24 | JULY 18 • 2024 J N I t was a season of accomplishments this past spring for the Frankel Jewish Academy girls soccer team. After a having a combined team with Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes High School in 2023 because of low numbers and posting a 3-4-1 record, the Jaguars were on their own in 2024 and did just fine. They earned a Team Academic Award from the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association for their combined 3.54 GPA during the spring semester. On the field, Frankel was 8-4 overall and 3-3 in the Catholic League Intersectional Division, good for third place among the six teams in the division. Not bad for a team with only one senior. Sophomore Tamar Fischman and juniors Grace Kleinfeldt and Naomi Kahan were named to the All- District Team, selected by the MHSSCA. Fischman also was All-Region and a Division 4 honorable mention All-State selection. The architect of the Jaguars’ success on the pitch was 27-year-old Erikson Cela, the team’s first-year coach. A former Taylor Truman High School and travel soccer player, Cela also coaches the boys soccer team at Taylor High School. All the credit for his Frankel team’s academic honor goes to the girls, Cela said. “They’re students first, then athletes,” he said. “They were always talking about their classes. If they needed to miss practice to study for an exam, they did that. They did their homework on the bus as we traveled to away games.” Fischman wasn’t surprised the team had such as impressive GPA. She had a 3.91 GPA for the spring semester. Her cumulative GPA is 3.94. “There’s a collective strong academic work ethic among Frankel students,” she said. Fischman wants to play college soccer. That’s why Frankel Jewish Academy girls soccer players earn honors for their hard work in the classroom and on the field. Goal-Oriented STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER SPORTS quick hits BY STEVE STEIN Israel Is Next Stop in Ryan Turell’s Basketball Career So long, Ryan Turell. After playing the last two seasons for the Motor City Cruise for the NBA’s G League, the 25-year-old Orthodox Jewish basketball player has signed with a team in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. Turell was the first Orthodox Jew to play in the G League. The 6-foot-7 forward had a great career at Yeshiva University. He led collegiate basketball in scoring, averaging 27.1 points per game when he was a senior, but he wasn’t drafted by an NBA team and was signed by the Cruise. In 54 games with the Cruise, which is affiliated with the Detroit Pistons and plays its home games at Wayne State University, Turell averaged just 4.4 points per game and shot 35% on three-pointers in limited playing time. He averaged 14.2 and 11.9 minutes on the court in his two seasons. But he was an extremely popular player among Jewish fans in Detroit and around the league. Turell will play for Ironi Ness Ziona in the IBPL, Israel’s top basketball league. The team made it to the quarterfinals in the league playoffs last season. Red Wings Send Jake Walman to the San Jose Sharks Defenseman Jake Walman, the Detroit Red Wings’ lone Jewish player, was traded to the San Jose Sharks last month along with a second-round pick in the NHL draft for future considerations. Walman was traded to the Red Wings by the St. Louis Blues in 2022. He had 12 goals and nine assists in 63 games for the Red Wings last season. The 28-year-old Toronto native will join a San Jose team that has a Jewish coach, Ryan Warsofsky, and another Jewish player, Luke Kunin. At age 36, Warsofsky is the youngest coach in the NHL. He previously was an assistant coach with the Sharks before being named to the top spot last month. The last Jewish coach in the NHL before Warsofsky was Bob Plager. He had a short 11-game stint behind the bench for the Blues in 1992 before resigning to return to his job as the Blues’ vice president of player development. Dave Reginak/ Detroit Red Wings Jake Walman Ryan Turell Motor City Cruise L TO R: Frankel girls soccer stars Tamar Fischman, Naomi Kahan and Grace Kleinfeldt. PHOTOS BY ALEX VINTER