School Desk

This football game is elementary

Posted

Correction appended. 

Only a few minor details set the Riverdale Bowl — a football game between the Robert J. Christen School (P.S. 81) and the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) — apart from the Super Bowl, one of which is a crucial rule: no tackling.

“We don’t want any lawsuits,” explained P.S. 24 alum Noah Soffer, now a ninth grade student at the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy (M.S./H.S. 141), as he sat on the sidelines of the football field at Seton Park on Oct. 17.

“I think Riverdale has good lawyers though,” his friend Josh Breitbart, 12, added.

He and his friends, all RKA students and P.S. 24 alumni, donned blue and yellow face paint stripes as they came out to support the team of current P.S. 24 students facing off against fourth and fifth grade students from P.S. 81.

After the game for current students, they planned to face off in their own match against P.S. 81 alums.

It is the second year for the now-annual event, which aims to bring students from the two schools together for an afternoon of friendly competition, followed by food.

“It’s really to bring the community together,” said P.S. 24 parents’ association president Farrah Rubin, whose son Ross, 12, joined Josh and Noah in cheering on the P.S. 24 team.

Her daughter Marin meanwhile, a fourth grade student at P.S. 24, was part of a spirited group of self-described cheerleaders from the school who came out to support her brother and the other players.

“It’s a fun way for younger people to get outside and play football,” said Marin’s friend Anna Traynor, 9.

“And also for the adults, it’s fun to watch kids do something outdoors and be active outside, and not just watch TV,” Marin said.

Though the girls opted to cheerlead rather than play in the tournament — “We don’t know how,” she said — Anna did not rule out the idea of playing in the game in the future.

“Maybe next year,” she said.

Not far from a table laden with sub sandwiches for players and their families, P.S. 81 third grader Bethany Rosario, 7, tossed a football with fellow third-grader Mikaela Brown and one of the P.S. 81 coaches.

Robert J. Christen School, P.S. 81, Spuyten Duyvil School, P.S. 24, America Rosario, Cliff Stanton, Farrah Rubin, Riverdale Bowl, football, Maya Rajamani
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