Player Profile: Sabrina (Beeny) Brown

TYLER STARR '10


Sabrina Brown, known as Beeny by her friends, has helped lead the Girls Varsity Field hockey to an excellent start to the season. She has been on the varsity team for the past three years and has high hopes for her final field hockey season at Beaver.

TS: When did you start playing this sport?
SB: Freshman year

TS: What position do you play at Beaver?
SB: Center Mid

TS: When did you start to become the player you are today?
SB: The way I play has pretty much always been sprinting to the ball. I am naturally a sprinter, so I have always played this way. Right now my stick skills are not that good, but the coaches this year are really helping me with that this year.

TS: Are you playing field hockey outside of school?
SB: No

TS: Is this your favorite sport to play?
SB: No, this is my second favorite. My first is lacrosse.

TS: Is this your favorite spectator sport?
SB: Yes, I like watching men play. I watched men’s field hockey in the Olympics and it is a whole different game.

TS: Is there a particular Beaver alum that you play similar to you?
SB: Molly Swain.

TS: Who has been the most influential coach, player, or parent during field hockey career?
SB: My freshman year coach Jen. She coached my freshman and sophomore year at Beaver for field hockey and lacrosse. She was probably the best coach I ever had.

TS: Do you see this sport in your future in any way?
SB: I might play in college as a walk on. I am not good enough to get recruited but I am definitely going to try and play because I like playing field hockey.

TS: Do you have any goals, as captain, for the field hockey team this year?
SB: Yes, I want to have a 70% winning record, so winning a little more than half. We have playing well so far, so hopefully this happens.

Some tough upcoming games include matches against Newton Country Day and Dana Hall. The Varsity Field Hockey team definitely has their work cut out for them. With help from a passionate team captain and midfielder, Beeny Brown, we hope that the team achieves greatness.
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Flirting With First

STEPHANIE GRAY '09


The Red Sox still have their minds set on winning the AL East championship, and so long as they “play a good game” and beat the Cleveland Indians in the upcoming four game series, I think they could do it. The Sox seem to be making a good comeback after losing Manny Ramirez mid season and they have played pretty well in the weeks since then.
But even though the team has put themselves back together and played some good games, they are not cemented in first place. Currently they are down a game and a half and have been fighting with the Tampa Bay Rays for first place. The Rays and the Sox have been jumping ahead of one another, and then falling back, creating a roller coaster ride for fans everywhere. The Rays currently hold first place by a game and a half, but that could all change in one day if the Sox win and the Rays lose. I am confident that the Sox can take it all the way, yet again. We have built up a great team in the past couple of years, and with stars like Josh Beckett, Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, and Jacobe Ellesbury, we have potential to bring home another set of rings in the 2008 World Series.

On a different note, as we end the regular season, I feel it is of the utmost importance that we say farewell to Yankee stadium, regardless of what team you support. It is always sad to see such a rich historical park go, but it won’t be forgotten. The new Yankee Stadium will have a historical feel to it once pieces of the old stadium are moved in and preserved for future baseball generations.
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Manny Being...Pedro?

STEPHANIE GRAY '09


For the second time in the recent years, I find myself caught in a love hate-relationship with one of my favorite Baseball players. After losing Pedro at the end of the 2004 season, I was devastated. Pedro was, at one time, the heart and soul of the team.
He was the one joking around in the dugout and in the locker rooms to keep the team’s spirits up. I will never forget that Pedro, because that is the player I fell in love with, not the Pedro that was in it for the money and glory. But the feeling of personal loss I felt when Pedro left was nothing compared to when I realized that Manny was not going to be around anymore, or at least he wouldn’t be playing with the Red Sox. Manny, like Pedro was formerly the player that others turned to when they needed to laugh. He was the goofy, smiling, extremely talented (in a seemingly accidental way) player that people watched and revered. Whether he was on the field, or in the dugout, Manny was always in the spotlight. What he brought to the team was priceless, because he brought more than just talent. Manny brought back the meaning of Baseball; to play a great game and to have a good time doing it. For this, I will always remember him. In my mind, Manny will always be Manny, and nothing he says or does will taint that memory. There are too many players in today’s society that play for the money, and have lost the old-time meaning of Baseball. Part of the reason why I love the Red Sox so much, is because they haven’t forgotten what Baseball is all about, like so many have, and they play as a team. People don’t play for the Red Sox, they play with the Red Sox, and that makes all the difference.
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GIRLS VARSITY SOCCER BEATS BERWICK

