Team manager Ferdkoff making
her mark at Rochelle Zell
By Bill McLean
Coach David Martinez netted his first team manager at the scorer’s table during a home basketball game last winter.
Freshman Anna Ferdkoff was in her familiar spot at the table, happily fulfilling her duties as official scorekeeper, when Martinez — also Rochelle Zell’s athletic director — struck up a conversation with her.
One topic led to another. And to another.
Small talk turned into serious talk.
“I offered her the position of team manager, right there,” recalled Martinez, the Tigers’ seventh-year varsity coach. “I had just created the role.
“Her face lit up,” he added.
Ferdkoff accepted the offer enthusiastically. But, soon after impressing the Tigers’ soccer coaches and players with her engaging personality and commitment to the gig in the preseason, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the season before the opener.
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors is scheduled to meet via video conference Tuesday (April 21) when it will make a final determination on the IHSA’s spring sports state tournaments based on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s announcement on April 17 that Illinois high schools will not return to in-person learning this school year.
“Anna did a lot for the program in the preseason, from taking attendance to taking care of equipment to making sure everything was set up for our drills in practice,” Martinez said. “But, before all that, she had encouraged a lot of freshmen to come out for the team. We have a no-cut policy at the school; we urge all to try a new sport.
“Anything I needed, she’d do it with energy. She cares. Anna never goes through the motions.”
Ferdkoff’s primary sport before enrolling at Deerfield-based Rochelle Zell last fall was figure skating. She had also dabbled in basketball, field hockey, lacrosse and golf. Last summer she went hiking with a youth group.
The activity took a toll on her knees.
“I’d felt pain often doing other things before the hiking trip,” Ferdkoff said. “But I always thought, ‘It’s probably nothing.’ ”
It was something. Elaine Ferdkoff took her daughter to see a doctor. Anna Ferdkoff got the okay to continue her athletic pursuits, but only if the sport didn’t put too much strain on her knees.
She played tennis for Rochelle Zell in the fall.
“I went to an open gym [session] in the winter, hoping I’d be able to play basketball,” Ferdkoff said.
It didn’t take her long to figure out that jumping and sprinting and backpedaling and cutting in a full hoops season would tax her knees considerably. She hung up her high-tops.
The consolation prize?
Serving as the home scorekeeper for three boys basketball teams (varsity, JV and freshman) and the girls’ lone basketball crew.
“I loved it,” said Ferdkoff, also active in the school’s Spirit and Feminism clubs at the time. “I bonded with the players, and it gave me something to do after school. I’m grateful the opportunity allowed me to meet and get to know so many people.”
Soccer players got acquainted with Ferdkoff, the rookie team manager, early this spring and enjoyed her presence. Some even considered her the team’s “mom.” (Remember, she’s only a freshman).
“Anna is a good buffer between the coaches and the players,” Martinez said. “The girls like her company. She has a good way about her, a good heart. She’s a people person.”
The team mom’s mom Elaine Ferdkoff is “loving, cares about others,” Anna said. “I get my mom attributes from her.”
As an eighth-grader, Ferdkoff ran a couple of times for a board position with the Jewish teen movement B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO).
“I lost both times,” Ferdkoff said. “But I was grateful, because I became more involved, regionally and internationally, in the organization.”
In February, Ferdkoff displayed her vast leadership qualities as a panelist at a BBYO gathering in Dallas.
She’d give anything to be able to talk about a Rochelle Zell girls soccer win these days, or even a regular-season practice. RZ’s Tigers won the Chicago Prep Conference title last spring with an 8-0 record and finished 13-2-1 overall.
Nine starters returned from that fine 2019 squad.
“I saw a lot of potential in our team,” Ferdkoff said. “The girls, all of the them, worked hard in the preseason, gave it their all each day. Everybody wanted to be there, wanted the chance to contribute in games.
“The team,” she added, “was looking so connected. There’s something about being a part of a team … I feel like I’m a part of the team, and that feeling is the best aspect of being the team manager.”
her mark at Rochelle Zell
By Bill McLean
Coach David Martinez netted his first team manager at the scorer’s table during a home basketball game last winter.
