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Sports Highlights

Steve Stein | Contributing Writer

L

et’s get caught up with sports news
before the year comes to a close.

CENTURY OF LOVE
Local dressage riders Dr. Howard Dubin
and Ingrid Grossberg and their horses have
been inducted into the Dressage Foundation’s
prestigious Century Club.
To join, a rider and horse must have a
combined age of 100 or more and perform a
dressage test of any level at a dressage show
or event.
Dubin, 76, joined the club with his beloved
Enfant Grande, also known as Ruben.
Unfortunately, Ruben became ill shortly after
his Century Club recognition and had to be
put down.
“Ruben somehow knew this was a spe-
cial ride and performed like a 10-year-old,”
Dubin said after their Century Club ride.
He called Ruben his joy, best friend and
once-in-a-lifetime horse, always brightening
his day and “mooching” for apples and cook-
ies hidden in his pockets.
Grossberg is in the Century Club along
with her horse, Hideaway’s Erin Prophet.
Dressage is a word taken from a French
verb that means “to train.” It’s both a way

of training horses and a competitive sport
designed to develop correct movements in a
horse.
The Century Club was formed in 1996 to
encourage older dressage riders to remain
active in the sport. It has more than 225
members across the country.

A LOVE FOR TENNIS
Tennis player Natasha Dabrowski from West
Bloomfield won two medals and an award at
the 13th Pam American Maccabi Games in
Santiago, Chile.
Dabrowski won a gold medal in women’s
singles and a silver medal in mixed doubles
with partner Aleksandr Kotlyar from
California.
In addition, she was the female recipient
of the inaugural Dolph Schayes Memorial
Award, given to athletes who exemplify the
Maccabi spirit through sportsmanship and
athletic excellence.
The award is named for a former NBA star
and Maccabi Games coach who died Dec. 10,
2015, at age 87. It has a stipend that can be
used for travel to Israel.
Dabrowski is a University of Michigan
graduate. She played on the women’s tennis
team and was student government president
at U-M.

EQUIPMENT DRIVE
The best day of the season is
coming up for the Farmington
Hills Jaguars hockey team.
The Jaguars, coached by
Mark Weiss, will play their
annual exhibition game
against the MORC Stars and hold a hockey
equipment drive for the Stars.
It will all happen Sunday, Dec. 18, at the
Farmington Hills Ice Arena, 35500 W. Eight
Mile Road.
The game will be from 12:45-2:15 p.m.,
when the Jaguars normally would be practic-
ing at their home rink, and the drive will be
from noon to 2 p.m.
This is the fifth year the Jaguars have held
the drive. Weiss said it has gotten more suc-
cessful each year.
“Last year the equipment just about filled
the lobby at the arena,” he said.
All equipment except jerseys and socks is
accepted. Equipment for players of all ages
can be donated. New equipment also is wel-
come.
“Bring pads, pants, sticks, skates ...” Weiss
said. “Lots of people put their stuff in a gar-
bage bag and drop it off.”
The Jaguars are a Midget B house team
that plays in the Little Caesars Hockey

Dr. Howard Dubin and
his beloved Ruben.

Association. Players were born in 2000
and 2001. Weiss and four of his players are
Jewish.
Because the team has a connection with
Frankel Jewish Academy, it does not play on
Shabbos.
MORC is the acronym for the Clinton
Township-based Macomb-Oakland Regional
Center, which provides services and support
for individuals with disabilities and mental
illness.
The Stars are MORC’s hockey teams.
About 100 players, youths and adults, are in
the volunteer-run program.
Former U.S. Olympic hockey team mem-
ber Pete Ciavaglia is the Stars’ founder and
director.
Weiss said he learned about the MORC
Stars several years ago when his son Emery
coached players for a mitzvah project while
he was a student at Hillel Day School.

*

Send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

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December 8 • 2016

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