1st Day of Practice

Straight from my high school baseball practice, I drove to Laurel Hill playground, put back on my spikes, which were muddy from countless ground balls and hours in the batting cage, and walked on to the field where my baseball career had essentially begun. A short 13 years ago, I was player for the JCC Doubledays, coached by Mick Colburn. Now I found myself as a coach for the JCC Diamond Jaxx. ( if anything the 13 years had at least yielded more creative team names.) However, I payed homage to the founder of American baseball by explaining to a relatively uninterested player about how I was once in his shoes on the very same field. After some initial awkward moments and some confused faces, I quickly was able to immerse myself into the practice of the team, helping individual players on their throwing and fielding skills. It was a stark contrast between the pick off plays we were working on with my high school team and the throwing and catching that I was teaching with the Diamond Jaxx. The highlight of the day was when I had to chase down a kid who had decided practice was over and ran off the field. Overall, my first practice was enjoyable. I had a great time running back memory lane and revisiting all the great memories I had from my days as a JCC baseball player. I am exciting to continue to work with the team throughout the rest of the reason.

Matt Schneider

My name is Jessica Katzki, I go to JCHS and I have been doing the JCC Maccabi games for four years. I have played for both the girls soccer and volleyball teams for the San Francisco delegation. Every sumer I look forward to going to a new state and meeting new people. I also look forward to holding the bonds and friendships I already have will fellow delegates. I am sixteen, and will be seventeen this summer so I will not be able to attend Maccabi as an athlete this summer. Its a good thing that I will be able to attend as an 'assistant coach' to the girls volleyball team with my fellow team member Annie Schafer! I am looking forward to spending a part of my summer helping out with the girls volleyball team.

Hi!

My name is Annie Schaffer and I am one of the 6 fellows in Sports Leadership at the JCC in San Francisco. This past winter, each of the 6 fellows was assigned either a team to coach or a coach to observe at the JCC. The group was divided and I was chosen to work with the Cheetahs. The Cheetahs were a first grade girls basketball team. Initially, the team started out with 8 players and by the end of the season, had grown to 10. As a runner, equestrian and volleyball player, basketball was completely new to me. Although I was nervous to coach basketball, (a sport I had rarely watched or played), the first day of practice with Coach Didi and the team erased any fears or hesitation I once had. Each week, I got to watch the girls become better players and friends. Not only did they learn a lot about the technicality of the sport and the importance of team work, they taught me a lot about coaching as well. I was fortunate to have a great group of girls - they were receptive to new concepts, were engaged during practice, and best of all, they had patience and respect for me even though I lacked the formal training that many other coaches had. During games, the Cheetahs were by far the most competitive team. They were focused and constantly wanted to show off the skills they had learned in practice. While I sat on the bench with them, I got to see how the work that I had put in to teach them basic skills was actually working. Throughout the season, I learned how to work with a new sport and younger girls. Overall, the season was a rewarding experience and I can't wait to continue coaching!

JCCSF Raptors

This winter I helped to coach a 4th grade girls basketball team. It was the assistant coach to the head coach Josh, and later on to the head coach Amanda. I came into this experience not really knowing what to expect. I know that I can play basketball but I had never coached anyone else but myself. 

It turned out that I was matched with a team who could dominate the league. The girls on the raptors were used to winning, loved winning and would not settle for anything but to win. They worked hard in practice, specifically loving rebounding and passing games/drills. In games scoring was there forte and they ran other teams off the court. In the middle of the season we had a head coaching change, but that did not put a damper on the kids work. By the end of the season we were undefeated, besides one forfeit. However, going into the semi-finals,  our best player got pneumonia. Despite a great effort by our team, we lost a close match in the semi-finals, a huge upset. The girls were upset, but they had a great season and were an amazing team for my first coaching position.

Personally I learned a lot from this first coaching experience. I led a lot of practices, especially during the period of changing coaches in the middle of the season. I even coached a game when the head coach was out of town. I learned how to get the kids attention and how I needed to earn there respect if I expected them to listen to me. I learned how to motivate them and what to say in team huddles. For me, these girls taught me a lot and I will always remember them since they were my first coaching experience of many more to come.

Hello

My name is Rachel Baskin. I am a senior at Lowell High School in San Francisco. I will be graduating this year and attending Haverford College next year. This is a small liberal arts school in Philadelphia and I will be playing NCAA basketball there. 

I played Maccabi girls basketball for four years from 2006-2009. I won three gold medals in a row: in Houston 2007, San Diego 2008 and San Francisco 2009. The week of the Maccabi games have been some of the best memories of my entire life. This is why I chose to participate in the JCCSF Teen Fellowship in Sports Leadership this year. I have benefited so much from the Maccabi games and believe that it is now my time to give back!