TABC, in terms of athletics has long been branded a “Hockey School,” but this year the Teaneck Yeshiva has, almost out of the blue, has performed excellently across the board in almost every single competition available. The wrestling team won the Wittenberg Tournament for the first time in thirteen years, while the basketball team reached the Yeshiva League Semi-finals for the first time in school history after a historic upset of Magen David. In addition, the track team performed excellently and the baseball team is currently working on an undefeated season. The varsity soccer team is about to play for first place. But the hockey teams were the big story of the school, with the JV team winning its fifth straight championship under Coach Norm Blumenthal, and the Varsity team winning the championship later that day. The” hockey sweep” has only been done before by TABC, when it pulled off the feat in 1999.
The success has not been limited to sports, though. TABC finished second of thirty-six schools in Bergen County and fifteenth of 175 schools in the state of New Jersey in the Math League, scoring the highest of all Metropolitan-Area Yeshivas. The Mock Trial team went all the way to the State Semi-Finals, a really incredible feat. The chess team locked up first place in its division, while the Torah Bowl team came within a whisker of taking the championship. Both College Bowl teams went to the playoffs, but arguably the most impressive feat this year by TABC was the Science Olympiad team’s sheer dominance almost every area of competition.
However, as we all know, winning is not the only thing. For years, TABC has prided itself on winning with Middot and trying to show that “The nice guys can win, too!” This year, no matter what the YU Commentator may say, the Storm has for the most part won with class and respect, and people are taking notice. Athletics Director at TABC Bobby Kaplan said that while he is “very pleased” with the success of the TABC teams, “It is the Middot of the teams that is really outstanding.” Coach Kaplan’s sentiment is one that is being echoed throughout the leadership at TABC, which has praised the style with which the TABC teams are winning numerous times in emails to the TABC community. For example, the Track Team was said to have “Bought much pride for their high school through good middot, good sportsmanship, and utter domination,” according to the TABC newsletter.
The entire TABC community hopes that the success in athletic and academic competitions for the school will continue and that the teams will continue to win the right way.
By Isaac Altman