Oceanside fan gets on-court experience

Oceanside High School student Dan Berk has an after-school job that makes him the envy of any teenage sports fan. With the help of a family friend who works for the Knicks, Dan was recently named the new ball boy for the women’s team, the New York Liberty.

As a young child, Dan had an interest in collecting memorabilia and most specifically, ones from the New York Knicks. “He always had a passion for the sport,” Ellen Berk, Dan’s mother said. “He was interested in the players and loved to watch it on TV. For him, it’s a dream come true.”

Freshman year of high school Dan started working for the basketball team, attending games at Madison Square Garden. Each game, he was responsible for grabbing the teams basketballs during pre-game shoot-arounds and before the start of the second half, as well as setting up towels and providing ice for the players. When the Knicks season was over and classes let out for the summer, Dan asked if he could help out by working with the Liberty. “The best part is being able to see up close; to see how hard the players work,” Dan Berk said. “I want to do this for as long as I can.”