A volleyball clinic given for students in grades four through six started the celebration. Varsity and Junior Varsity volleyball players and coaches ran the clinic teaching proper technique and playing fun games with the youngsters.  Immediately following, the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams played against west side rival, The Trinity School. A very exciting back and forth game for the JV team on the 5th floor unfortunately did not end in Dalton's favor, while spectators packed the stands for the exciting Varsity game on the 3rd floor.  The Varsity team started slow and began a come back winning the third game.  Unfortunately, a substantial deficit proved too difficult to overcome even as the team made great strides and never gave up throughout the game.

Inductions into the David Dunkel Athletics Hall of Fame followed.  This year Dalton inducted Brett Spector '88, Jordyn Lexton '04, Morissa Falk-Freedman '99, Patrick Hederman '02, Theodore Bressman '2 as well as the 2000-2001 Men's Basketball team.  In addition Anne Haskin was posthumously inducted and honored.  Anne taught and coached at Dalton for 30+ years.  Former Athletic Director, David Dunkel, spoke about Anne.  Her family was there to share in this moment.  

The Girls and Boys Junior Varsity soccer games kicked off Saturday's games.  Both teams battled hard and were put to the test by talented Hackley teams.  The boys JV team played together and had many opportunities to score, but unfortunately the ball was not bouncing their way. The girls JV team scored their first goal from a penalty kick and never looked back.  The boys and girls varsity teams dominated the field both earning wins.  The boys team fought hard and scored the lone goal of the game.  While on the adjacent field, the girls team took the lead early and then Hackley put a goal in to tie it up - Dalton took the exciting overtime win. 

The Varsity Football team opened their season at homecoming coming out strong by defeating NYMA. Dalton's clever maintenance staff ingeniously added goal posts to the soccer goals for a more official look. 

The Alumni/Parent/Faculty game was a huge success.  Many people joined in the friendly game.

In addition to the athletic events on Randalls Island, First Program students participated in Family Fun Day.  Family Fun Day games were organized by the PE staff and all students had a great time playing GaGa, relay races and many more games.  Following the Family Fun Day Event all students were invited to the all school picnic where they could spend time with their friends, get face painting and walk around watching the athletic events.  

Homecoming 2014 was a great start to the upcoming school year.  Congratulations to all our Athletic teams and hope everyone has a great beginning of the 2014 school year.

More photos from Saturday's games and Family Fun Day coming soon...

Story submitted by Amanda Cecil, Assistant Athletics Director
Photos by Akim St. Omer, Coach and Freelance Writer/Photographer