Youth and Sports A Winning Combination at the Russell Sage School
April, 2002
This past week the 2002 Sports For Life-Skills Program got under way at The Russell Sage School in Forest Hills. In an age of rebelliousness amongst our youths, where contempt for authority and rules is fashionable, this program, organized by Amar Samaroo, a staff member, and Bernie Cuadra, SPINS 28 Anti-drug Program coordinator, endeavors to reach our teens through a medium they respect and cherish – sports. Apart from the obvious benefits (physical fitness) of participating in a sport, students will come to know, understand, and share the numerous life skills associated with playing and winning. With its Code of Laws, sports have always been considered a strong moral educator. Many of the skills necessary in sports are the very skills we need to be successful in life. Among them are:
1) The need to play by the Rules of the Game and not by our own rules – thereby inculcating the need for respect for the rules of society, as well as, respect for each other.
2) Playing on a team means sacrificing the individual for the group – addressing one of the major conflicts in our society today – individual needs versus society’.
3) Today, gang violence among our youths is one of our greatest concerns. Sportsmanship teaches us to be gracious in defeat – we can be adversaries without being adversarial – becoming violent or confrontational.
Last year, the program benefited from a promising partnership that was forged with the SPINS 28 Anti-Drug Program. In addition to playing soccer and cricket, the teens received our Anti-Drug Awareness message. The remarkable success of that initiative led to the Inaugural Youth Cricket Program in District 28 in July 2001. A program that enjoyed the blessings of School District 28 of the NYC Board of Education, the Spins Anti-Drug Initiative, and the Police Athletic League. Credit must go to the following individuals for making it such a remarkable success: Mr. Amar Sham Samaroo, teacher at Russell Sage, Mr. Bernie Cuadra, Spins 28 coordinator, Ms. Rita Giaramita, Deputy Superintendent, District 28, and Dr. Jeffrey Davis, Spins Director.
Once again this year we have a huge turn out of enthusiastic and talented players, and here’s to another exciting season of “playing ball”.
PROMISING STARS OF SAGE 2002
STEVE INOYATOV KATHY CAGUENAS
ARTHUR TILAYEV HERNANDO OCAMPO
RUSLAN SEKANAYEV BALMORE GARCIA
AHMED IBRAHIM DAVID VELANDIA
YSABEL FIGUEROA TAMILO CARON
ARDIT DEKAY JORGE GOMEZ
LUISA BETANCOURT GEOVANNY PALACIOS
JENNIFER KALAR MARJAN DEKAJ
JOSEPH ELGAOI KEVIN MUGA
BORIS ARONOV MELISSA JANJIC
IGOR ARONOV LILY IBRAHIM
VITALIY ILYASOV NADINE MAMANE
STEPHANIE LEAL NICOLE AVIGDOR
DANIEL VARGAS NIMROD SHEMESH
RUSSELL BRADLEY aka RONALDO ILYA TADAHIEV
JOHNNY GARCIA ROMAN POSYAVIN
HERNANDO OCAMPO MICHAEL SADIYAYEV
BALMORE GARCIA MORJON DEKOJ
DAVID VELANDIA ANTHONY STARACE
TAMILO CARON CHRIS PRADO
JORGE GOMEZ GEOVANNY PALACIOS
PABLO GARCIA SEBASTIAN VILLA
JOHNNY GARCIA NATALIE MUJAS