“These are a lot of fun. This is one thing our kids never have to be prodded (about) to come back,” Jeff said, motioning toward Justin on the nearby court. “He’s not even a morning person but when it comes to this, he’s up and going.”

The Graffa boys have come to the Pistons Youth Training Camp, directed by Steve Moreland, the Pistons’ director of camps and clinics, every summer since they’ve entered first grade. It is always a day well spent for their father, who enjoys watching what they do and also hearing what they learn.

“I’ve always liked the way that Coach Moreland teaches them how to play basketball and gives them some life skills as well,” Jeff said. “The kids live it, especially (Justin). He lives it. He likes the keys that Moreland gives out all the time. And they’re life skills so he learns how to play and learns how to interact with other people.”

To some degree, every basketball camp promises to teach lessons both “on and off the court.” At the Pistons Youth Training Camp, which wraps up its statewide summer tour this week with a final four-day clinic at The Palace, Coach Steve’s life lessons truly resonate with the campers, parents and even the coaches.

Michael Lawler, 22, of Grand Blanc, has spent five summers on Coach Steve’s coaching staff. “A lot of the stuff he says I’ve used in my life,” he said. “I’m moving onto a full-time job in accounting and just the little things - firm handshakes, shoulders back, head up, eye contact, making a good impression. It really helped me a lot.”

Chuck Kniffen of Troy has brought his sons Jarrod, 10, and Adam, 8, to the camp at The Palace for several years. The brothers bring up Coach Steve’s messages about respect and courtesy often – usually to get the other in trouble.

“Jarrod will do something like 10-year-olds do, and Adam will be like, ‘The coach told you you can’t do that! You have to listen to Mom,’” Chuck said with a proud smile. “So that’s pretty cool. … I wish I had a tape recorder, I’d love to play it later in life.”

With school right around the corner, the camp’s structure and messages about teamwork and education are a good refresher for kids before heading back into a classroom. “There’s a lot of discipline in it and I think that’s a lot of it right there,” Chuck said.

That goes for Coach Steve’s coaching staff, too. When two of Moreland’s younger, faster coaches lagged through a demonstration of sideline sprints, he ordered both to do push-ups in front of everyone. “That’s called a lack of focus,” Coach Steve told the campers.

Fortunately, the coaches find less corporal means to get the lessons across. When two boys snuck away from the group to shoot on another rim, a coach came over and asked them to do him a favor: “Will you let me know if any kids come over and shoot on the basket without permission?” Both boys nodded, walked back to the group and sat on their knees, holding their basketballs in front of them.

“I like to think that kids mean well. If they’re anything like I was, they’re a little bit antsy. They see an open basket, they have a ball, they figure why not?” explained the coach, Luke Lloyd, 31, a Flint native with eight years of professional basketball experience overseas. “It’s not so much about discipline as leading them in the right way.”

Luke coached Justin Graffa’s group, and his manner with the kids impressed Justin’s father. “He’s doing this right now without a whistle,” said Jeff, watching Luke organize a scrimmage. “He’s really got their attention, he’s got their focus, and I like that. I like that the kids feel like they’re learning something.”

After more than three hours of games, drills and instruction, Coach Steve summoned the 165 campers to center court one last time. He discussed what it meant to be a leader like the Pistons’ captain, Chauncey Billups. He held up a poster of Billups with the word “LEADERSHIP” across the top, which all the campers received at the end of the day. Each day of camp ends with a different positive attribute defined by a Piston and a poster to take home as a reminder.

“Players who are making good choices, players that are leading by example, players that are fun to be around, players that are unselfish, players that are honest, players that are on time, players that are good listeners – those are the ones that are elected captain,” Coach Steve tells them. “And remember, leadership means you lead by example.”

Though his motivational speaking makes up a large part of his camp, Coach Steve hasn’t lost sight of the three priorities for his campers: get better, make new friends, “and have fun,” he says, “because it makes the first two easier.”

Camp locations and dates for 2009 have not been determined. To be notified when information for next year’s Youth Summer Camp Tour is available, call the camp hotline at 248.377.8653.