(TABC Sports) Necessity is the mother of invention! With a little creativity and hard work—and a lot of consultation with their medical committee—TABC officially kicked off its 2020-2021 athletics season last week. The theme of this year’s Storm season is Skills and Drills and practices are open to all. Students are able to choose one sport—basketball or hockey—and Director of Athletics R’ Yitz Rabovsky hopes to add more sports to the menu as the year progresses. Each grade practices separately, in masks, under the guidance of TABC’s esteemed coaches.

Coach Oz, who has taken the JV team to four straight championships, began with the basics with the freshmen as they worked on conditioning and other essential skills. All grades worked on fast breaks, mid-range jump shots and, of course, footwork. Everyone agreed it felt great to be back on the court with their classmates.

At the hockey sessions, Coach Mo Fuchs spoke about how important the hockey program is to him and emphasized all that the students could gain from these practices, even under the challenging circumstances. So far, the coaches have focused on stickhandling, footwork and various other skills necessary to excel on the court.

It was exhilarating to hear both of TABC’s gyms alive again with the sounds of whistles, buzzers and squeaky sneakers. Whenever league play does resume, the Storm will be ready!