on on Yom Kippur even though the school is o.k. with it
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_19051829?source=most_viewed PAINTER: Local Jewish players grappling with decision to participate in games on Yom Kippur
By Jill Painter, Staff Columnist
Posted: 10/05/2011 10:32:52 PM PDT
Updated: 10/06/2011 03:49:34 PM PDT
Chaminade football players Logan Scott, left, Kip Nairin, Ben Kreitenberg, assistant coach Howard Shatsky, head coach Ed Croson, Tal Dardashti and Mor Milo, pose on Oct. 4, 2011 on the West Hills campus' field. All but Croson are Jewish, and all but Milo have decided to play in a Friday, Oct. 7 game, even though it falls on the Jewish day of atonement, Yom Kippur. (Gene Blevins/Los Angeles Daily News)
Sandy Koufax skipped the first game of the 1965 World Series game because it fell on Yom Kippur. It's such a famous story high school athletes have heard about it. Shawn Green missed a Dodgers playoff game, too.
Milwaukee Brewers star Ryan Braun, who is Jewish, is faced with the reality of playing on Yom Kippur on Friday as well.
Stories of professional athletes who grapple with deciding whether or not to play on religious holidays are well-documented, but it's not just professionals who face such a quandry. Yom Kippur falls on Friday, which means local high school football standouts who are Jewish face the same dilemma:
To play or not to play?
"It was a big decision, and I wasn't going to be able to play until about two days ago," said Chaminade High linebacker Tal Dardashti, who will play Friday. "They know how important these guys are to me. They're my family, too. If it's not high school football season, I'm at Shabbat on Friday nights. This is a big deal to play."
Starting at sundown Friday, many people fast on Yom Kippur. Dardashti said he's not sure if he will drink water during the game. He won't go to practice or watch film Saturday.
Chaminade, a Catholic school in West Hills, will play host Friday to Notre Dame (5-0).
Chaminade (3-1) has many Jewish players on the team, and longtime high school coach Ed Croson always has been aware of the holiday and tried to move games to Thursday. This year, Yom
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Kippur is in October, not September, and Croson didn't realize it until some of the parents informed him about the conflict.
"I thought it was the third week of the season," Croson said. "I saw Game 3 was on a Friday, and I called my athletic director to see if Game 3 was supposed to be on Thursday. He said `no.' He might have thought I asked because it was a (television) game. I didn't think about it again until the parents told me.
"We told the kids, `We get it. We understand. Whatever you work out, there will be no repercussions.' We're a religious school. We appreciate others' religious traditions."
Mor Milo, a senior tight end, has decided not to play in the game.
"I come from an Orthodox family," Milo said. "I'm not going to be here Friday. It wasn't too big of a decision because I don't play too much anyway. Still, it would be hard to play on one of the highest holidays of the year."
Croson tried, but it was too late to reschedule all the things that are associated with high school football - buses, administrators who work the game, football officials, cheerleaders, the band, etc.
Notre Dame football coach Kevin Rooney, like Croson, didn't notice the game was scheduled on Yom Kippur. Rooney said the Knights don't have any players who faced the conflict.
Taft High has a large Jewish student population and this week's game against Crespi is scheduled for today.
"When we looked at the calendar, we notified Crespi and let them know we'd need to play the game on Thursday, so there was no conflict with the players and fan base," said Robert Clarke, assistant principal in charge of athletics at Taft.
LAUSD has an easier time rescheduling games since it has its own buses, and transportation is a big issue.
"It's a school site decision," said John Aguirre, the assistant commissioner for athletics at LAUSD. "We leave it up to our LAUSD schools and charter schools. Some schools have a larger Jewish population that's more sensitive to the religious holiday."
If the schools can't come to an agreement, LAUSD helps its schools schedule the games in question. A couple of weeks before Rosh Hashanah, six schools called LAUSD because they had games set for the holiday, and the games were rescheduled.
Clarke estimated there were four or five varsity football players who are Jewish and five to 10 on the freshman team and junior varsity at Taft.
"We try to accommodate all of the needs of our students and community," Clarke said. "We do our best to do what we need to do so it doesn't interfere with anyone needing to make the decision, `Do I play or do I respect my religious beliefs?'
"We don't like to put people in those positions. It doesn't always work perfectly, but we do our best."
Chaminade kicker Ben Kreitenberg, who's Jewish, will play Friday. He made the varsity as a freshman kicker but didn't think that would happen in the summer, when he noticed the game fell on Yom Kippur. He figured it would be presumptuous to ask about the possible scheduling conflict, considering most ninth-graders don't play on varsity.
The decision weighed heavily on the Kreitenberg family, but Kreitenberg will attend synagogue at a nearby temple Friday and leave a little early to arrive by game time. He'll do his own warmups on Chaminade's sideline during the game.
"My parents and grandma and I had a huge discussion about it just before the season," Kreitenberg said. "(Croson) told my parents it was OK if I didn't play. Everyone was nice about it."
Kreitenberg said Croson's understanding of his situation factored into his decision to attend temple and play in the game.
Quarterback Logan Scott, who is instrumental to the Eagles because he touches the ball on every offensive play, has a Jewish mother and Protestant father. He'll play, too.
"I would normally attend services, but my mom's side of the family understands," Scott said.
Chaminade team manager Samuel Miller, who attends New Community Jewish School, will not attend the game.
"I had no idea until I looked at the schedule that the game fell on the holiest day of the year," Miller said. "I'd like to be out there, but this is part of who I am."
Assistant coach Howard Shatsky will be at the game Friday as well, despite the disappointment of his neighbor, a rabbi.
"For me, this was not about disrespecting my religion," Shatsky said. "My God is not a punishing God. This is something I've been working on with these kids for a long time, and they rely on me.
"My God will allow me that time to participate."
Every decision is an individual one and there is no right or wrong. For some it's been more painstaking to choose between sports and observing a religious holiday than others.
That goes for Sandy Koufax or a high school kicker.
Topic: Catholic H.S. has many Jewish players on Football team only one chose not to pla (Read 1624 times)