oint Shot Akiva High School PHOTOS BY DANIEL LI PPITT MARA REINSTEIN JEWISH NEWS INTERN sophomore Ariel Reinitz scores points as a Torah scholar and as a basketball star. High School in Southfield often . ives accolades for its academic .' gram. Each day, the students `' a comprehensive combination f.,'aetii , Ne •lish and Hebrew curricula. But ear, the school has a new rea- „ cheer. For Ariel Reinitz, a stu- "Torah scholar, is also excelling area that people rarely asso- ith Akiva — basketball. .!Pr this season, Mr. Reinitz, a grader, has averaged 20 points :rebounds a game, leading the Pioneers to a respectable 2-2 o far. Last year's team fin- 18 40. "Ariel could easily play on a var- sity team in any public high school," says Ken Kohn, the Akiva coach for the past four seasons. "He's very coachable but also has a lot of nat- ural talent." Mr. Reinitz has been an avid bas- ketball fan since he first watched NBA teams like the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls on Win grade school. And standing 6-foot-2, imi- tating Grant Hill and Michael Jor- dan has come easier to him than to many of his shorter peers. "Because i'm so tall, people would always just throw a basketball my way and say, 'Let's play,'" Mr. Reinitz, 15, says. Mr. Reinitz, who plays either pow- au. _ er or small forward, joined the Aki- va junior varsity team in 6th grade. He's currently co-captain of the var- sity squad along with Erie Skoczy- las. All of this year's wins and losses have come against the Eton Acade- my in Birmingham and Life Summit (a home school). Because the team isn't in a league, Mr. Kohn organizes the opponents — usually Christian schools — and the schedule. The newly improved team has giv- en new life to Akiva basketball, the school's only varsity sport. Although there aren't any cheerleaders to mo- tivate the standing-room-only crowd, Mr. Kohn says that the fans always have fun rooting for the home team. "When I first started coaching, my main goal was for the kids to get some exercise," says Mr. Kohn. "But lately, we've really come together as a team and become good. And the school is 100 percent behind us." Mr. Reinitz takes his basketball success in stride. After all, his true passion lies in the likes of King David, not David Robinson. "I like studying the Torah and the Talmud because it's interesting to learn about the laws and how we can relate to them now," says Mr. Reinitz, who takes additional Jewish classes after school. In fact, he will graduate early to study a year abroad in Israel. He then plans to attend Yeshiva Uni- versity in New York to concentrate on Jewish studies. With a firm Jew- ish background, he hopes to eventu- ally attend medical school and become a surgeon. Mr. Reinitz says that much of his success and motivation comes from his parents, Deborah and Emanuel, both doctors. Like a young medical student, Mr. Reinitz occasionally ob- serves his dad, who is a kidney trans- plant surgeon at Harper Hospital in Detroit. His parents have also instilled in him the importance of a Judaic back- ground. "Both my parents were brought up in Orthodox homes," he says. "They gave me this Jewish ed- ucation because they said that you always have to know where you come from." Mr. Reinitz's basketball career won't end in high school. He hopes to play for Yeshiva, an NCAA Divi- sion III school. It's not Kentucky, but Mr. Reinitz isn't complaining. "In the world of sports, you hear about athletes who are role models even though they shouldn't be," says Mr. Kohn. "But Ariel is a great role model ... someone did something right." ❑ Ariel Reinitz tries for the hoop during the team's basketball practice. Ariel Reinitz will graduate early to spend a year abroad in Israel.