The girls basketball team at Northwest Yeshiva in Mercer Island, Washington, made it to the Class 1B tournament, but was ultimately unable to play because their game was scheduled for Feb. 24 — the Fast of Esther. As such, they would not be able to hydrate before, during and after the contest, which would put them at risk. As Scott Sandsberry reported in the Yakima Herald-Republic,

Short of being able to move the game time — an accommodation the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association wasn’t willing to make — Northwest Yeshiva school leaders opted to forfeit today’s game.

Sandsberry goes on to report

Northwest Yeshiva school leaders had appealed to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association board to adjust the tournament schedule so the team could avoid playing during the fast. The school indicated it would be willing to play at a non-SunDome site, even on the home court of its Eastern Washington opponent, if that would resolve the issue.

WIAA bylaws allow for tournament schedule adjustments for teams that recognize the Saturday Sabbath. But making game-time changes in this case, WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese said, would be unfair for the other teams whose schedule would be affected.

It would force championship-bracket teams to play early games on less rest, for example, and possibly without the morning shoot-around practice typically held at available high school or middle school gyms by teams playing in the evening bracket.

The girls took the decision very well:

“It’s really cool to be here, first of all. We worked really hard to get here, to qualify for state,” said sophomore Julia Owen, one of the team’s top players. “But we’re also very happy to be able to show that our religion is very important to us. Although it’s hard because it would be great to get the chance to continue, we’re not wishing we could ignore the fast and play, because observing the fast is important.”

Hey, whatever works.

Scottsdale girl wins national tennis tournament

Jeffrey Letzt has an old photograph of his then-4-year-old granddaughter, Alexandra Letzt, parading around outdoors with a tennis racket. Although she’d never played a competitive match in her life, she looks strangely comfortable with a racket in hand.

Eight years later, Jeffrey’s Scottsdale, Ariz., home is teeming with tennis trophies; they’re in almost every room in the house. Some are stowed away in closets, Jeffrey says, because he doesn’t know what to do with them at the rate Alexandra keeps on winning.

It’s a family of achievers, and at age 12, Alexandra has already carved herself a niche. Her mother, Barbara, is an accomplished marathon runner and soccer player. Jeffrey, at one point in his career, was the number-one Cadillac salesman in the world. And Alexandra’s father, an ex-boyfriend of Barbara’s whom neither Jeffrey nor Alexandra has ever met, is a former NFL player. Barbara has raised Alexandra with the help of Jeffrey and his wife, Ellie; Jeffrey calls himself “Alexandra’s father and grandfather, all rolled into one.” In typical grandfather form, he adds later on, “The only thing this (ex-boyfriend) ever did right was to make a nice, smart, pretty, athletic, Jewish girl.”

Alexandra’s most recent feat is also her most impressive; she won the 12-and-under girls’ Winter Nationals tournament in Tucson on New Year’s Day, and with it the Golden Ball trophy (similar to the Golden Gloves trophy in amateur boxing), vaulting her to number two in the country in her age bracket, according to the United States Tennis Association (USTA). Her coaches and family say they expect her to continue climbing to the top.

“(Winning a tournament) doesn’t always hit me right away,” says Alexandra. “Sometimes it takes me the night or a couple of days. But this one means a lot more to me than a lot of the others.”

She says that she had planned on falling to her knees and kissing the court “like the professionals do” if she won, “but then I got embarrassed and just kissed my racket. And I yelled really loud.”

Alexandra’s first real tennis competition came at age 9, when Barbara took her to Tucson to play in a recreational tournament.

“I had no intention of her pursuing tennis,” says Barbara. “I was trying to expose her to a bunch of different sports.” The idea, she says, was to find a sport Alexandra was good at, with the hope that she’d be able to earn a college scholarship.

“It was just a fun tournament,” Alexandra remembers. “I didn’t expect to win all of my matches.”

But coach Forrest Pascal noticed Alexandra on the court almost immediately.

“What I saw, honestly, is that there aren’t a lot of girls of color playing tennis, so she caught my eye,” says Pascal, who, like Alexandra, is black and Jewish. “I saw she was fast and I saw she didn’t know how to play the game. She had a lot of talent. I didn’t see the skill. (I wanted) to help her get the skill.”

