Family Focus

A League Of Their Own

Day school kids slug the softball under the summer sun.

Ari Gelberman of Southfield coaches members

of the Detroit Jewish Youth Softball League.

Elad Jerusalem, 12, of Oak Park

takes a turn at bat.

Above: Softball player, Sheva

Schon with her dad and head

coach, Larry.

Right: Aviva Gelberman of

Southfield watches as her husband,

Ari, coaches and daughter Devorah,

9, plays. Enjoying the game with

their mom are, Nechemya, 7, Meyer,

4, and Dovid, 9.

Rosa Furman coaches the younger girls

softball team.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Senior Writer

V

olunteer coach Larry Schon
marked his 26th year with a
local youth softball league this
summer by doing what he does every sea-
son: taking the field with the kids.
Involved in the Detroit Jewish Youth
Softball League since its inception in 1983,
Schon signed on when his eldest son,
Aaron, was 6. Since then, each of his other
five children also has been part of the
league, with at least one of them playing
each year.
"We started with just boys, 22 of them,
and then eventually expanded into a boys
and girls league," said Schon of Oak Park.
"At the height, there were 150 kids. This
year, we had 84 players.

48

August 13 2009

"The girls and boys play on separate
teams, and we have a nice mixture of kids
from the Orthodox day schools in the
area;' he said.
Most players attend Yeshivas Darchei
Torah, Yeshivat Akiva or Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah, all in Southfield, or Beth Jacob
School for Girls in Oak Park. At times,
kids from public schools or other area day
schools, including Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills,
have participated.
The league was started by Jeff Last of
Southfield. Schon took over about 20 years
ago and has coached almost since the
beginning. Students grades 2-9 play on
the fields at Glenn Schoenhals Elementary
School in Southfield, with teams corn-
prised of two or three grade levels.
"The age difference doesn't seem to

bother them," Schon said. "They just want
to be part of a sporting event and get
together with classmates and students
from other schools in a fun atmosphere.
"We see a lot of learning from the first
week to the last, especially from the little
ones," he said. "Some of the kids start out
not knowing which base is first or how
to hold a bat. And it helps that we use a
safety ball, which is not as hard as a regu-
lar softball."
The league, sponsored by Young Israel
of Oak Park, does not stress competitive-
ness."They keep score, but we do not keep
track of wins and losses," Schon said. "If
the game scores are lopsided, we have the
option of switching who's on which team.
And at the end of the season, everyone
gets the same trophy."
There's also a leadership and indepen-

dente component to the league, with the
older players organizing their own teams
and choosing captains. Teams are coached
by parents and siblings of the players.
Some have been coaching in the league for
just a few less years than Schon. Others,
like Rosa Furman, 20, are new to the role.
A former player, Furman, of Oak Park is
Schon's daughter and the first of his kids
to coach.
This year also marks the final year his
youngest child, Sheva, 14, will be eligible
to play.
But Schon's not ready to give up his post
just because his kids won't be playing any
more.
"I may be graduating my last child from
the league this year," he said, "but next
season my oldest grandchild, Shira, will be
just the right age to start."

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