Fall Preview: Scarsdale Varsity Soccer Team
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Here's a first look at the Scarsdale High School Varsity Soccer team:
Boys Soccer
Head Coach: Joseph Cipriano
Captains: Jason Henderson (Sr.), Vincent Gandolfo (Sr.)
2011 Record: 11-7
Players to watch: This year’s team has five returning starters, all hoping to have big seasons. Vincent Gandolfo and Zach Cromwell (Jr.) are the returning midfielders. Cromwell is a playmaker and ball controller, while Gandolfo is a hustle player who brings the ball down the lines and creates opportunities for other offensive players. Evan Hendel (Sr.) will be returning for his third year on the Varsity Soccer team. Hendel is the team’s biggest offensive threat and a goal-scoring machine. Jason Henderson and Matt Ellman (Sr.) are the teams returning center defenders. The two have great chemistry and rarely make mistakes.
Expectations: The team is confident in their chances to win the league, despite its high level of competition. Starting center back and captain Jason Henderson said, “I expect for us to compete to win our league and afterwards try to win the section.” Outside midfielder Steven Ferebee (Sr.) also has confidence in this year’s squad, “Our expectations are to make it to the playoffs and hopefully go far.” Ferebee also went on to say that this year’s lower expectations in contrast to last years will help the team despite having a high talent level. Senior Matt Ellman has similar feelings, “We have been expected to do huge things the last 2 years but this year nobody has us on the radar so it will be nice to be the underdog.”
Bottom Line: With 5 returning starters and over 10 returning players, and the addition of Nico Penfold (Sr.), the Raiders are looking very strong. All of the players agree that they are deep in talent. Unfortunately, the squad is in the same league as Mamaroneck, New Rochelle and White Plains. Expect the Raiders to compete for the section title.
(Pictured at top: Team Captain Vincent Gandolfo)
This article was written by Scarsdale High School senior Peter Simon
Scarsdale's Brandon Steiner Publishes Second Book
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CEO of Steiner Sports, owner of Last Licks and Scarsdale resident Brandon Steiner, has written his second book, You Gotta Have Balls, which will be hitting the shelves this September. The book follows the story of how Brandon Steiner came from humble beginnings in Brooklyn to build his sports empire, supplying the reader with business tips along the way.
Given the number of business books out there, the question, “What makes this book unique?” becomes important. When asked this, Steiner explained that unlike other, analytical, cut-and-dry business books, this is a “story-telling book.” The real life situations explored in the book make the business ideas easier for readers to relate to. In addition, Steiner revealed that the book “gets past the obvious stuff,” and gets to the core of what makes a business a success.
Steiner stated that he hopes the book will give readers “a greater appreciation for entrepreneurism at its finest and purist” and “wider and improved view of sports marketing.” In addition, Steiner commented that this would not be his last book. He plans on possibly writing a book about parenting, in which he finds “good” parents and asks them for their secrets. Another one of his ideas is to write a table-top book with stories about some of the most famous autographs from his store and how they came about.
Steiner devotes much of his time and energy to improving the Westchester community. He contributes to many Westchester charities, including Family Services of Westchester, which was able to open two homes for homeless Westchester teenage boys and girls with Steiner’s help. In addition, the Steiner family hosted Keith Martinez for two years as part of the STEP program. STEP, a.k.a., the Scarsdale Student Transfer Education Plan, is an independent community program that identifies promising students of color and enables them to attend Scarsdale High School for their junior and senior years. Both of Steiner’s children attended Scarsdale High School.
If you want to see some sports memorabilia, or just get some ice-cream, you can stop by Last Licks, Steiner’s ice cream/sports memorabilia store in the Heathcote Five Corners.
To learn more about Brandon Steiner, click here.
Author: Jonathan Greenberg is a sophomore at Scarsale High School, where he writes for the school newspaper and plays baseball.
Greenacres Celebrates the Fourth
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Greenacres celebrated another great Independence Day on the morning of July 4th with games, food, fun and a patriotic display. Though early morning rain threatened to cancel the well-planned event, skies cleared and the Greenacres Neighborhood Association, led by Kathy Steves, produced a morning of fun that was enjoyed by everyone from babies in strollers to seniors.
There were spoon races, a candy hunt, a three-legged race, a sack race, multiple heats of the dash, a foul shot contest, the Greenacres gallop and the famous water balloon toss. See the results of all contests below.
Brownies presented the flag and Greenacres' own Jon Ceske played taps on the trumpet. Then came the famous Greenacres Gallop and overheated participants were cooled with a water spray courtesy of the Scarsdale Fire Department. A visit from Mayor Flisser, County Executive Rob Astorino and Scarsdale Trustee Kay 
Eisenman, a Greenacres resident herself, topped off a celebratory day.
Photos courtesy of John Leslie. Contest results from Karen Ceske and Kathy Steves.
Coals - Grilled Pizza Comes to Westchester
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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Before last week, I thought I had experienced about as much pizza as one diner could want – wood-fired, brick oven, clay oven, California pizza – you name it. So when a friend suggested we drive to Port Chester to check out a new pizza place, I couldn’t imagine why we needed to burn all that gas when there are so many great slices to be had right here in Scarsdale.