GABBY GUTMAN '11

On September 24, the 2008 BCDS girl’s varsity soccer team played an unbelievable game against Berwick Academy. Coming into the came the team was 0-3 and was extremely motivated to win. Within the first 25 minutes Olivia Dynan scored the first goal of the season. At that moment everyone was so excited, and wanted to keep the lead.
There was great playing all around the field. The defense was preventing the opponents from shooting, but when they did get a shot Ibbie Yardley, our goalie, was saving everything. There were many shots taken but at the end of the first half the score remained 1-0. Anticipating that the other team would come out strong at the beginning of the second half, we did the same. Trying as much as possible to keep the ball out of our side we succeeded in not letting in any goals.
There were many shots taken on both sides of the field but at the end of the game we won 1-0. This was the first win for BCDS girl’s varsity soccer in 2 years, and everyone was thrilled to announce it. We hope our season continues with a few more wins, and are very happy that all the hard work we have put in so far had begun to pay off.
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Field Hockey: Season Preview

JEHANE SAMAHA '09


The field hockey team has been making great progress this year. With the additions of some great new players to the team, as well as the new coaches Jen Ryan and Emily Tansey, the team is ready and excited to have a successful season.


The team kicked off the season with a 3-0 win in a scrimmage against Brimmer and May. Then, in an intense, evenly matched home game versus Portsmouth Abbey (one of the best teams in the league) the varsity team narrowly lost 0 to 1. On varsity, the player of the game was Riki Adams,í10. The JV team fared better, winning 2-0. This was followed with a harsh defeat by Pingree, in a fast-paced game on their incredibly short grass. Pingree beat the varsity team 5-0 and the JV team 3-0. On varsity, the player of the game was senior Jehane Samaha.

Most recently, the team played against LCA, always one of the most closely contested games of the season. The varsity game ended in a 1-1 tie. LCA scored on a break away at the end of the first half, and after dominating the majority of the game, Beaver scored with five minutes to go in the second half. Beaver dominated for the ten minutes of 7v7 overtime, but neither team scored. The JV team beat LCA decisively, with a 4-0 victory.
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On It With Offit: Canned by the Tuna

ADAM OFFIT '09


Dolphins 38-Patriots 13

Frosted Flakes, Special K, or the Dunkin Donuts Bacon and Egg Sandwich. I don’t know what the Miami Dolphins team had for breakfast Sunday morning, but whatever it was, the Patriots need to get some of it in their cafeteria ASAP.

The last time the Patriots lost a regular season game against the Dolphins was December 10, 2006. Since then, the Dolphins have gone 1-20 and the Patriots, 23-2. Even with the abrupt and devastating season loss of reigning MVP (not just NFL, but life in general) Tom Brady, nobody predicted Miami to come out as fired up as they did on Sunday. Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington was nearly flawless with only 3 incompletions, while Ronnie Brown led the running game with 113 yards and four touchdowns. Brown had one run for 62 yards, which almost out gained the entire Patriots out-of-character-mediocrity rushing, of 67 yards, for the entire day.

Going into the season, many pundits thought Matt Cassel’s passing was so inaccurate that he couldn’t hit the side of a barn. That theory was proved itself when Cassel dumped the ball into the belly of linesman Randy Starks, Miami’s starting defensive end-weighing in at 305 pounds, standing 75 inches high. Along with his embarrassing interception, Cassel was sacked four times and led the Patriots offense to a miserable 28% 3rd down efficiency (4/14). It was a sad and ugly day all around at the Razor.

My MVP of the game: Not a lot of consistent performances by anyone in a white jersey on this particular Sunday. However, I was very pleased by the Special team efforts of Ellis Hobbs, who returned six kickoffs for 237 yards-an average of almost 40 yards per return. Hobbs also had two explosive run backs: a 50 yard return to open up the game and an 81 yard rumble to set up the patriots with good field position in the third quarter.

Up Next: Patriots head into the bye week at 2-1. The outcome can’t possibly be as bad as it was this week.
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BCDS Welcomes New Athletics Director: Coach Levin!

New athletic building......new athletic director.........definitely time for some investigation. We sent Emily Belowich '11 straight to the source. Meet Coach Levin!

EMILY BELOWICH '11

EB: What drew you to the athletic program at Beaver?

Coach Levin: I would definitely have to say the energy and enthusiasm behind the administration is what drew me to the Beaver athletic program. Having the opportunity to take this program to the next level is something that will take commitment, and I can see the dedication is beginning to show in many of the student athletes here at Beaver.

