When Education and Athletics Converge: A Coach's Vantage Point Brett Kugler

When Education and Athletics Converge: A Coach’s Vantage Point

By Brett Kugler

It is widely assumed that most education takes place in a formalized setting locked within the four walls of a classroom. However, the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School girls’ middle school basketball team has had quite a different experience. While still within the confines of four walls, this team took their education to the basketball court. When I first took over the team last year, I had no prior coaching experience. I was new to coaching and new to this group of student athletes. I wish I could say that I had high expectations, but I honestly had no expectations, as they were just as new to me as I was to coaching. My hope was to build a symbiotic culture of lilmod u’lelamed, to study and to teach, with both coach and players learning from each other.

Early last year, I decided that if we were going to play together on the court, we needed to form a bond that reached further. The goal was to create an opportunity for the players to feel like their knowledge and connection went from the classroom to the court and back. It

Georgetown Hoya Maya Arie, Talia Kraner, Sophia Miller, Abby Alter, and Anna Berger.

(PHOTO CREDIT BRETT KUGLER) Top row: Vivi Arking, Sophia Miller, Jane Trainor, Maya Arie, Sasha Trainor, Zoe Fischman, Brett Kugler Bottom Row: Sally Rogal, Talia Kraner, Anna Berger, Avital Friedman, Abby Alter (not pictured: Elana Renbaum).

was at that moment that I decided to make each of our plays integrated with what they were learning in their Jewish studies classes. Each play was named after content found within the Tanach. As shouts of Esav triggered the team to trap like the aforementioned hunter, the players’ excitement built. At various points throughout the season, they would share with teammates that they had just started learning something in one of their Judaics classes, and that they already had a head start on the information because they understood what it meant based on their basketball practices. While these statements were followed by curious looks from peers and teachers alike, they were getting repetition in the classroom and on the court, which helped them to learn the plays faster and connect to their learning. After a tough loss in the championship during our first season together, 10 of the players from last year’s team returned and were ready to push further this year.

With the continuity that they had developed on and off the court last year, this year got off to a great start. The team won seven of its first eight games and expanded the list of plays to include titles such as teivah (based on the number of people on Noach’s ark), Shemot, and choshech (darkness). We worked to integrate additional skills, as well. Obviously, there was a focus on basketball skills such as rebounding, boxing out, setting screens and smart passes. However, the team also had discussions that focused on morals and ethics, and how these traits directly correlated with sportsmanship. They also learned about showing gratitude and valuing the time of others by creating hand-written notes that they gave to their parents, thanking them for the time that they spent bringing them to and from games, and supporting them along the way.

In addition to the past two seasons allowing for a great deal of athletic and academic growth, the team also got to have some fun outside of the building. Each year started with a team “dinner and a movie” (sports themed, of course). This year, the team also had the opportunity to play an intra-squad game as the half-time show at the Georgetown University vs. Creighton women’s basketball game. They participated in different skills challenges during quarters, played an eight-minute scrimmage, and got to form high-five lines to welcome the Georgetown players onto the court for the second half.

As our season draws to a close, and with the hopes of a championship still in our sights, several things are clear to me. First and foremost, this is an incredible group of girls. Each player not only demonstrated a tremendous love and respect for the game and for each other, but also made enormous gains in the form of life lessons. In addition, I have no doubt that they will always be there to support members of their community, and will always remember the first time they shouted Sedom! as they tried to crush the infrastructure of the opposing team’s offense.

Brett Kugler is a graduate of Berman Hebrew Academy with a BA in Studio Art from the University of Maryland and an MS in Special Education from John's Hopkins University. He has been teaching at CESJDS for the past 11 years. He enjoys spending time with his family, working as the youth director at Young Israel Shomrai Emunah, coaching and volunteering at NCSY.