Participants in the Westport squash community, including some members of the Staples High School Varsity Squash team, recently participated in the 7th Annual StreetSquash Junior Cup in New York City. The charitable organization runs a program in Harlem that supports over 300 students. The tournament raised nearly $90,000 and the local Westport team raised $12,500. The money will be used to support families and schools in Harlem by providing academic guidance, financial assistance, and a supportive place where students can go study and play squash.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Staples senior Ben Shmaruk shows good form at Mount Southington during the recent Connecticut Interscholastic Ski League (CISL) Class L Boys Division state open at which Staples took second place for the season. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dawn Shmaruk for WestportNow.com

Westport residents Claire Gordy (back row, l) and Elizabeth Kuehndorf (back row, r), both 12, were runners-up in the 2017 12U National Platform Tennis Championships held in Short Hills, N.J. The seventh graders at Bedford Middle School have been playing platform tennis for two years at The Patterson Club, Fairfield. Hannah Bjorkman, a junior at Staples High School, won the 2017 18U national championship. She has been playing platform tennis for at least eight years, and is on the varsity tennis team. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Longshore Club Park has a new golf pro and a new golf course superintendent, Parks and Recreation Director Jennifer Fava announced today.

New Longshore faces: Todd Salamone (l) and Jon Janik. Contributed photos

Jon Janik, picked as head golf professional, comes to Westport from Tashua Knolls Golf Course in Trumbull.

Todd Salamone, the new golf course superintendent, previously worked for BrightView Golf Maintenance, serving four years as senior assistant superintendent at The Village Club of Sands Point in Sands Point, N.Y.

“We are very excited to welcome our new team to Longshore Golf Course, and we are looking forward to a great season and lots of good things to come,” said Fava.

It was a cold, but sunny ribbon cutting ceremony today marking the opening of new platform tennis courts at Westport’s Birchwood Country Club. This was the first expansion of sports facilities at the club, established in 1946, in over two decades and adds a winter option to tennis, golf, and swimming in the summer. Pictured are: Curtis Angell, general manager; Rachel Francis, head of tennis committee; First Selectman Jim Marpe; Spencer Brown, club president; Matthew Mandell, executive director, Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce, and Michael Kember, head tennis pro. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Scenes from today’s Saugatuck Congregational Church Service for Mike Connors of Stratford, a well known local bartender, Staples and Syracuse University football player, and Staples coach. He died Feb. 15 at age 58. His sister, Kelli-Connors-Gower of Maine, sang “You’ve Got a Friend,” a tribute to her brother. Kyle Connors, his brother, said: “Mike was charismatic and kind … It was fun to go anywhere with him. Wherever you go, someone says, What’s up, big Mike?’ Everyone knew him.” Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Westport resident Chris Dobransky, a physical education teacher at a New York City high school who has mastered an array of basketball trick shots, is going to play with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Westporter Chris Dobransky is surprised by some Harlem Globetrotters at his New York City phys ed job.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo from YouTube.com

Several members of the team today surprised Dobransky, 33, at his job at the Business of Sports School, gave him a Globetrotters jersey with “Mr. Trick Shot” on the back, and invited him to play at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Feb. 20.

And it was all caught on a Globetrotters video posted on YouTube today. Click HERE.

Dobransky, whose trick shots include bouncing basketballs off the walls or using hockey sticks and baseball bats to help him sink three pointers, sent out a Tweet that said “ Such an honor!!! Can’t wait for Monday!!!!!!!”