While Dean of Students Roz Landy works inside the building CESJDS, as she has for the past 46 years, Matthew Landy, her grandson, is outside on the baseball field as he throws pitches for the Lions baseball team to practice.

When Matthew heard that JDS was looking for a new coach during the summer of 2022, he immediately reached out to Director of Athletics Becky Silberman to request the job.

“When [I] heard that there was an opening spot to be the new varsity head baseball coach, I immediately thought, ‘what a great opportunity to be back with the program at JDS,’ which holds a big part of my heart,”  Matthew said. 

During his time as a player,  Matthew was the PVAC Player of the Year  his junior year. He says that some of his best memories were his time as a Lion. Matthew has also coached high school travel baseball for three years, taught one-on-one hitting and pitching training and worked at the Washington Nationals baseball camp. 

Silberman anticipates that in addition to his experience as a JDS athlete,  Matthew’s knowledge of JDS norms will make for a smoother transition into the job. 

“One of the hardest things, I think, about coaching high school is understanding the clientele you’re working with,” Silberman said. “He knows the PVAC. He knows the skill level. He knows our students. He knows the expectations about not playing on Shabbat or communicating on Shabbat. He knows what our facilities are.”

Matthew said that ultimately, his goal is to bring JDS a championship win while preserving the fun nature of the sport that he experienced during his time as a player. 

“We want to have a fun time out there. Baseball’s supposed to be a fun game, making memories,” Matthew said. 

Sophomore Rafi Siegel says that  Matthew’s previous experience at JDS helps him relate to the players, which Siegel finds important in a coach.

“He can relate to us, be on our level, especially because he was once in our position, … which I think has really helped him coach. He knows the program. And I think it’s been really cool. He’s been in our shoes before,” Siegel said. “And so far I’ve seen nothing but good from him.”

In addition, Silberman hopes that a new coach on the team will help players be the best they can be, while also teaching them new skills and aspects of the game. 

“I think you should play on different teams, get different perspectives. I think different coaches focus on different areas,” Silberman said. “So I think it’ll be really good, even for our juniors who were [on the team] last year. I think they’ll learn a lot.”

All in all,  Matthew hopes to bring the team to a championship and “win a banner for the school” after their semifinal loss during the 2022 season.

“The goal of every team should be to win at the end of the day, and that’s our goal,”  Matthew said. “And hopefully we can do that in a respectful way, and get as much fan support from the student body as possible.”