Last Wednesday, on March 6, the annual Captain Hyman P. Galbut Basketball Shabbaton Tournament began. Hosted by our very own Hebrew Academy Lady Warriors, 12 teams from Jewish high schools across the country gathered in Miami Beach for the action-packed tournament.
On Wednesday afternoon, once all of the teams arrived in Miami and settled in their host homes around the community, an opening festival with food trucks was held at Hebrew Academy for all of the teams and all of HA. Following this, the Lady Warriors started the tournament off with a win in the tournament’s opening game against HAFTR Hebrew Academy from New York. After the game, girls continued watching and following the games held in the Hebrew Academy gym as well as the JCC for the rest of the night.
Beginning early Thursday morning, more games were held between the teams. Our Hebrew Academy Lady Warriors played Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls from Teaneck, coming just short at the end of the fourth quarter. The Warriors continued their day enjoying a team lunch and spending time with friends from the other schools.
“I loved having the freedom to go around Miami with friends from the competing schools and our own team, whether it was by watching their games or going to restaurants with them.” shared Tova Bossewitch (10th).
On Thursday evening all 12 teams gathered on the rooftop of Hebrew Academy’s high school building for a barbecue along with a speech from Hyman P. Galbut Z”L’s son Abraham Galbut to give the girls insight into the man they are honoring with the tournament. Teams enjoyed traveling around Miami for the rest of the night as Wednesday and Thursday’s games were calculated to seed the teams for Friday’s elimination games.
The Hebrew Academy Warriors began Friday beating Columbus Torah Academy to go onto quarter-semi finals but unfortunately lost their lead to SKA High School for Girls, eliminating them from advancing to the semis or championship. Friday’s games ended around noon to give the girls time before Shabbat to get ready and relax.
Shabbat began in the Hebrew Academy building with a beautiful Kabbalat Shabbat followed by dinner. After dinner, the girls walked home in assigned walking groups and hung out for the night.
On Shabbat morning the girls headed to Beth Israel for shacharit, after which they enjoyed an incredible shiur from Mrs. Kanner before lunch, also at Beth Israel.
Once they left the shul building, everyone was given a few hours to hang out, nap, and rejuvenate before Saturday night’s games. At 6pm the girls headed back to Hebrew Academy for seudah shlishit, ebbing, and a wonderful musical Havdalah led by Rabbi Litton.
“Shabbos was a lot of fun. I hung out with friends from different schools and enjoyed all of the events,” said SKA player Daphna Steinmetz.
Motzei Shabbat, our Hebrew Academy Lady Warriors beat Ramaz in a consolation game for 5th place overall (out of the 12 teams). Nearing 1 am, the gym was packed with girls from all teams, family and friends, and community members to watch the championship game between Shalhevet from LA and SKA--Shalhevet ultimately won.
The girls really enjoyed the tournament for its fun nature, bonding opportunities, and basketball games against schools from other states.
Thank you to Coach Adam, Coach Stephen, Morah Twito, and Coach Joe for planning and handling the amazing tournament! The Warriors look forward to next year!
By: Elizabeth Ebner (11th)