After only three days of school and several announcements made to its middle school students, the Manhattan Academy of Technology Sports Department had its annual fall sports sign-up meeting. Routine as it has always been, sure, but the outcome was anything but. One hundred and seventy students filed into the gymnasium for the meeting to greet their new coaches, counselors and even administrators. Nothing unusual about this, except for the fact that the school’s entire student body consists of only 350 children.
“The turnout was unbelievable,” said John De Matteo, the Chinatown school’s athletic director and physical education teacher.
M.A.T., which had an unusually high interscholastic athletic student participation rate of 65 percent, looks like it may increase that number in 2007-2008. Priding itself on a no-cut policy (any student who comes out for a sport is placed on a team) and backed by a strong supportive cast of teachers, administrators, counselors and custodians who all play a part in the sports program, the small school located on 80 Catherine St. Downtown will look to continue the success they’ve enjoyed in the past couple of years.
