Call it the Milken Community High School of Hard Knocks.
Thanks to an organizing effort started by two very committed mothers, support from the school’s administration and enthusiasm from students, Milken is set to become the first local Jewish day school to field a tackle football team—and only the fourth Jewish day school in the country to do so.
Over 50 students have expressed interest in playing on Milken’s 8-man tackle football team this fall, and Charlie Heller is definitely among the most enthusiastic. “I’m super pumped, super excited,” Heller, 16, said. “This is like a dream of my life.”
A junior, Heller started every game at quarterback for Milken’s flag football team in the fall season. The Wildcats went undefeated and won the Nov. 9 championship game against Crossroads High School, 19-0. Heller found the experience satisfying but frustrating. “We dominated every team,” he said. “It became not even fun, because we knew we were going to kick the other team’s butts.”
Starting next fall, Milken will field 39 different varsity and junior varsity teams; with an estimated startup cost of about $100,000, tackle football will easily be the most expensive. Still, Jason Ablin, the head of the school, is enthusiastic about bringing what many might call the quintessential part of the American high school experience to Milken. The students, Ablin said, “yearn for events at the school when we can really get together and celebrate. And football will be one of those.”
With the addition of tackle football, Ablin also expects that Milken will be able to attract students that they might have lost to other schools without it.
In recent years, media reports have made clear that tackle football presents significant risk of injury—particularly brain injury—to players even at the high school level. Ablin has read those articles, and said that protecting the health and safety of the Milken student athletes would be his primary concern. If Head Coach Jerry Martin and Associate Coach Greg Weiss run a safe program, Ablin said, “I would be okay with losing every game.”
Milken has a full-time specialist in sports medicine on staff. The strength and conditioning coach, who used to work part-time with all the school’s teams, has since been brought on full-time, and will help to prepare the Wildcats for next year’s football season.
Practice starts on Aug. 1 and the Wildcats will play their first game, at Faith Baptist, on Sep. 8. Faith Baptist went undefeated (3-0) in the 4-team Heritage 8-man football league, and Milken will join Santa Clarita Christian, Windward, and Hillcrest Christian in trying to unseat them.
The Wildcats are hoping to play at least one more game next season, against the San Diego Jewish Academy’s football team, the Lions, who were the subject of a JTA article in Oct. 2010.
No date has been set for the eagerly anticipated Wildcats-Lions match-up, but one thing is certain: It won’t be on a Friday night.
Watch Charlie Heller and the Wildcats dismantle the team from Crossroads High School in November’s championship game here (video by Sam Furie):
