It’s Game 1 of the 1965 World Series and Sandy Koufax is set to pitch against the Minnesota Twins. Coincidentally, this game happens to fall on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish Year. Koufax, a Jewish player for the Brooklyn Dodgers, must decide whether to pitch in the game. Millions of baseball fans and all of his teammates want to see the best pitcher in baseball open the World Series. Although not an observant Jew, Sandy Koufax ultimately decides not to pitch and observe the holiday.

 CHS students sometimes have similar decisions to make, albeit on a much smaller scale. Recently, tennis had a match rescheduled for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and a varsity football game was also scheduled on the same day. Although only a small number of students were affected, students should not be forced to make a decision between their teammates and their religion.

 According to athletic director Dave Kelley, MCPS makes every attempt to prevent scheduling of sports events during religious holidays. It is possible to avoid these types of conflicts because the average sports season is approximately three months long. There are many available days to play in a season, so it shouldn’t be difficult to schedule sporting events on days that are not religious holidays.

 This act of respect also benefits the team as a whole because players are closer when they play and practice together regularly. It can be stressful for students to have to choose between their beliefs and their team because they may face pressure and criticism from their families if they do participate in a sporting event on a holiday.

 Some may feel that there are too many religions and customs to try and accommodate everyone’s beliefs. They argue that it is impractical to arrange sports scheduling around all religious holidays, but providing reasonable accommodations and respect for individual students without regard to ethnicity, religion and other beliefs is a CHS and MCPS policy. Every student athlete has the right to choose not to participate in a game or practice without fear of being penalized if it violates their beliefs.