🇬🇷SPORTS NEWS🇺🇸

Andreas Athanasiou has had a good career in the National Hockey League. The talented forward has played for four teams in his career the Detroit Redwings, The Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, and currently plays for the Chicago Blackhawks. Athanasiou has been injured since November 9, 2023, when he suffered an injury from an awkward fall against Tampa. He recently returned to the ice and starting to show his speed level and skill. Athanasiou scored a goal on April 6, that helped the Chicago Blackhawks beat The Dallas Stars 3-2.

Athanasiou in his career has played in 483 games, has scored 126 goals, assisted 118 times, and has a total of 244 points. The 6’2 190 lb Athanasiou was drafted in the 4th round by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2012 draft.

Kyra Vidas is the Manager of Basketball Operations for the WNBA Phoenix Mercury. Kyra has done amazing work for the Phoenix Mercury and is well respected by the entire franchise. She had previously worked for the Atlanta Dream.

Kyra graduated from Lake Forest College in 2018 with a degree in Business and

Communications with a minor in Classical Studies. She excelled on Lake Forest’s Handball team which won National Titles her freshman and sophomore years. She would earn All-American Honors. Kyra also spent four years on the Women’s Club Rugby team. 

While attending Taft High School in Chicago she scored over a thousand points and held many records playing four years on varsity. Basketball runs in the Vidas family her father Kyriakos played for Panathinaikos and was a member of the Greek National Team.

Her entire life Kyra has been active in the Greek community at her church Saint Demetrios to being a District Governor of The Maids of Athena. She has attended many AHEPA Conventions as an active member. Vidas’ parents are Kyriakos and Emily, and she has two older brothers Nicholas and George that live in Chicago.

Michael Makiej, is a junior forward on Salem State University Men's Basketball Team, which is in the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference. This season 2023-2024, Michael averaged 18 points a game, scoring a total of 449 points, 196 rebounds, and had 8 double-doubles, along with 41 steals. He had a milestone moment in his career in a 83-

66 win over Eastern Nazarene. Michael became a member of Salem State’s men’s basketball 1,000-point club when he scored his 23rd point of the game. His hard work on the court earned him MASCAC All-Conference and he made the Dean’s List.

Michael was recognized by NCAA Chosen as MASCAC Player of the Week-week of Jan. 15: Michael lit up from on the court and shined in all categories. Makiej averaged 28 points on 24-of-36 (66.7%) shooting, 6.5 rebounds, four steals, three assists, and two blocks in a 2-0 week for the Vikings. Scored 25 points going 11-of 15 (73.3%) from the floor with fixgve boards, three steals and two blocks in an 86-73 victory over Framingham State. He followed up with a game-high 31 points on 13-of-21

(61.9%) shooting with eight rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocks in an 84-76 win over MCLA.

Michael is the son of Fr. Christopher and Katerina (Sitaras) Makiej, who serve the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church of Andover, MA.  Michael grew up in the Church attending Greek School, Sunday School, Goya and the Metropolis of Boston camp as a camper and counselor, and also attended the Cross Roads Program

at Hellenic College.

Carson Lambakis plays basketball for Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City. He spent his first two years at McPherson College in Kansas. In 2020-21, he spent the season recovering from an ACL/LCL injury plus it was a Covid year. In 2021-22, he

played in six games that season. He transferred to MACU in 2022 and used a redshirt for the 2022-23 season. He played this past season in six games as a reserve point guard. He graduates in May with his bachelor’s degree. He will have two years of eligibility remaining due to his redshirt and Covid years and work on his master’s degree. He will be competing for a starting position this season. MACU made the national tournament this past season having gone six out of the last seven seasons.

The program won the NAIA National Championship in 2016.

Marcus Chrisafideis Worcester  was captain his junior and senior year at Marlboro High School, where he was selected as an All-Star in central Massachusetts both years. Marcus was also selected player of the year in Division 3 Central Massachusetts his senior year in 2022. More importantly, the team made it to the Division 3 state finals which was played in the famous TD Garden in Boston which Marlboro lost to Hanover in a 4-2 game. Marcus attended Westfield State his freshman year which he made the team as a walk-on. After that year he decided to play Junior Hockey for the Worcester Railers playing for the top team. Marcus played well this season including scoring 2 goals and assisting in a win against Rhode Island. Marcus' steady play helped lead the Railers to the EHL Championship recently against the Boston Junior Rangers. This upcoming year he has decided to attend Keene State to play on their Division 3 hockey team and continue his education in business management.

