Winter Season Sports Begin

by Talia Herbst, SSLI '25

This week, Schechter sports shifted from the fall to the winter season. The winter teams this year are Girls Varsity Volleyball, Girls Varsity Basketball, Boys Varsity Hockey, and Boys Junior Varsity (JV) Basketball.

Both Girls Varsity Volleyball and Boys Varsity Hockey play in the Yeshiva League while Girls Varsity Basketball and Boys JV Basketball play in PSAA (Private School Athletic Association) league.

Volleyball 

Volleyball began their pre-season in the beginning of the school year, and they are now moving towards their regular season. Senior and Co-Captain Addison Pravato is looking forward to improving her skills and “building a stronger bond with the team.”

Coach Josh Jurysta believes that having a pre-season was helpful in gearing up the team for success. He said, “I just want to keep continuing to build off of what we built last year and years prior and continue working on the little things that make us successful.”

Pravato added, “I love volleyball and love to see my teammates improve and help them improve.”

Basketball

Yesterday was both basketball teams' first practice. Senior, Paw Print Now editor, and Captain Yael Pedram shared, “Even though we have a lot of younger kids on our team, we all get along and our chemistry is really good. I'm hoping that we can only continue to increase this, and I know we will have a really great season.”

Coach Dylan Stephenson shared that both practices “went phenomenal.” Considering it was the first practice of the season, both teams “were focused and ready to go.”

The boys are very excited for this season (Y. Pedram)

Junior Zach Staiman believes that if future practices can be as productive as the first practice the team “can power through things that [they] might struggle in and win some really important games this season.”

Stephenson concludes that his hopes for the season are for “both the boys' and the girls' [teams] to learn and get better every day, both as a team and individually, while trying to win as many games as possible.” 

Hockey

Senior and Captain of hockey Noah Schor said practices are “filled with charisma.” He hopes to “cultivate a love for hockey and a lasting hockey culture at Schechter.” Schor continued, “More specifically, we want to improve as players and teammates, and win games.”

We wish the best of luck to all of the sports teams this season! Go Lions!

Talia Herbst is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since December 2021. Talia is currently a senior at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: therbst25@schechterli.org.