4 11111111111110,

Arts I; Life

Sports

Coach Bob Shoemaker gives
some pointers to Levi Stewart.

Dynasty?

JAMD's basketball team is opening
opponents' eyes this season.

ALAN HITSKY

Associate Editor

T

he coach has seen three decades
of high school basketball. The
star takes his roundball seriously,
but is just out to have fun. The players
love the game.
So, when the Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit basketball team
jumped out to an 8-2 record this season,
including a school-record seven-game
winning streak, no one is getting carried
away.
JAMD head coach Bob Shoemaker
calls his players "wonderful kids. They
make coaching a lot of fun. Win or lose,
they give their best all the time."
This is the Academy's fifth year of
existence and it's fifth year of basketball.
Shoemaker, formerly the school's athletic
director and coach, scheduled games
independently the first three years, had
JAMD in the Detroit Academy League
(mostly charter schools) last year, and
has graduated to the Catholic League's
C-D Division this year.
"Being part of the Catholic League
has helped us with all sports,"

Levi Stewart
cuts around
Sam Yashinsky
during practice.

Shoemaker says. 'And we play people
our own size."
JAMD has 165 students this year and
11 varsity teams.
Being a Jewish school in the Catholic
League has presented some unique
moments. Last year, at Center Line St.
Clement, Shoemaker noticed that the
host school was removing its usual pub-
lic prayer from pre-game ceremonies. "I
told them I think the two gods are
related," says Shoemaker, a former St.
Clement coach. "They may even be the
same God. Our kids pray every day and
would not be offended by someone
else's prayer." Both teams lined the court
while the prayer was said.
Not only has JAMD strengthened its
schedule through the Catholic League,
the school has also built up basketball
participation. Nearly half the male stu-
dent body at JAMD participates on
either the 13-man varsity squad or the
18-man junior varsity.
Seniors Brad Garden, Jesse Gross and
Sam Yashinsky are team tri-captains.
Garden, a 6'0" 160-pound guard who is
a four-year veteran, has only played a
few minutes so far this season. He broke
his foot during the first
game, but is expected to

.,g1tA1.4,

come off "the disabled list" this week.
Garden, of West Bloomfield and a
graduate of Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit, wasn't thinking
about basketball when he enrolled at
JAMD. "I was thinking academics. But
high school basketball is a great oppor-
tunity and every year we've gotten a little
better."
Junior Levi (pronounced LAYvee)
Stewart of Oak Park was thinking about
basketball when he came to JAMD. He
attended Cheder Lubavitch for elemen-
tary school, Yeshivat Akiva for middle
school, and came to JAMD for ninth
grade. Stewart, this year's leading scorer
at 20 points per game, would like to

•

JAMD Roster

The Jewish Academy varsity basketball team includes:

Position Height Year
So.
3 Matthew Kurzmann forward 6'0"
Fr.
5'6"
guard
Kohn
Daniel
4
Jr.
6'3"
guard
Stewart
Levi
5
Sr.
guard
5'7"
Cohen
11 Josh
5,9,,
Sr.
guard
Gross
14 Jesse
Jr.
Horwitz
forward
5'11"
21 Adam
Fr.
22 Bradley Gladstone forward . 5'9"
So.
Curhan forward 6'2"
23 Noah
Sr.
5'11"
guard
24 Andrew Garon
5,5,,
Fr.
guard
32 Michael Kuper
Sr.
6'0"
guard
44 Bradley Garden
Sr.
6'1"
Yashinsky center
51 Sam
5'10" Jr.
center
55 Michael Goss

play basketball in college.
At 6'3", Stewart is the team's tallest
player, but he attacks the basket from
the guard position. Coach Shoemaker
calls Stewart one of the best high school
players he has seen going to the basket
because of his quickness and long stride.
In the championship game of the
AAA of Michigan tournament in late
December, Stewart scored 14 of his
school-record 38 points in the fourth
quarter against Detroit School of
Industrial Arts. JAMD trailed for three
quarters, but outscored Industrial Arts
30-22 in the fourth to win 65-58.

DYNASTY? on page 44

Remaining
Schedule

• Feb. 1 at Detroit Urban Lutheran
• Feb. 3 Center Line St. Clement
at JCC
• Feb. 8 Akiva at JCC
(varsity only)
• Feb. 10 Auburn Hills Greater
Life Academy at JCC
• Feb. 17 to be announced at JCC
• Feb. 22 at Akiva (varsity only)
• Feb. 24 at Bloomfield Hills
Cranbrook

All games:

6 p.m. junior varsity,
7:30 p.m. varsity
(except Cranbrook Feb. 24:
JV 5:30 p.m., varsity 7 p.m.)

TIN

1/27

2005

43