Practice or practicing religion?

The leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping and, for the significant Jewish population at Penn, a new year is beginning.

Many Jewish athletes are faced with a dilemma during the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- should they skip practices or games to observe the holidays, and if so, will there be consequences?

Although there is a strict University-wide academic policy regarding assignments and testing during religious holidays, there is no parallel policy in the Athletic Department.

"Maybe the academic policy can serve as a guide for the extracurricular," Hillel Director Jeremy Brochin said.

And it does just that, in a sense. Most coaches agree that any team member who chooses to skip practices or games in order to observe a religious holiday should be able to do so without being penalized for their absence.

"We don't have any set policy, but the players know that they are free to observe religious holidays as they see fit," men's soccer coach Rudy Fuller said.

"We have a large number of Jewish student athletes. Some of them practice the faith very strictly and some don't. Those who do know that they are free to miss practices or games with no penalty."

"[Coach Fuller] has always said to me that... if I have a religious obligation, then that comes first," men's soccer sophomore Louis Lazar agreed. "I don't get penalized at all for it."

Since many Jewish athletes are choosing to observe the holidays in different ways, coaches are dealing with the loss of players during practices and games on a case-by-case basis.

"I think it's a matter of the players communicating with me and telling me what they need to do," men's tennis coach Mark Riley said, "and then we just practice around any [absentees]."

Though athletes are not required by most coaches to make up excused absences, some chose to do so last week regardless.

Andy Kolker, a junior on the men's tennis team, is one of several students who chose to make up a missed practice of his own volition.

"Coach Riley's really understanding and flexible," Kolker said. "He wants what's best for his players."

Brochin noted that, at different times in their lives, people must make decisions not only about what their priorities should be, but also about why they should be considered a priority.

"I think that a person is more than a student and I think that a person is more than an athlete," Brochin said.

Prioritizing is just what most Jewish athletes are doing this fall. Many have made the decision whether to go home for the holidays based on the importance of their attendance at practice or need to prepare for upcoming games.

"Basically because of practice, I'm not going home for the holidays," men's tennis captain Ryan Harwood said. "As much as I want to go home, I'm the captain this year, and I kind of have to be there and show a devotion. I go to services here, so it's not like I'm completely ignoring the holidays."

Sophomore Ashley Glaubach and freshman Lauren Bome, two members of the women's soccer team, took a decidedly different approach to the holidays, skipping last Tuesday's practice in order to attend Rosh Hashanah services.

"We didn't have a game for two or three days so it wasn't a big deal," Glaubach said.

"[Coach Darren Ambrose] was very supportive of us missing it for the holiday," Bome said.

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