The third annual Steve Glouberman Tournament is coming up and now has a third day of basketball, which could affect all of Shalhevet. The reason for an additional day is that there are now 12 boys teams at the tournament instead of nine.

New teams this year include the Shalhevet neighbor Harkham Gaon Academy; Katz Yeshiva High School of Boca Raton, Fla.; Northwest Yeshiva High School of Seattle; and Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy of Miami.

The tournament was originally supposed to have 12 boys teams, however, Flatbush Yeshiva High School of Brooklyn, NY, dropped out. When that happened, it became impossible to divide 11 teams into even pools, therefore, Shalhevet’s boys JV team will now participate in the tournament.

Athletic Director Ryan Coleman said the tournament grew because a large number of teams contacted Shalhevet asking to play in it, so more teams were invited.

In fact, he said that if Shalhevet had accepted or extended invitations to all of the teams that asked about the tournament, the tournament could have hosted 16 to 20 boys teams.  But it would have been to difficult to find homes for that many players to stay in.

“The amount of schools that reached out to us because they heard positive things about the tournament was kinda overwhelming,” Coach Ryan said.

Development Coordinator Raizie Weissman said around 60 families in the community are hosting 232 out-of-state players this year. Including coaches, the community hosts around 275 people — up from 200 players from across the country for the tournament.

She said it’s not difficult to get families to host, but it takes persistence.

“At first, it takes awhile for them to hear it a couple of times,” Ms. Weissman said. “It’s definitely stressful in the beginning, but we always get it done.”

Because it’s getting larger each year, officials are hoping that YULA will co-host the Glouberman Tournament once their boys’ school gym, currently under construction, is completed.

Since Steve Glouberman, z”l, the Shalhevet parent in whose memory the tournament is named, went to YULA and played basketball for that school as a teen, so it would be a natural fit, Coach Coleman said.

“Steve Glouberman is an alumni of YULA, so in my mind, that [idea of co-hosting] would kind of make sense,” he said.  “We would love if we were able to do that at both sites.”

He has not formally discussed this yet with YULA’s athletic director.

However, he did say that since the high schools are not close by (2.5 miles from each other), it might not be logistical.

“Geographically, it’s not the best situation in the world,” he said.

The Westside Jewish Community Center (JCC), on the other hand, is close by, and therefore convenient for parents and students to park or walk from to from Shalhevet. The JCC, which is Harkham Gaon’s home court, will be used as a location for Glouberman. Coach Coleman said that he wants to eliminate as much driving as possible.

Meanwhile, at this year’s tournament the Lady Firehawks are looking to win their second Glouberman title and defeat Boca, a team they lost to last year at Glouberman and also at the Hyman Galbut tournament in Miami. On the other hand, the boys varsity and JV teams are looking to win their first Glouberman title ever.

This year, the tournament will again  have six girls teams, two of them different from last year’s roster — Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School of Teaneck, New Jersey and Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy of Miami, according to Athletic Director Ryan Coleman. The girls’ Israeli team Elitzur-Petach Tikvah girls team and North Shore will not be returning.

“I believe that they’re reasoning was that they just weren’t competitive enough, we invited them back, but they didn’t think they were competitive,” Coach Coleman said.  The boys Elitzur team will be returning.

Both the girls and boys Firehawk varsity teams are in rebuilding stages, as each team lost key seniors with graduation last year.

Additionally, the girls team has a new coach, Jeff Remer, this season. Coach Coleman  thinks the girls could win the tournament for the second time.

“Shalhevet has improved a lot in the off season and working with Coach Remer, I would anticipate that they will be the team to beat in the tournament,” he said.

Sophomore star guard Kikuyo Shaw is looking forward to facing Boca.

“We’re kind of going through this whole team rebuilding, and with only like a month to actually practice, we sort have to become a cohesive team,” Kikuyo said.

Since the Firehawks lost to Boca in championship games at both Glouberman and Hyman P. Galbut Girls Basketball Tournament last year, she’s looking forward to playing them this year “to redeem ourselves”.

She said the three keys to winning the tournament would be teamwork, coordination and mental toughness.

“The first game will be crucial in determining how we continue on through the tournament,” said Kikuyo.

Senior forward/center Loren Edry said that calling screens, rebounding and boxing out, and making layups and free throws would all be important.

“The most important thing we need to do is communicate on the court,” Loren said.

On the boys team, junior Asher Dauer is excited to show what the team has to offer on the court.

He explained that the team has only had one scrimmage game, so — as it has been every year — Glouberman will be the team’s first real experience playing competitively together. This is because the CIF basketball season doesn’t start until Nov. 20.

“The most important thing is to stick to Ryan’s game plan,” Asher said. “Offensively, nobody can get carried away in their own game, and also, same thing on defense, don’t try to do too much — and work as a team, that’s when we’re at our best.”

Co-captain Ben Mashiach said he said team cohesiveness is the biggest challenge.

“I definitely think our biggest competitor would be ourselves and just playing as a cohesive unit, as a team,” said Ben.

Only once has a Firehawk team won the Glouberman tournament. The Lady Firehawks beat the Frisch Cougars of Paramus, N.J., in the tournament’s first year of play back in 2015. The closest the boys varsity team has come was also back in 2015, when they lost to YULA in the semifinal.

The tournament is named in memory of alumni parent Steve Glouberman, who had three children, Leah ‘13 and twins Jeremy and Rachel ‘15, who all participated on sports teams at Shalhevet. Mr. Glouberman played basketball at YULA.

Other teams that will not be returning are MTA boys team and both North Shore’s boys and girls teams. MTA has a basketball tournament prior to Steve Glouberman, so their coach thought it would be too much if the team missed two weeks of school, according to Coach Coleman.

Regarding North Shore, he said Shalhevet did not extend an invitation to them their players were a little “rambunctious,” and did not represent the values that the tournament stands for.

Whatever the personnel, it’s clear that this year’s Glouberman tournament will be bigger than ever, in both time, number of teams, and number of hosts.

Ben Mashiach is looking forward to multiple days that are just focused on basketball.

“I think I’m looking forward to the environment of just basketball, basketball, basketball — that whole mentality of just putting in 110 percent every single day when you wake up in the morning and just putting blood, sweat, and tears into basketball.”