SPORTS
Matthew Kay was a captain of the Frankel Jewish Academy boys tennis team for three years.
RICK DORN
FRANKEL JEWISH ACADEMY
It was a happy bus ride home from Grosse Ile after the Frankel Jewish Academy boys tennis team qualified for the state tournament.
Family First Frankel Jewish Academy boys tennis team’s success is built on and off the court. STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
here are many reasons for the Frankel Jewish Academy boys tennis team’s remarkable success since Larry Stark took over as coach in 2015. Talent and hard work have been the driving forces behind the Jaguars’ five appearances in the Division 4 state tournament in Stark’s seven years as coach. Frankel qualified for state in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, finishing as high as eighth
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place in 2015, before its 13th-place finish this fall. The Jaguars had never qualified for state in 15 years before Stark was hired following a successful seven-year run as the West Bloomfield High School boys tennis coach. Behind the scenes, a family atmosphere has been the glue that has kept everyone on the Frankel boys tennis team on the same page through a season each year that has stops and starts because of religious
holidays and bad weather. The lifting this season of COVID-19 restrictions that were in place last fall allowed those family ties to blossom once again. “We actually could have our motivational huddle before each match and give each other a high five for a good point,” said senior Matthew Kay. Perhaps nobody has benefited more from the family atmosphere created by Stark than Kay, a team captain since he was a sophomore and twotime participant in the state tournament (2019 and 2021). Douglas Kay, Matthew’s father, died in 2009. Ronna
Harwood Kay, his mother, died in 2018. Andrew was 5 and 13 when his parents passed away. He’s now 17. “Coach Stark has been like a father to me,” Matthew said. The feeling is mutual for Stark, who named Matthew the team’s Coach’s Pick for this season for all his extra efforts as captain. “My wife and I have two daughters. Matthew is like a son to me. I’m going to miss him when he goes off to college,” said Stark, a 2006 inductee into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame following outstanding tennis careers at Berkley High School and Michigan State University.
