Selma Teichman
After playing middle school sports at CESJDS, Selma Teichman, girls varsity soccer freshman goalkeeper, recently finished her first season as a part of the varsity athletics program. Teichman had been playing soccer as only a hobby, however, when she turned 11, she decided to join a team in the Takoma Soccer League because she wanted to start playing more competitively.
Teichman played goalie and defense for the varsity soccer team throughout the 2024 season. The team made it all the way to the PVAC championship match, losing to Washington International School in the finals. Junior Tali Loeffler, the team’s other goalie, got a concussion and was unable to play in the semifinal and championship games, leaving Teichman to step up and play goalie for the entirety of the final two games.
“It was a cool experience to play the whole time, but it’s also kind of stressful because it’s the finals and semifinals,” Teichman said.
Teichman enjoyed being a part of a JDS varsity team and plans to continue to participate in future seasons. She has already started with her second sport this year for JDS, playing basketball on the girls junior varsity team. The group is small compared to the varsity team, however Teichman said that despite this, they are continuing to improve as the season progresses.
“Being able to play in varsity is a lot. It’s a different environment, and more fast speed than middle school,” Teichman said. “So it’s cool to be able to have a glimpse of what I’m going to be doing for the next three years.”
Theo Pearlman
Freshman Theo Pearlman comes down to the final stretch of his race and sees the seconds counting up. 17:55. 17:56. 17:57. He dives across the line and sees what he was hoping for: 17:59.
Breaking 18 minutes in the 5K had been one of Pearlman’s goals since he first joined the cross country team. He is only the eighth freshman to run that fast in JDS history.
Pearlman said he originally joined cross country this year in order to get in shape for basketball season, but quickly found success in the sport, finishing as a member of the PVAC second team all conference.
“I didn’t think that [it would] go this well,” Pearlman said “I just Nathan decided to run because a lot of my friends were doing it. My brother was also on the team, so he told me to do it.”
Fresh off a state championship winning season, Pearlman is hoping he has just as much success on the boys varsity basketball team. Pearlman said he enjoyed participating in the Memphis Invitational Yeshiva Tournament and developing bonds with the players he hopes to play with for the next few years. So far this season, he has consistently been the first man off the bench, mostly playing as point guard.
Pearlman especially wants to learn from those older than him. He hopes they will help him improve and develop into a more professional player, able to compete at a higher level.
“I’ve been seeing a lot of the guys on the team last year, and I’m just seeing how much they’ve learned last year on the team,” Pearlman said. “I just want to get to [the] level that they’re at.”
Nathan Yoskowitz
Varsity soccer captain freshman Nathan Yoskowitz just completed his first season on the boys varsity soccer team. With Yoskowitz’s help as the starting center midfielder, the team made it to the semifinals with a 3-2 record.
Yoskowitz had previously played on the Player Progression Academy (PPA) green premier, a travel team in the area. He also played on the JDS middle school team. Yoskowitz said he had lofty goals coming into the season and feels that he fulfilled them.
“I wanted to make the team,” Yoskowitz said. “I wanted to start.I wanted to play with the people here, some of the seniors that I was really looking forward to playing with, just having fun seeing what it was about, kind of easing my way into it.”
According to Yoskowitz, he tried to help the team in any way that he could, whether it be through bonding the team or helping out on the field. He recalls one of these instances as being during a game against the Sandy Spring Friends School.
“We had an away game where I had this really nice assist,” Yoskowitz said. “I played a really longball into our strikers. That was one of [my] best highlight[s] of the season.”
Yoskowitz became captain this season a role not usually given to a freshmen. He credits this to his ability to always be present on the team. From the start of the season, he always made sure to be a vocal member of the team.
“I think I was one of the best leaders vocally, and [I was always] just doing the simple things,” Yoskowitz said. “That showed the coaches my importance.”
