All-Star
JPM's
in-line hockey
leagues put on
a skating and
shooting exhibition.
Above: Watching the competition are Oak Parkers
Menachem Kossowsky, 6, Shlomo Kossowsky, 8,
and Ari Luss, 7.
Left..
Menachem
Kossowsky, 6,
of Oak Park
starts with the
whistle.
Above: Dovi
Snider, 9, of
Oak Park takes
his best shot.
Chaim Levitz, 9, of Southfield
waits for help with the goalie pads.
Ari Levin, 7, of Oak Park
waits his turn.
5/17
2002
96
BETH SNIDER Special to the Jewish News
BILL HANSEN Photographer
T
he Jewish Community Center's Sports and Recreation
Department scored high points with young in-line hockey
players and their families during its first All-Star Sunday'at
the Jimmy Prentis Morris Building on April 28.
The competition allowed players in JPM's winter and spring leagues
to show off their skills and win prizes.
Contests were held for 6-9-year-olds and 10-13-year-olds in five
events: speed skating, stickhandling, shooting accuracy, goal-tending
and scoring. Participants also entered a raffle for a Detroit Red Wings
practice jersey or a Michigan State University hockey jersey.
"It was fun!" declared Yechezkal Jacobovitz, 9, of Oak Park, the
youngest hockey player in a family known in the league
for their goal-tending abilities. "I liked everything about
it.''
Aharon Jacobovitz, 13, proved to be the best goalie in
the older division, winning a $15 gift certificate for
Suburban Sports.
All-Star Sunday was the brainchild of JPM's Andy
Fairman and Josh French. They have added a number of
innovations to JPM's in-line hockey league: a player and
parent code of conduct; replacing team T-shirts with jer-
seys; posting scores, scats and game times on the JCC
Web site (jccdet.org); organizing drop-in hockey games
and field trips to the Kahn Building's In-Line Hockey
Center in West Bloomfield; and shifting spectator seating
to reduce traffic problems.
"The main goal of All-Star Sunday was for the kids to
enjoy themselves," said French, "but I also wanted to spark new inter-
est in the league."
Ari Stawis, 13 of Oak Park, the older division's top scorer, displayed
his usual confidence as he laced up his skates for the competition. "I
think I have a good chance of winning everything," he said. Though
his arrival on the floor was accompanied by good-natured booing by
his 25 competitors, Stawis went on to win the speed skating, stick-
handling and scoring contests.
His fellow winners were accurate shooter Avi Kohn, 11, of
Southfield, and goalie Jacobovitz.