But in an effort to be accommodating I set a date to check out Coals, wood–grilled pizza. Yes, grilled not baked.
Though Coals has only been open for a few weeks we found the place hopping on a Friday night in July. The bar offers many beers on tap and by the bottle – and Coals changes their 
selection of microbrews all the time – so there’s always another one to taste. And if tasting is what you like to do, you can order a beer flight of four, four ounce samples for just $8. After I sipped a few from the flight, I settled on a tall frosted glass of Breckenridge Agave Wheat from Denver. When I turned around again the glass was empty and I accused my friend of downing it. I was quickly corrected and told that I had drained the glass -- and I didn’t even know I liked beer!
Now for the food – the menu is simple but appealing. There are large salads with nice greens and Italian cheeses, homemade mozzarella and grilled red peppers and a mixed green salad with a rich slab of gooey gorgonzola. But the chef's specialty is the pizza, so save room. They come on large plates – really too much for one person but when you go to Coals, you’ll 
find yourself eating too much.
A lover of truffle oil, I spotted the “Rustic” with fontinella, fresh mozzarella, roasted mushrooms and truffle oil – and did not offer to share it. Others at the table tried the “smokey joe” with fontinella, smoked mozzarella, tomato, pecorino and sweet onions as well as the “dean martin” which had fontinella, mozzarella, tomato pepperoni and pecorino. Since the dough is grilled on a grate over an open fire, it is flat, crusty and infused with the aroma of the warm fire. Add all of these fresh ingredients as toppings and you’re in for a treat.
To get the full Coals experience we were encouraged to try a dessert pizza and ordered the nutella pizza. For anyone who likes hazelnut this is a must.
Better yet – prices are reasonable. Appetizers ranged from $8 to $11 with pizzas from $11 to $15. It’s hard to think where 
you would get another meal as good for just $25.
Coals in Port Chester is actually the second pizza spot for Bill Etzel who opened the first Coals near Albert Einstein Hospital seven years ago. Etzel trained at the Institute for Culinary Education so though the atmosphere is casual, the food is sophisticated. Coals also offers hamburgers and will be adding a choice of sandwiches to their menu – but I assure you that if you go now, you’ll have a memorable meal.
Coals
35 1/2 North Main Street
Port Chester, New York 10573
914-305-3220
www.coalspizza.com
Have Tech, Will Travel…
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As I write this I am concurrently putting together my weekend trip bag for a jaunt to Cape Cod. My packing list contains the usual tech items: iPhone and charger, iPad, and my Canon digital SLR. I consider this is a pretty small list of items.
When traveling with the whole family, however, the list expands very quickly with portable gaming devices, iPods, headphones, DVDs for the in-car entertainment system, portable DVD players, and chargers of every kind possible…and that’s just for the kids. For the parents a Kindle or Nook is in tote and most likely a laptop (let’s be honest, we can’t leave work at work, can we?).
If you’re reluctant to add any more devices to this dizzying array, consider some of the following items that are not only fun and useful during your getaway, but hardly take up any space in your luggage.
X-mini Capsule Portable Speaker
A day at the beach is fun to begin with, but playing tunes through your iPhone or Droid built-in speakers leaves a bit to be desired. Or, if you’re entertaining friends and family while away from home and want to play some tunes during your party, consider the X-mini Capsule Speaker. Available in a bunch of colors, this yo-yo-sized pop up speaker delivers fantastic sound with good bass from its compact size. Fully charged it will last 11 hours, which is plenty of time for the beach, picnic, or whatever. Better yet you can daisy-chain the devices together if you own more than one and create even more room (or beach) filling sound. Just make sure the public beach you’re visiting permits radios.
Where to Buy: Amazon.com , $25
Aqua Box WaterProof Smartphone Device Case
For any kind of water-related activity, a waterproof case for your smartphone is a must. What’s great about the Aqua Box is that your phone is still functional from within the hard-shelled shockproof case! A floatable lanyard keeps the phone handy when keeping it at your side in the pool. With smartphones replacing the point-and-shoot camera for everyday photo-taking, utilizing a waterproof case ensures you’ll get the best photos while kayaking, canoeing, swimming, boating, the list goes on and on.
Where to Buy: Amazon.com , $30
XTG Solar Portable Battery Pack
Taking the family camping? If you’ve got a sunny day you can keep your cell phone charged while you’re away from electricity. Using a standard USB cable, keep your devices charged while on the go with the XTG Solar Portable Battery Pack. The device is geared for the outdoorsman (it has a built-in flashlight), but certainly would be useful for keeping your devices charged at the beach (say if you were to play music through the portable speakers above). The XTG would make for a suitable addition to a home emergency kit so you can keep your phone charged if the power goes out for an extended period of time.
Where to Buy: Amazon.com , $30
Have any favorite summer tech or travel gadgets of your own? Please share in the comments below.
A lover of all kinds of technology, Jason Bajor is a freelance website designer and owns JB Web & Photo, based in White Plains. He can be reached at jason@jbwp.com.
