levin,
Mikki Mentzel, Erik
Medwed, Chuck Mondo,
Garon Oseff and Karen
Sklar. [7]