EB: So far, what do you like most about Beaver?
Coach Levin: No doubt, hands down, the kids. We have a great group of kids and I think the main thing is that we need to focus on setting high expectations. So far, these kids have demonstrated that they know how to do that. I find that I get personal satisfaction when guiding, helping, and inspiring these kids that want to achieve so much and invested so much of themselves into this program. “Treat a person as they are and they will remain as they are. Treat a person as they could be, and they will become what they should be.”

EB: What are your biggest challenges for the year and how do you plan to tackle them?

Coach Levin: Our biggest challenge for the year is to get everybody to understand the expectations. They are going to be set higher than what they have been in the past. Our emphasis this year will be to put in the effort and with effort (over time) comes success. If we can give it our all, that’s all we can do, and we can get the most out of that. We have to realize that every athletic honor is earned somehow. The smallest things make the difference—showing up to practice on-time, giving it your best, playing through adversity. If everyone does their best, that’s all we can ask for.

EB: What are your short and long term goals for the athletic program?

Coach Levin: Our short term goals are again, to increase the expectations. We also want to learn how to be competitive with every game and understand that competition is healthy. Our long term goals are definitely to have success, spread out in all of our sports, not just in the sports teams that have been particularly successful in the past. We are really looking towards becoming “Triple Threat” at Beaver: success in the academics, arts, and athletics.


EB: What drew you into athletics professionally? Who were your early influences?

Coach Levin: If I wasn’t coaching or running a camp, I was a guest speaker. I always wanted to be on television, which I was later on in my life. While I was in the television field, I was traveling. When my daughter was born, traveling became harder, which drew me towards coaching. I enjoyed making differences in young peoples’ lives, such as coaches inspired me as a student-athlete. Sports were and still are a part of me, and I would have to say my main influence in basketball was the head women’s basketball coach at Holy Cross, Togo Palazzi. I get a lot of my coaching techniques from the way that he used to coach me, and I’ve realized that as he has inspired me, inspiring others has become just as important.

EB: When you played basketball, what were the highlights of your career?

Coach Levin: As an individual player, scoring 2, 253 points at Holy Cross was my biggest highlight. Another individual highlight was scoring 1,150 points at Newton North High School because I was the first person to do that. I was also the first to receive a full athletic scholarship to Holy Cross. Looking back, it couldn’t have been possible without my coaches and my inspiration. As a team, the biggest highlights were beating our biggest rivals like Boston College, and in general, just the satisfying feeling that I had actually been part of the transition in improving the basketball program at HC. As a coach the Worcester Academy Class A championship is the most memorable because of 3 minutes and 12 seconds. We were down by 9 points and came back to win by 5. It was a moment in time that will stick with me for a lifetime.

EB: As a young basketball player, what motivated you to strive to do well?

Coach Levin: Genetics and my parents. Growing up, I wanted to be in the Olympics as a track star. I actually did pretty well in my high school career—I placed in the top 10 at my state championship. But I soon fell in love with basketball and in fact, in 1984, I was invited to try out in Colorado and made it to the top 40. I was satisfied because I knew I had done my best and I had given it my all. Athletics are a part of who I am; most people I know are connected through athletics whether it be coaches, players, teammates, coworkers, etc. I really want to help inspire those kids that need inspiration.

EB: Can you talk a little bit about your professional experiences up to this point? How will these experiences help you be successful at Beaver?

Coach Levin: I have been fortunate to have had many exciting careers that shape who I am today as a person. I was a sports reporter on television for many years. I worked on the PGA Tour as a TV producer and I traveled a lot. Later on, I started a business with Donna Orender, current president of the WNBA. We had a video production company and worked on the PGA and LPGA Tour for a while. I also owned my own video production company and I ran a lot of basketball camps around the area. Not long after that, Worcester Academy came along and I worked in the development office there, while I coached the girl’s varsity basketball team. Working at Worcester Academy led me to become the newly appointed Athletics Director at BCDS. I would say that all of these experiences have been incredible. It was particularly interesting to see everything what the players don’t see, “behind-the-scenes” if you will. As a player, I was so used to focusing on what was right in front of me but when I went behind-the-scenes, I learned about the video production, finances, and everything else that goes into the productions and is put on for the public. I also learned how hard people had worked for me when I was a player!

EB: What advice would you give to student athletes at Beaver?

Coach Levin: Do your best. Give it everything you have when you are out on the courts, fields, golf course, classroom or stage, etc. No one ever said it was easy to maintain success, but it’s the attitude—the little things that make the difference. Most importantly, have fun. You have to know that you can have fun out there, work hard and win all at the same time. Just enjoy it!

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