A summer basketball camp in northeast Rochester is teaching lessons which go far beyond sports. Some camp coaches caught campers completely off-guard when they revealed what their day jobs are.

Sometimes, the best lessons come from unexpected places. Jeff LaFave has coached basketball for years.


What You Need To Know

  • Some Rochester basketball camp coaches caught campers completely off-guard when they revealed what their day jobs were

  • The coaches revealed themselves as police officers, hoping to bring the community together

  • Rochester Police Lieutenant Jeff LaFave said that the hope is to open new lines of communication

“Being a basketball coach, I’m kind of entrenched in the community,” said LaFave, one of several coaches to volunteer their time at the summer basketball camp at Norton Village Rec Center.

Coaching is one way of serving at the free summer basketball camp coach Gerard Iglesia started 16 years ago.
His son Anthony now helps run the camp.

“You have people coming in from different neighborhoods learning about different backgrounds about each other,” said Anthony, a star basketball player in his own right. “I think that's the beautiful part about sports.”

The camp teaches basketball skills, but the elder Iglesia thought it was even more important to incorporate some bigger lessons.

“We need to start respecting each other,” said Gerard. “The community and the police, and get a better understanding.”

“That's kind of what this is all about,” said LaFave. “Breaking down barriers and opening up the lines of communication.”

Along those lines, there was one thing coaches did not communicate to campers this week. Until Wednesday, that is. As campers sat at attention, Karen Iglesia dropped the secret on surprised campers.

“What you didn’t know is the coaches you’ve been playing with the last two days they are police officers,” she said.

Cops working undercover — as coaches.

“With all the bad press that they've been getting, they're out here, like everybody else,” said Gerard Iglesia.

Rochester Police Lieutenant LaFave assured campers he really is varsity basketball coach at Gates-Chili. He’s also a veteran cop working in turbulent times, hoping to show police officers in a different light.

“We could actually come together, community and the police officers,” he told campers. “A lot of people are talking right now, but a lot of people aren’t doing things.”

Sometimes, the best lessons really are unexpected.