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Sports

Basketball Helps Lofaros Stay Connected

New Hyde Park deputy mayor follows daughter's sports career as fan and team scorekeeper.

Robert Lofaro is many things: the deputy mayor for the ; a constant traveler as an employee of Deutsche Bank; scorekeeper for the girls’ basketball team; and father.

Lofaro’s daughter Victoria is a senior on the girls’ basketball team for the Lady Gladiators and has been coached by her dad on the hardwood as well as other sports since the second grade.

Victoria got her start in basketball in the Notre Dame CYO league with her dad coaching her until she made the varsity squad as a sophomore.

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But that did not stop Lofaro from being there for his daughter.  He made all the home games – and frequently the away ones – despite a hectic schedule between work and his time as a village official. 

While at the games he noticed that the scorekeeper was never the same volunteer. Eventually Lofaro was asked to keep score and has continued the duty to this day, preferring it since it lets him watch the game from a better seat and on a much deeper level.

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“Now I know who is in foul trouble, who is scoring,” he said, “and in addition to Victoria I enjoy the work of the whole so I became not only Victoria’s biggest fan but, probably one of the biggest fans for the team.” 

One of the larger rewards Lofaro said was enjoying following his daughter’s team throughout the season and watching girls he had coached at the CYO level “mature into outstanding ballplayers and outstanding kids” and had an opportunity to play in a league where all the girls were good sports.

“Sometimes people think it’s an inconvenience sitting in a gym, but for me I couldn’t imagine a place I’d rather be,” Lofaro said, even once gave up skybox seats at a Ranger because his daughter had a game. 

When the Lady Gladiators made the playoffs this year, Lofaro picked up his other daughter, a junior at Providence College, to bring her home for the weekend to cheer on Victoria. The team was ultimately ousted in the playoffs by Floral Park.

Victoria, like many other high school students, is involved in many clubs and activities. She currently serves as Key Club vice president, plays the cello and dances with a local company on top of her varsity basketball schedule and being an honor student.

While the activities can stretch a person thinly, she says that playing basketball, along with her very supportive family and coaches Hugh Flaherty and Joe Wlodarczyk, has helped her learn to balance things in her life and set priorities.

If one of them also happens to be playing basketball in college, her dad says he’ll be there to support her – even if the team already has a scorekeeper.

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