The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, MD will host teams from Pennsylvania, Florida and Massachusetts for the inaugural Capital Jewish Hoops Invitational, the first-ever tournament exclusively for pluralistic Jewish high schools.
Joining the host Lions will be boys and girls teams from Barrack Hebrew Academy, Donna Klein Jewish Academy and Gann Academy.
Round-robin play on Sunday and Monday will be followed by the semifinals on Monday and the championship and consolation games on Tuesday. Participants will also volunteer packing sandwiches for Martha’s Table, a non-profit that delivers food to the homeless, and attend a Washington Wizards game.
Most of the 15 or so tournaments each year across North America are hosted by Orthodox schools or include both Orthodox and pluralistic schools. JDS has played in the Memphis Yeshiva Invitational and the Israel Becker Tournament in Toronto, hosted by Tanenbaum CHAT, a pluralistic school. But for years Athletic Director Becky Silberman has noticed the predominance of Orthodox tournaments and envisioned starting a tournament at JDS for similar schools.
“This tournament came about as a home for schools that have not felt a part of that larger Orthodox community,” Silberman said. “We hope to continue to grow it, providing a space for schools that previously have not been invited to a tournament.”
Both the girls and boys tournaments feature squads ranked by Jewish Hoops America. The JDS Lions and Gann Red Heifers boys teams are ranked #16 and #21, respectively, in the JHA National Top 25. The Barrack Cougars and the Lions are #8 and #18 in Chai High, the JHA National Girls Top 18.
For more information about the tournament, go to https://www.cesjds.org/capital-jewish-hoops
All the games will be broadcast at https://www.cesjds.org/capital-jewish-hoops/livestream
Sunday schedule:
Girls
12:00 - JDS vs Barrack
12:00 - Donna Klein vs Gann
2:30 - Donna Klein vs JDS
2:30 - Gann vs Barrack
Boys
1:15 - JDS vs Barrack
1:15 - Donna Klein vs Gann
3:45 - Gann vs JDS
3:45 - Donna Klein vs Barrack
Monday schedule
Girls
9:15 - Donna Klein vs Barrack
9:15 - JDS vs Gann
11:45 - Semifinals
Boys
8:00 - Gann vs Barrack
8:00 - JDS vs Donna Klein
10:30 - Semifinals
Tuesday schedule
8:00 - Girls 3rd Place
9:15 - Boys 3rd Place
10:30 - Boys Championship
12:00 - Girls Championship