Pascal worked with Alexandra up until about a year ago, when he turned her over to friend and colleague James Jack for fine-tuning. “It’s like I built the race car, and (Jack) is putting the decals on,” says Pascal, who still plays a role in managing Alexandra’s “career.”

Jack agrees with Pascal, saying that at the point Pascal jumped on board, Alexandra was like a Ferrari — with no driver’s license and no gas.

Alexandra, who is home-schooled, trains under Jack at the Rasta-TPA Tennis Academy at the Scottsdale Athletic Club for about 20 hours per week; Jack says that many of the other players on her level spend eight hours a day on tennis, five or six days per week.

The next step, Jack says, is to try to get Alexandra ready to play in some professional events when she turns 15; he says she will not lose eligibility for a college scholarship as long as she doesn’t accept any earnings.

“We’re not chasing any money,” says Jack. “We’re chasing the experience of playing professional tennis.” But, he adds, if she wins a six-figure purse, she’s not going to turn it down.

And, he acknowledges, success at the professional level – and by extension that big payday – won’t come right away, if at all. “You can’t say, ‘Hey, you’re going to win matches, you’re going to win tournaments,’” says Jack. “It’s like you’re starting out all over again.”

Alexandra, despite the quiet confidence she exudes, appears to be aware that even with all her talent, the odds are still stacked against her. If professional tennis doesn’t work out for her, she says, she wants to attend Stanford University on a tennis scholarship and become a lawyer.

Jeffrey Letzt has no regrets about supporting Alexandra and her tennis dream, but he has spent a significant chunk of his retirement money doing it. “I raised her as my own, which is what she is,” he says. “If you had a kid, and your kid has a talent … what am I supposed to do? How could you not do it if you think you can afford it?”

Even so, the Letztes are searching for a corporate sponsor for Alexandra; they acknowledge that the money could run out before she has a legitimate shot at the big time.

In addition to Alexandra, Jeffrey financially supports Barbara, whose full-time job is shuttling Alexandra around. He also pays for coaching, as well as travel expenses when Alexandra competes nationally (soon to be internationally, he says).

Either Barbara or Jack accompanies Alexandra on the road; Jeffrey won’t attend any of her tournaments. “I don’t want her to feel the pressure of having her grandfather in the stands,” he says.

“It’s tough for a 12-year-old kid to understand the sacrifices you make,” says Pascal. “But some day, when I’m old and gray, (Alexandra) will look back and understand what (we all) sacrificed.”

“I liked the school, the campus and Baltimore. I was assured by Coach [Jimmy] Patsos that being Jewish would not be a problem,” added Mr. Harvey. His religion has not been an issue whatsoever, says Mr. Harvey. “The only required course I have to take is a theology class and that isn’t really a Catholic course,” he noted.

According to the article, Harvey — a 6′1″, 175 lb, guard from New York City — “was instrumental in the Greyhounds’ 72-67 upset victory over the University of Indiana on Dec. 22 in Bloomington. Mr. Harvey paced Loyola with 25 points, five assists and four rebounds.” It was Loyola’s first win against a Big Ten team in school history.

Meanwhile, Jon Scheyer continues to come up big for Duke (13-1). He scored 31 points in the team’s 86-65 win over Iowa State on Wednesday.

Sheffer made his name in Israeli basketball history when he led the Upper Galilee HaPoel team to the national championship and the European Cup semi-finals, and he was chosen Player of the Year. In 1993, he played for Connecticut University in the U.S., where he was named Rookie of the Year. His team won the Big East championship three years running. In 1996, and he became the first Israeli player to be chosen by an NBA team (the Los Angeles Clippers), but he chose to play instead for Maccabi Tel Aviv, which he helped lead to four consecutive championships.

This piece from the San Francisco JWeekly, explains the particulars of the games, which began Aug. 2.

More than 1,500 Jewish teens will descend upon San Francisco to participate in the 27th installment of the Games. Athletes from 40 U.S. communities as well as Great Britain, Guatemala, Israel and Mexico will compete in 14 different sports, ranging in everything from basketball to tennis and bowling to table tennis.

Games will also be held in San Antonio, Texas and Westchester County, NY.

The Cleveland Jewish News published this piece about their local athletes, as well as one from Lodi, CA. And here’s a piece from an unorthodox source: New Tang Dynasty Television.