Schechter Winter Sports Update

by Abby Marcus, SSLI '29

The Schechter volleyball, basketball, and hockey teams have put in a lot of effort this past week to achieve their goals. Coach Jurysta, Coach Dylan, and Coach Doc have been working hard and seeing improvement during practices, running their players through plays, skills, and offensive and defensive drills.

Volleyball

Varsity Girls Volleyball had two practices this week, as well as a game against Flatbush. They lost the game, but are improving with each and every practice.

Coach Josh Jurysta said that the team is "continuing to improve our passing and communication.” He also added that “every day, we're working to make incremental progress on all of our skills and working to improve our cohesion as a team.”

Junior Madison Hoffman, a starting player on the volleyball team, shared that the game was "difficult, but we had fun and tried our best.” Hoffman added, “The team is improving in our communication and passing so that we're ready for the rest of games this season!”

Basketball 

Junior Varsity Boys Basketball played competitive games against Magen David and HANC this week.

Coach Dylan is seeing improvement throughout the team, even though they're playing difficult and competitive games. He said that “the boys are applying the plays they learned in practice to the games to help them increase their offensive production.” Dylan also added that the “boys’ spirit remains high through a tough start to the season. They are sticking together and trusting one another to put the work in.”

Freshman Harrison Kolin started this week in both games and experienced a competitive and difficult match up. Kolin shared, “Our matchups this week were pretty hard and, unfortunately, we lost, but we played our best as a team. We passed, we shot well, and we ran our plays right.”

Boys Varsity Hockey huddled before their game. (R. Wurtzel)

Hockey

Boys Varsity Hockey had two tough games against DRS and Flatbush this week, followed by practices.

Coach Doc has seen improvement from the first practice to now. Doc shared that “the growth and progress of our team, collectively as a group and [as] individuals, grow[s] each game.” Doc made a point that “the boys don't care what anyone wants to think; they just want to play.”

Senior Jonah Resnick, who started in both games, said that “the team is coming together as a unit and [is] really getting the basic fundamentals.” He added, “You know, we are really getting an understanding of what it is to be a part of the Storm.”

Coaches and players agree that, since the beginning of the season, all three winter sports teams have seen improvement. For now, they will continue to prepare and practice. Basketball has two games next week on Monday and Thursday, and Volleyball has a game on Thursday.

Go Lions and go Storm!

Abby Marcus is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since October 2025. Abby is currently a freshman at Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: amarcus29@schechterli.org.