“Well, the soccer coach just quit. The softball coach has jury duty. I was coaching…
By Mitch Abramson
Someone asked Gary Gregory, athletic director of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, to describe the sports program at the school this season, and this is what he said:
“Well, the soccer coach just quit. The softball coach has jury duty. I was coaching tennis but now I coach soccer. My tennis assistant has become the tennis coach.
“I am the softball coach until the other coach gets back. And oh, yeah, softball practices are canceled this week because the kids have performances.”
That’s life when you work at a school for the performing arts: It’s hard to champion athletics when your players are more concerned with hitting their notes than hitting the ball. For a school launched just two years ago with only 160 students and no varsity teams, success, for the moment, is measured in making sure teams have enough coaches and players to fill the roster.
That was the scene when the Legends of Frank Sinatra (2-7, Queens II-B) clashed with Renaissance HS (0-11, Queens II-B) of Jackson Heights last Thursday. Pitcher Krystal Solivan overcame three past balls, two hit batters and five walks to beat Renaissance, 8-6, at Meadow Lake in a game played to keep from scraping the bottom of the Queens II-B division of the PSAL.
But don’t judge Sinatra High School by statistics. These are artists and performers moonlighting as athletes, trailblazers who years from now will be remembered as the first softball team in the school’s history. Now up to 450 students with two-thirds of them girls, the school plans to add varsity teams in girls’ volleyball, soccer, boys’ and girls’ basketball and boys’ baseball to the varsity girls’ tennis and softball teams next season.
“It’s great, but it’s a daily struggle,” Gregory said. “A lot of the girls can’t come to practice because of rehearsals, and sometimes we only get five or six players who show up, so they can’t really go over the nuances of the sport. My best pitcher, Krystal Solivan, has only pitched two games this season because of performances. We’re competing with the arts program.”
So Gregory holds his tongue and swallows his whistle because he knows his days of coaching junior varsity baseball at Valley Stream North High School are only fond memories and because, who knows, one of his players could be the next Jennifer Lopez, like sophomore shortstop Catherine Sepulveda, who had to audition to beat hundreds of applicants to get into Long Island City’s version of Julliard.
With privilege comes sacrifice, and students put in a full day of school with an additional 90 minutes spent on the five art forms: dance, instrumental, vocal, fine art and drama. By the time softball practice rolls around, the players react like kids hearing the recess bell.
“We just began the team last year, so I don’t expect us to be great,” said Sepulveda, a vocalist from Jackson Heights who went 2-for-4 with an RBI last Thursday. “We don’t hold tryouts, and there isn’t much school spirit (in softball) because students don’t really know what’s going on. It’s hard to balance the team with school and everything else, but you do it because you have a love for it.”
And as in most romances, concessions must be made. Gregory worked out a handshake agreement with some of the teachers that allows players to attend games at the expense of some rehearsals, but if a performance and a game conflict, recitals outrank games.
“I think it’s unrealistic to expect that we’ll have six or seven sports teams a year. These kids have so much on their plate,” said Elliot Salow, the school’s principal. “It’s an issue of time. All these students are art majors who have to worry about final performances and band performances, but I believe every school should have a sports program.”
Rounding third with a full head of steam, Jessica Loner showed why Salow is right. When Justine Siebuhr grounded to the pitcher in the fifth inning with the score tied 6-6, Renaissance’s first baseman left her position to try and make a play on the ball. With nobody covering first, the pitcher turned toward first, double-clutching with the ball, and Loner scored standing up for the game-winning run to go up 7-6. Sinatra’s bench was delirious.
“Softball is a big stress-reliever,” said Giulliana Baltodano, a junior vocalist from Corona. “I love playing. It’s just fun.”
Reach reporter Mitch Abramson by e-mail at timesledger@aol.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
