Devora Cohen
protects the ballfrom
Shira Schreiber at a
recent practice.
A local
day school
tries to get its
girls' basketball
program
rolling.
12/4
1998
72 Detroit Jewish News
LONNY GOLDSMITH
StaffWriter
A
kiva Hebrew Day School
may be the least likely
school in the area to be
building a girls' basketball
program. But sure enough, they are
trying.
With the support of boys' varsity
coach Ken Kohn and the Akiva
administration, the Orthodox school
unveiled its girls' high school team
this year, to go with its middle
school girls' team, which is in its sec-
ond year.
"I started coaching the middle
school team because of my daughter,
Rachel," Kohn said. "The main reason
I do it is because the kids have so
much school and so little physical
education."
Kohn made the decision this year
to sacrifice teaching the basic skills for
teaching the game.
"The long-term
plan is to spend
time with the
younger girls on
skills and the var-
sity girls on play-
ing," he said. "We
have to try to cre-
ate a system and
let them trust it.
We're looking a
couple of years
down the road.
"The other
trick is for them to
keep learning when they are losing
badly."
Thus far, Akiva has not fared well
in its rookie season, but the players are
undeterred by the setbacks.
"We all want to win, and get frus-
trated when we don't," said 1 1 th grad-
er Esther Feld, who came to Akiva this
year after playing at an all-girls day
school in New Jersey. "I've played on
other teams and won, so I know whams
it's like. It's a great feeling."
According to Akiva's principal,
Rabbi Karmi Gross, the game results
don't matter. "I don't care if they win.
That's not what we want them to get
out of it," he said. "I'm proud of the
girls, the way they walk away from it
and that they don't look at it as not
worthwhile because they didn't win."
Kohn sees the future as promising c=
because of the large number of ninth-
graders on the team and having a few
players with experience. Tenth-grader
Audrey Kleiman and ninth-grader
Rachel Kohn both played on the
Detroit Maccabi team this summer.
"I think that Rachel and I can help
the team in that respect," Kleiman
said. "Being an inexperienced team
isn't so bad because Ken [Kohn] helps
me learn more about basketball."
Kleiman said, "Not winning isn't
difficult to handle. We just have fun
when we play. Besides, I'm used to it."
Shira Schreiber, a ninth-grader who
played on the middle school team last
year, sees the varsity ream getting bet-
ter. "Losing gets frustrating, but I see
improvement," she said. "It gives us
hope for the next game."
The hard part for Kohn is schedul-
ing competition.
can't find reams
that won't wipe us out," he said. He
scheduled an 11-game season for the
varsity. Their first test against another
day school team comes this weekend,
when the Columbus (Ohio) Torah
Academy boys' and girls' teams come
for two games apiece against their
Akiva counterparts. In February, -Akiva
will travel to the
Community
Hebrew Academy of
Toronto. (CHAT)
tournament, where
they'll play four
games, and to Bet
Sepher Mizrachi in
Cleveland for two
games.
The boys' and
girls' teams will
Akiva Coach
Ken Kohn