If you ever happen to find yourself in a Ping-Pong game against Jenny Eckhart, here’s a tip: Aim to your left. The freshman guard on the Syracuse women’s basketball team – a righty – doesn’t have much of a forehand.

Keith Cieplicki dialed in on that weakness Thanksgiving afternoon. Left, left, left, the head coach went. Eckhart couldn’t keep up.

‘You can’t come to my house and not compete at something,’ Cieplicki said.

Some host he was. The coach-versus-player matchup was one semifinal of an anticlimactic table tennis tournament at the Cieplicki residence on Turkey Day. Cieplicki rode the first seed – via the selection ‘committee’ consisting of his 8-year-old son Brian – to three victories and the title.

But that’s all irrelevant. The point is that this meaningless competition occurred in the first place. While nearly all of us probably went home for Thanksgiving break, most in-season Syracuse athletes, including nearly all on the women’s basketball team, had to stay on campus.

For Division I athletes, their team becomes their family. Even during Winter Break, Cieplicki submits to just three days off. Knowing most couldn’t travel home on the only off day during Thanksgiving, Cieplicki left an open invitation for any of his players to drop by his place. Most had made plans, but several took him up on the offer, making Thanksgiving – and therefore, life – as normal as possible.

Eckhart, sophomore Vaida Sipaviciute and redshirt freshman Sara Antolick – Cieplicki’s first-round victim – stayed more than four hours at the head coach’s house with several assistants and Cieplicki’s extended family. They hung out, watched football, ate, lost in Ping-Pong. Nothing special.

Or maybe it was. Cieplicki didn’t force anyone to come. But as part of an unwritten code of being a college coach, he made himself available. He tells all his players during recruiting they will always have a family in Syracuse. One such player is Eckhart, who thanks to Cieplicki was able to enjoy Thanksgiving a long way from her home in the Northwest Chicago suburb of Libertyville, Ill.

‘It was very nice,’ Eckhart said. ‘I come from a very tight family, and we always all get together for Thanksgiving and all the holidays. Being like 11 hours away, I didn’t have that opportunity this year. It was great family atmosphere there, which is what you want on holidays. So I loved it.’

Eckhart said the timing was perfect following a disappointing 16-point road loss the night before at Niagara. Though the team didn’t hit the sack until the early hours of Thanksgiving morning, Eckhart knew talk of the game wouldn’t surface later that day. It’s probably hard for most coaches to resist that coaching itch, but she said Cieplicki’s staff was successful.

‘I think we were all down about (the game), but all the coaches there made a point of not talking about it,’ Eckhart said. ‘It was a day to get away from it for a day and to relax.’

That wasn’t always easy for Cieplicki. He said it was difficult in the past to not coach in non-coaching situations. In fact, early in his 20-year coaching career, he didn’t often put himself in those situations. He said such a Thanksgiving invitation wouldn’t have been extended when he was a first-time coach at 22.

But like everybody, Cieplicki matured. He knows he’s still in the right profession because he relishes every time he’s with his players, on and off the court. He couldn’t wait to welcome some of his players to his home on Thanksgiving.

‘I’ll tell you, I love seeing them,’ Cieplicki said. ‘It was a good break – that’s one thing I’ve learned. You got to shut it off sometimes. We’re all people in this thing, and we’ve got to enjoy everything that we have. It was a nice day. When they come to my house, they know it’s a break – not business.’

Though it may appear as though the lax day was a detriment (Syracuse lost on Sunday to Sacred Heart by 27 at home), its only effect was positive. Cieplicki set a lofty goal of reaching .500 this season for only the second time in the last 16 years. It will be a long road ahead – the extremely young team is 3-2 after Tuesday night’s 36-point win over Colgate – but building team trust and camaraderie is the first step for the third-year SU head coach.

That the roster is now almost completely filled with Cieplicki recruits will help. That’s not to say the two players on the roster brought in by former head coach Marianna Freeman – Tracy Harbut and Jill Norton – can’t mesh with Cieplicki, but the new coach finally has a firm grasp on the long-struggling program. Of course, that also means the grace period for turning it around is through. Offering players a place for a holiday just shows he’s covering the personal side as well.

Sipaviciute wouldn’t have had anywhere to go otherwise. She can’t exactly visit her family in Lithuania whenever she wants. And on her second Thanksgiving, she came away with more than a good time with friends – she got leftovers. Unfortunately, the turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, cake and apple pie lasted only 24 hours.

‘I don’t have a family here,’ Sipaviciute said. ‘Even during Christmas I don’t have anywhere to go. I cannot fly home 16 hours. So it was nice.’

But Sipaviciute did miss out on one thing: Ping-Pong. She couldn’t pin down a spot in the tournament – apparently 8-year-old Brian had his doubts – though it seemed she wasn’t too upset about that.

So sorry, no scouting report available. If you ever happen to find yourself in a Ping-Pong game against Sipaviciute, you’re on your own.

Ethan Ramsey is an assistant sports editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns usually appear every Tuesday, but this time he was in mourning after the Steelers’ loss Monday night. You can e-mail him at egramsey@gmail.com.

Published on November 29, 2005 at 12:00 pm