William Floyd Basketball Welcomes Danish Team In Cross-Cultural Program
Mastic Beach – Carrying on a tradition
started by his father, the late William Floyd Hall of Fame Coach Bob Hodgson, Rob Hodgson Jr. (William Floyd Class of 1994) the current coach of the Colonials varsity basketball team recently had the opportunity for his players to host several members of a Danish high school basketball team for a cross-cultural program in which the international visit
ors shadowed William Floyd students during a school day, participated in a multi-team scrimmage and shared a meal together with their new friends.
The connection between William Floyd and the Danish squad was made possible through Coach Hodgson and J.B. Bennett, a fellow William Floyd alumnus (Class of 2000) and Colonials basketball player, who currently resides in Denmark and coaches the Danish team. Another William Floyd alumnus Brian Sztabnik (Class of 1994) and head coach of the Miller Place High School basketball team also brought his team to the scrimmage.
“The hosting of teams has happened semi-regularly,” said Coach Hodgson, who has ties to European basketball through his time playing and coaching professionally in Iceland after a standout career at William Floyd and then Rutgers. “In 1989, my father took a group of athletes to the Soviet Union and later received a group from Russia. We have hosted Danish groups periodically during the last 30 years with the most recent visit being two years ago when we received three Danish teams – a girls varsity, boys varsity and boys junior varsity teams.”
Coach Hodgson added, “The real beauty of this is that two cultures have come together united by one common theme – the sport of basketball. It was a great experience for our student-athletes to find out how people in Denmark live and go to school and get to see the similarities and the differences.”
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