Scores of grade-schoolers watch and listen attentively as former Cyclone Clint Varley explains a rebounding drill.

Forwards Jackson Vroman, Jared Homan and Adam Schaper gather beneath one of the baskets in the Lied Recreation Center to perform a demonstration.

Grasping a microphone in his right hand, Varley shoots a one-handed line drive off the rim, and the other three players begin shoving one another in an attempt to gain an unobstructed path to the basketball.

As the fisticuffs for the ball continue, Varley eyes the young players seated on the floor and makes a decision.

“Uh, we usually don’t have any fouls in this drill,” he says as a loud slap sounds from the melee underneath the hoop.

“You guys may want to call some fouls.”

While the young players split up and head to eight stations around the Rec Center, each supervised by one or two Cyclone basketball players (both current and former), ISU assistant coach Bob Sundvold addresses a sweaty group of fathers on the fine points of a standard defensive stance.

For the eighth time, Iowa State held its annual father-son basketball camp last weekend.

“We’ve never advertised this,” Sundvold said. “This has spread by word of mouth.”

Dan Nash, an ISU alumnus from Ankeny, brought two sons to the camp.

“They get to eat cafeteria food, live in the dorms, see what Iowa State is like,” he said.

Sundvold said giving boys a glimpse of Cyclone basketball was just part of the value of the camp.

“It puts [fathers] in a situation they don’t often get,” he said. “We teach dads a drill, and then they can teach their sons.”

Sundvold said the chance to spend time together made the Father’s Day weekend experience valuable for fathers and sons apart from basketball.

John Walker of Red Oak said the opportunity to meet Cyclone players was exciting for children like his eight-year-old son, Pete.

“You come for the kids,” he said while rebounding Pete’s shots as he worked to make 450 bank shots from the right block.

Fathers and sons also split into teams and played in mini-tournaments over the weekend.

The father-son camp is a chance for the camp staff to ease into more competitive basketball camps later in the summer, said former Cyclone player Julius Michalik.

Michalik, who played for Johnny Orr and Tim Floyd from 1991—1995 and averaged 14.5 points per game during his career, said he has volunteered for several years at ISU summer camps during the offseason of his professional basketball career in Europe.

In addition to teaching fundamentals to young players, Michalik handled some discipline during the camp.

Faced with one recalcitrant boy, Michalik issued a stern warning.

“I will tell [Varley],” he said. “And he will stuff you in the rim. Do you know how much he can bench press?”

Varley bench presses nearly 400 pounds.

“That’s, like, four of you,” Michalik said.

ISU head coach Wayne Morgan also participated in the camp, and newly hired assistant Fred Quartlebaum was on hand as well.

Sundvold said Damon Archibald, who was hired as an assistant Wednesday, would arrive in Ames Monday.

“Things are falling into place,” he said.