Falcon's Nest Notes: Athletic Reflections; Falcons Gather to Celebrate the 2013-14 Season

Gathering in the new YOFHS auditorium, the many student-athletes of Yeshivah of Flatbush who took to the field, court or track as Flatbush Falcons and their coaches celebrated the successes and reflected on the experiences of the 2013-14 fall and spring athletic seasons. With first-year Athletic Director Eric Amkraut guiding the evening, each of the 23 competitive athletic programs fielded by the school presented their roster and their individual team award winners. Mr. Amkraut opened the evening highlighting the many successes of the season, with a particular focus on the various occasions where our athletes stepped out of their competitive “comfort zones.” Starting with the Girls basketball team’s taking on a club team from Westbury, Long Island to the Boys Basketball Team taking on some of the nation’s best Yeshiva programs in tournament competition in Memphis, TN to the Baseball team doing the same for the first time ever in similar competition in Columbus, OH, our student-athletes expanded both their competitive and communal horizons. They grew immensely both in a humanistic way and athletically from the experiences.

Joey Dayon with Athletic Director Eric Amkraut

The Flatbush coaches presented awards to their Most Outstanding Player and their Most Improved Player, as well as a Coach’s Award and a Sportsmanship Award for each team. Additionally, each team captain was recognized for their leadership efforts with a special Captain’s Award. During each individual team presentation, a photo montage from that team scrolled on the video screens in the auditorium, highlighting many of the top performances of the players. The program culminated with the awarding of the Most Outstanding Male and Most Outstanding Female Senior Student-Athlete awards. It was a difficult decision, with a number of qualified candidates amongst the boys and the girls who excelled in multiple sports over their four-year careers at Flatbush. In the end, the awards went to two players who not only were excellent performers, but also were great leaders, individuals who motivated their teammates to work together as a team, to continue to strive when the outlook looked bleak, to rise to the top in the most challenging of situations. This year’s winners were Alison Kassin for the girls, and Joey Dayon for the boys.

Alison Kassin with Athletic Director Eric Amkraut

It was a great evening of reflection and celebration, wishing good luck to the graduating senior student-athletes as they move on, and a look forward for the returning student-athletes who will again wear the maroon and gold for Flatbush and strive to “Rock the Nest” in 2014-15. GO FALCONS!

Nest Notes:

A special thank you goes to Senior Student-Athlete Victor Dweck and his “bucket list.” Through his goal of attending at least one event of each athletic team fielded by the school, and taking pictures at many of those contests, we were able to display pictures from each team in competition. Thank you also to Victor for putting together the team photo montages that ran during each team’s presentation. Kol HaKavod, Victor!