Awarded with the Most Valuable Player Award during Glouberman, Arielle Grossman was a Firehawk star all season long on the road to achieving the team’s greatest-ever victory, the CIF Div. 4AA State Championship title in Sacramento.
But success as a basketball team means much more than a trophy, she said. At the postgame press conference after their victory at State, Arielle said being a successful Jewish basketball team affects her entire community.
“Playing on a Jewish team, part of a Jewish school, you’re kind of representing the Jewish community as a whole, not only Shalhevet,” Arielle told a post-game gathering of reporters at the NBA Golden State Warriors’ stadium in Sacramento.
Asked later by the Boiling Point to elaborate, Arielle said Jewish identity is something that is always present.
“Being Jewish is something that we carry with us onto the court,” she said in an interview May 10. “Being Jewish definitely comes with baggage, but I also feel that our team carries it with pride.”
She thought of this back in February, she said, during and after at Shalhevet’s CIF semifinal game against Buena Park. When it was over, there were reports of both antisemitism and racism from fans of both teams, including lots of commotion from both Shalhevet and Buena Park fans while the game was going on.
“It’s a gross feeling when the other team isn’t being kind or is trash-talking us,” Arielle said. “So when someone on the other team falls down I always help them up, or I give them a high five at the end of the game.
“I feel that being Jewish, and the way I was raised, has led me to being more kind on the court. Because we are so successful and a Jewish team, everything we do is under a microscope.”
Arielle said the commotion at the Buena Park game had little effect on the way she played.
“I try to leave everything off the court, because if I carry all the baggage from everyday life onto the court, it’s not going to end well,” said Arielle.
For the State victory, she also credited Shalhevet in general – including its sponsorship of the Glouberman tournament – and the boys team in particular.
“The boys basketball team at Shalhevet became really successful and that’s what made Shalhevet known as the ‘basketball school,’” Arielle said. “And that success transferred over to the girls team.
“Events like Glouberman and Sarachek bring together Jewish basketball teams and high school students from all over, and that togetherness creates a sense of unity, and that’s possible because of basketball.”
Arielle has been playing basketball since she was seven years old. At first she was hesitant to play the sport, but after playing at the Cheviot Hills after school basketball program when she was seven, she hasn’t stopped playing.
She was captain of the girls team at Yavneh Hebrew Academy in middle school. When she got to Shalhevet in ninth grade, she signed up to play right away.
“When I’m playing basketball I feel determined and focused,” Arielle told the Boiling Point back in ninth grade. “It’s important to be determined and have your mind set on things, because once you do that you can accomplish anything in life.”
She said basketball was a big commitment and a better use of her time than social media.
“Like I spend every single day playing basketball,” she said in the same interview. “If I didn’t play basketball, I would probably be on my phone or TV. That’s all technology that’s unproductive, so I think it’s better that I’m playing basketball.
“The main thing basketball really taught me in life is sensitivity,” she added. “Your coaches will give you advice and constructive criticism, and you have to take it and know they are saying it to help you. It also taught me how important it is to never give up, and get through things and stay strong, because in life not everything will be easy and you need to get through obstacles every day.”
These sentiments guided her all the way to the State Div. 4AA CIF championship in March of 2023.