Freshman Anna Ferdkoff was in her familiar spot at the table, happily fulfilling her duties as official scorekeeper, when Martinez — also Rochelle Zell’s athletic director — struck up a conversation with her.
One topic led to another. And to another.
Small talk turned into serious talk.
“I offered her the position of team manager, right there,” recalled Martinez, the Tigers’ seventh-year varsity coach. “I had just created the role.
“Her face lit up,” he added.
Ferdkoff accepted the offer enthusiastically. But, soon after impressing the Tigers’ soccer coaches and players with her engaging personality and commitment to the gig in the preseason, the COVID-19 pandemic halted the season before the opener.
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors is scheduled to meet via video conference Tuesday (April 21) when it will make a final determination on the IHSA’s spring sports state tournaments based on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s announcement on April 17 that Illinois high schools will not return to in-person learning this school year.
“Anna did a lot for the program in the preseason, from taking attendance to taking care of equipment to making sure everything was set up for our drills in practice,” Martinez said. “But, before all that, she had encouraged a lot of freshmen to come out for the team. We have a no-cut policy at the school; we urge all to try a new sport.
“Anything I needed, she’d do it with energy. She cares. Anna never goes through the motions.”
Ferdkoff’s primary sport before enrolling at Deerfield-based Rochelle Zell last fall was figure skating. She had also dabbled in basketball, field hockey, lacrosse and golf. Last summer she went hiking with a youth group.
The activity took a toll on her knees.
“I’d felt pain often doing other things before the hiking trip,” Ferdkoff said. “But I always thought, ‘It’s probably nothing.’ ”
It was something. Elaine Ferdkoff took her daughter to see a doctor. Anna Ferdkoff got the okay to continue her athletic pursuits, but only if the sport didn’t put too much strain on her knees.
She played tennis for Rochelle Zell in the fall.
“I went to an open gym [session] in the winter, hoping I’d be able to play basketball,” Ferdkoff said.
It didn’t take her long to figure out that jumping and sprinting and backpedaling and cutting in a full hoops season would tax her knees considerably. She hung up her high-tops.
The consolation prize?
Serving as the home scorekeeper for three boys basketball teams (varsity, JV and freshman) and the girls’ lone basketball crew.
“I loved it,” said Ferdkoff, also active in the school’s Spirit and Feminism clubs at the time. “I bonded with the players, and it gave me something to do after school. I’m grateful the opportunity allowed me to meet and get to know so many people.”
Soccer players got acquainted with Ferdkoff, the rookie team manager, early this spring and enjoyed her presence. Some even considered her the team’s “mom.” (Remember, she’s only a freshman).
“Anna is a good buffer between the coaches and the players,” Martinez said. “The girls like her company. She has a good way about her, a good heart. She’s a people person.”
The team mom’s mom Elaine Ferdkoff is “loving, cares about others,” Anna said. “I get my mom attributes from her.”
As an eighth-grader, Ferdkoff ran a couple of times for a board position with the Jewish teen movement B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO).
“I lost both times,” Ferdkoff said. “But I was grateful, because I became more involved, regionally and internationally, in the organization.”
In February, Ferdkoff displayed her vast leadership qualities as a panelist at a BBYO gathering in Dallas.
She’d give anything to be able to talk about a Rochelle Zell girls soccer win these days, or even a regular-season practice. RZ’s Tigers won the Chicago Prep Conference title last spring with an 8-0 record and finished 13-2-1 overall.
Nine starters returned from that fine 2019 squad.
“I saw a lot of potential in our team,” Ferdkoff said. “The girls, all of the them, worked hard in the preseason, gave it their all each day. Everybody wanted to be there, wanted the chance to contribute in games.
“The team,” she added, “was looking so connected. There’s something about being a part of a team … I feel like I’m a part of the team, and that feeling is the best aspect of being the team manager.”