Friday, October 9, 2026
Hundreds of student athletes and coaches from across Nassau County gathered on Sept. 23 for the fourth annual Unity Summit, a forum designed to promote unity, sportsmanship and civility in high school athletics.
Held at the Brookside School, in Merrick, the event was sponsored by Section VIII, which oversees Nassau County high school sports, and organized by Eric Caballero, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s director of physical education, athletics, health and driver education. It featured a keynote address by Andrew Marotta, leader of the Surviving & Thriving movement, and workshops on athletic leadership, mental health, performance coaching, sportsmanship and civility.
Surviving & Thriving, based in Port Jervis, is a leadership and motivational speaking platform focused on perseverance and making a positive impact. Marotta emphasized how athletes’ attitudes and body language affect those around them, and challenged students to consider how they respond when they are losing, sitting on the bench or watching a teammate make a mistake.
“What does your face say when your teammate throws the ball away?” Marotta asked. “What does your face say when your teammate misses the easy shot? What does it say? People are watching. Be mindful of your body language.”
The summit was created when educators noticed broader societal tensions beginning to affect sportsmanship in schools, Caballero explained. “We saw a need for the importance of really spreading the message of unity, sportsmanship and civility,” he said. “The landscape of sports teams — typically, what's going on in the world trickles down into schools, [and] we started to see an adverse effect with regard to sportsmanship.”
The event has grown to include nearly all 56 school districts in Nassau County’s Section VIII, with each invited to send four students who have not attended before, and two coaches. The groups take part in separate workshops before coming together for lunch, with the goal of bringing what they learn back to their schools and teams.
“We want them to be advocates for these three pillars,” Caballero said, referring to unity, sportsmanship and civility. “There's no better advocate than the students themselves.”
For Ian Yegidis, a Calhoun High School senior who plays baseball and volleyball, gathering athletes from across the county was one of the most meaningful aspects of the day.
“What stood out to me is kind of how it's the entire section, like all of Nassau County,” Yegidis said. “It's kind of like a rare opportunity to actually get all schools involved and just work towards a common goal.”
The gathering also gave athletes a chance to interact with people whose backgrounds and experiences may differ from their own, Caballero said. “These kids are going to meet and speak to people they’ve never met or spoken to ever,” he said. “They may come from a different socioeconomic background. They may be from a different demographic, but every kid in that auditorium is really doing the same things, regardless of where they live.”
The lessons about civility, Yegidis said, extend beyond sports. His message to his peers was simple. “See the person, don't see the athlete,” he said. “Just treat people kindly.”
Calhoun senior Angelica Kasimatis, who plays basketball and lacrosse, said that having so many young leaders in one room made an impression on her. “I feel like just having a whole room full of student-athletes and other leaders, it really just brings out the best in everyone,” Kasimatis said. “I think it's really great for everyone to learn from each other as well as from the presenters.”
For Kasimatis, unity means “seeing more of the person rather than just a player,” a lesson she saw firsthand during a basketball game against Long Beach last season. Despite the teams’ competitive history, she said, Long Beach players congratulated Calhoun's seniors after the game.
“It meant a lot to our seniors to see everyone really just come together and respect them, even though they were opponents,” she said.
Caballero said he had seen the impact of the summit’s lessons in Bellmore-Merrick, whether an athlete helps someone up after a fall or speaks up for someone who may not be comfortable doing so themselves. “All it takes is one kid to be able to be a voice for someone who may not have the skill set to have a voice of their own,” he said.
Coaches play an important role in making sure those principles carry over into competition, Caballero added, because how they conduct themselves and respond to challenging moments can set the tone for their teams. “It goes beyond X’s and O’s,” he said. “It's about this life skill of dealing with adversity.”
Part of the summit’s message is teaching athletes to recognize when teammates need help, to support one another through difficult moments and to understand when they need help themselves.
Kimberly Czarnecki, a senior volleyball player at Calhoun, said that support becomes especially important when competitive pressures begin to overshadow relationships among teammates.
“If I could change one thing about the culture surrounding high school sports, it would probably be the competition,” Czarnecki said. “I feel that with colleges and scouting and even high school team playing-time pressure, I feel like a lot of compassion and team bonding really gets lost in all of those aspects.”
As an upperclassman, Czarnecki said, she is responsible for setting an example for younger teammates, particularly during close games. “It’s very important that you have not only sportsmanship, but love and showing compassion for your teammates and also people across the net,” she said.
Mental health was also addressed during the workshops, as athletes balance academic responsibilities with the demands of playing a sport. “The stress for a student and being a kid is real,” Caballero said. “For those who actually also play a sport, on top of that, brings another set of stressors for them.”
The goal is to give athletes strategies to navigate that stress and make positive decisions, he said.
For Marotta, the lessons ultimately come back to what athletes contribute to their teams and schools.
“How do you make your team better?” he asked. “How do you make your school better? You gotta be the one that people want to be around. So you gotta change the environment a little bit. Step into your team. Step into your shoes and make it better.”
