By Sara Greenberg
Schechter Westchester’s Athletics Committee organized SW’s first ever homecoming this past Sunday, October 7, featuring all of SW’s Fall athletics teams. Many excited students and faculty attended the event to support our school and show off their Schechter “ruach.”
“It’s good spirit! We had a lot of people cheering the volleyball team on… and a lot of fans at the Girl’s Varsity Soccer game,” shared High School Science Teacher and Robotics Coach Steve Harless.
Given that this was the first annual homecoming, questions were raised about the inspiration for the event, to which SW’s Athletics Committee Chair, Adam Goldstein, responded, “The athletics committee was really trying to make a difference in the school and a lot of us have friends who go to big public schools with homecomings and they often seem like fun, uniting events. We wanted to bring spirit to Schechter, so that seemed like the perfect way to do it.”
“The day is mostly based around the sports teams and their games” shared Goldstein when asked about the layout of the day. He continued, “on the side there are going to be some [other] games. We’re trying to get the dunk tank back out, and we’re going to have face painting for little kids… ice cream trucks, pizza, bagels– that type of stuff.”
Due to a weather inconvenience, not all of Student Government’s original plans were able to come to life. Since it rained this past weekend, the main soccer field was deemed unplayable, the Boys Varsity Soccer team and Girls Varsity Soccer team were forced to play at Maria Regina High School across the street, and the Girls Varsity Tennis team’s matches were canceled.
However, freshman Zach Burton said, “The rain definitely did not bring down my spirits for homecoming.”
Regardless of the weather, students and faculty still attended the event to cheer on the SW community.
The thrill of the day did not just influence the fans, but it reached the athletes, too. Freshman Alex Jager said that, “[having many fans cheer me on was] very encouraging, and it made me much happier and prouder to play because I knew that there were people supporting me.”
However, homecoming organizer and Girls Varsity Soccer team Captain Reese Cohen said, “It would’ve been really great to have spirit week the entire week leading up to homecoming with more decorations around school to get everyone excited. I also really wish more people came out to the games to show support to the teams.”
The results of the games were as follows: at 10:00 AM, Maria Regina high school beat SW’s Girls varsity soccer team 6-1, with the goal scored by senior and Team Captain Abby Jaeger. At 11:00 AM, EF International beat SW’s Girls Junior Varsity Volleyball team 2-0. At 11:30 AM, EF International beat SW’s Boys Junior Varsity Soccer team 5-2, with goals scored by sophomore Ari Wechsler. Finally, at 1:30 PM, Rye Neck High School beat SW’s Boys Varsity Soccer team 5-2, with goals scored by senior and team captain Ethan Sidelsky and freshman Ryan Altman.
Regardless of the final scores Coach Bryan Lamana shared, “Homecoming was a success for the simple fact of its ability to bring a community together and rally around our student athletes to support our athletics program. For a big event with so many moving pieces (and poor weather), I thought our first ever homecoming was a wonderful day. I’m very optimistic for its future ability to make our athletes feel special.”
