Athletics
A successful interscholastic athletics program is vital to the sense of pride that members of our community feel. Participation in interscholastic athletics promotes the development of physical, mental, and social skills, a positive self-image, an understanding of teamwork and cooperation, and a sharing of personal experiences. Everyone involved in the Ethical Culture Fieldston School’s Athletics program — both coaches and athletes — teaches other participants life skills and values. Our program is designed to empower student athletes while instilling self-confidence and creating leaders.
ECFS makes every effort to hire the most qualified coaches we can find to ensure our students’ experience is the best it can be. Like our academic colleagues, we take our coaching roles seriously. We seek to inculcate in individual athletes the dedication, discipline, and spirit of personal sacrifice a successful team depends upon. Making such a commitment nurtures the overall character of our students and thus supports the mission of the School.
Our goal is to graduate students who have become better people because they have been through our Athletics program. It is incredibly important that all those involved embody the progressive ideals of our School. We want to ensure that the Athletics Department’s philosophy is one that mirrors the positive experience our students have on a daily basis.
Our goal is to graduate students who have become better people because they have been through our Athletics program.
While many of our teams have won state and league championships, we believe that titles and win-loss records are not the sole indicators of a team’s success. To a good coach, guiding a team to attain the maximum potential of its individual members — as well as ensuring that the overall experience of the participants is a positive one — is the ultimate goal. We all want to win, but at ECFS, it is more important that we are winning by doing things the right way and in a way that is aligned with our overall school and athletic philosophy.
Visit our Athletics website here.
Our facilities
We seek to provide state-of-the-art facilities for our student athletes. Our brand-new fitness room features 19 pieces of cardio equipment from Precor, Expresso, and Concept2; plate-loaded machines and an interactive Escape MARS screen; a dynamic squat rack and free weight area; and a 20-yard turf section for multipurpose usage. Our training room features two taping tables; two evaluation tables; an electrical stimulation/ultrasound combo machine; a cold tub; a rehab corner with resistance, stability, and agility-training equipment; a hydrocollator; an ice machine; and a first aid/AED station.
Outdoors, our campus encompasses an upper field for football, field hockey, and boys and girls lacrosse, and a lower field for boys and girls soccer, baseball, and softball. Students active in indoor sports can utilize our Varsity Gym, which includes three-full size basketball courts and three full-size volleyball courts, or our JV Gym, which includes two full-size volleyball courts and batting cages. Meanwhile, students engaged in swimming or water polo can take advantage of our 25-yard, six-lane pool with spectator seating.
Physical Education
The Physical Education Department aims to provide learning experiences that will promote empathy, kindness, and physical activity throughout our students’ lifetimes. We encourage students to achieve a balanced and healthy life through a comprehensive curriculum that focuses on both traditional and non-traditional sports and is centered on social and emotional health and well-being.
Not every student intends to be an athlete, nor is that the goal of the Physical Education Department. Instead, the focus of the department is on developing life skills and inspiring students’ love for physical activity.
Physical Education classes take place in our Athletics facilities outlined above, as well as in indoor gyms at Ethical Culture and Fieldston Lower and neighboring spaces, including Central Park. In keeping with ECFS’s mission of providing a healthy, empowering education for the whole child, students in all grades meet for Physical Education multiple times a week.
