East Meadow High School's athletes are celebrated at 'Spring Fling'

Jets pride ran deep on April 6, during East Meadow High School’s “Spring Fling.” The first of its kind, the day celebrated the athletes of East Meadow High School, and inspired a sense of camaraderie between different teams — both girls’ and boys’.

Because it rained nearly every weekend during the fall sports season last year, both East Meadow High School and W.T. Clarke High School’s homecomings were canceled because of inclement weather. While games were still played, other activities scheduled, like the parades, were called off.

Rachel Barry, the East Meadow High School athletic director, brought up the idea of having something similar during the spring season. Barry coaches boys’ volleyball and girls’ basketball at East Meadow, and softball at W.T. Clarke.

“It stemmed off of the fact that you know, all of our fall homecoming games got rained out — the parade, the homecoming court,” Barry told the Herald. “We ended up doing something indoors.”

Barry has been the East Meadow High School athletic director since November, she said.

“Being new in the position, I was like you know what, let’s try and do a little community event,” she explained. “A couple of our varsity teams were playing at the same, overlapping. This way, it brings our community together.”

The Spring Fling on April 6 went from 9 a.m. through 3 p.m. Girls’ lacrosse played at 10 a.m., followed by a softball game at 10:30 a.m., and a baseball game at 11 a.m. At 12:30 p.m., the boys’ lacrosse team took to the field. And a true highlight of the day was the 12 p.m. ring ceremony, in honor of the boys’ varsity soccer team, who won the Nassau County championship during their fall season — the first one ever in school history.

“This Jets team embraced the label of eighth seed,” the announcer said during the ceremony, “one that does not typically win at all. But these Jets proved them wrong. They have left their legacy here in East Meadow, and we congratulate them.”

Barry also noted the fact that the girls’ basketball team recently won their first set of championships in program history.

“At the end of the day, we are just trying to find positive ways to bring people together,” Barry said. “And our athletic program is definitely a positive highlight — the history of our athletic program has always been positive.”

Barry worked with the athletic programs’ Booster Club, she said, to help bring the day together.

“I linked up with our Booster Club, to give them an opportunity to put their name of this and host it, and realize that they’re all community members, bringing community members together,” she said.

The concession stand was open during the duration of the Spring Fling, and the Booster Club sold 50/50 raffle tickets to raise money for the family of Jonathan Diller, the New York Police Department officer that was killed in the line of duty last month.

While the Spring Fling was not a homecoming, it brought together the East Meadow community — and celebrated the accomplishments of Jets’ sports teams.

“We didn’t want to take away from what’s so great about fall homecoming,” Barry said of the Spring Fling, “because again, next year is another year. There’s no parade, no big announcements about anything specific, no pep rally. But you know, its just a really proud East Meadow Jets event, with the hopes that we can continue and build on it.”