Peter Vomvolakis, a 6'2 290lb junior, is the starting Center and captain for the 2024 Greenwich High School football team. He has been a starter on the varsity football team since he was a high school freshman. He is the only Greenwich High School football player to have earned such an honor. He is a two-time Connecticut Coaches All State and Walter Camp All State football player. He was awarded All-FCIAC for three years. He participated in the freshman Adidas All-American game in Naples, Florida where he was nominated captain. He holds the Greenwich High School record for the bench press with a maximum of 425 lbs. He currently has a 3.5 GPA and holds division one football offers to Army, Navy, Coastal Carolina and Georgetown.

AHEPAN Craig Theros of Michigan ran the 𝟏𝟐8𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧 in effort to raise funds for AHEPA'S Journey to Greece Program. Theros honored legendary 1946 Boston Marathon 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐬 𝐊𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 by Sporting a Greek Flag patch with Kyriakides name and number 77. Theros crossed the finishing line waving Greek and American Flags made us all proud. Theros was interviewed  by GAS after the race and simply said, "Nenikikamen, We are Victorious"
Theros was inspired from reading
“𝗥𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗱𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀”
The Kyriakides story was written by Greek Americans Nick Tsiotos and Andy Dabilis. Kyriakides ran for the  heroic people of Greece in times of war and famine winning the 1946 Boston Marathon overcoming tremendous hardship leaving a lasting Legacy and inspiring a nation. AHEPA, especially AHEPAN George Demeter was instrumental in helping Kyriakides  come to Boston to run in the Boston Marathon and raise funds for Greece after WW2.

Athletic Director Mike Condakes and members of Athens Chapter No. 24 of Boston  greeted Theros   at the finish line. President Chris Trakas started the charity run with a $500 donation. 100% of your donation will go the Journey to Greece Program . Brother AHEPANs  from many chapters were thrilled with Craig Theros effort and backed this charity run for our youth. You can still make a donation to the AHEPA Journey to Greece Program. Thanks for all your donations for Greek American youth to learn more about their rich Greek Heritage. A megalo euxapisto to all the chapters and individuals who have donated. OPA!

Make your donation to: 

AHEPA “Journey to Greece” (In the memo, write “Boston Marathon”)

Send to: 

AHEPA Global Headquarters, 1909 Q Street NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009

Thank You for your support!

Craig A. Theros, PSG

AHEPA “Journey to Greece” Program Co-Chairman

George Kambosos and Vasiliy Lomachenko will be battling, bruising, and boxing for the vacant IBF Title in Perth, Australia on May 12. The fight will be shown on May 11, in the United States. They will be fighting for the four light weight titles American great Devin Haney gave up. Haney has decided to  seek for the 140 pound division title and be a two division champ. 

Lomachenko, 35, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a three division champion.He is currently rated ESPN'S  Numero 1 fighter at 135 pound. Lomachenko's record is 17-3 Kambosos family is from Sparta and he is a true warrior. Kambosos (21-2 ,10KOs) won the undisputed lightweight championship over Teofimo Lopez in ESPN'S No.1 rated 2021 Upset of the Year. GAS will keep you updated on any breaking news from Australia.

Super League Athletic Academy CEO James Pristouris has done amazing work and his staff is incredible. SLAA recently hosted in New York and Chicago Greeks In The USA Basketball Showcase. Pristouris is travelling to Greece this week with a men's and women's team. Our Sports Editor Nick Tsiotos  covered  the try out  in New York and spoke at length with Pristouris about the program,coaches, Greek American New York sports community,and Greek Basketball Legends Kalampokis and  Diamantidis that are part of his team. 

The late, great Kobe Bryant once said that he would love to have Dimitris Diamantidis as his teammate. For the past ten days, SLAA had the honor of having Dimitri as our teammate. A humble, down to earth person who got tired of hearing me tell everyone that he beat Lebron and Team USA in 2006. A great role model for all our athletes. A big thank you to Giannis Kalampokis whose vision for the Greek Abroad program made these clinics and showcases possible. I met Giannis by chance in Nafplio in 2022 and from that moment he has entrusted myself and the SLAA staff to coordinate these events from across the world and for that I will be forever grateful. Thank you Gianni! A big shoutout to our coaches: James McCullough, Michael Murray, Marcus Stout, Devan Blair, Jameson Thomas, and Mike McSloy! You work tirelessly with our players and treated them the same way you would your college and pro athletes. I am extremely lucky to have you on my team! Looking forward to growing this project and making it better each and every year! 

An amazing effort by Alexandra Efraimoglou in the Women's Acrobatic Run won her gold representing Hellas at the European Championships in Portugal.

Every Kuriakee ON AIR WNTN Grecian Echoes WNTN1550AM from Boston “The Athens of America” The one and only Greek-America Sports show “THE BENCHWARMERS” Hosted by Greek radio legends Ted Demetriades, Bill Galatis, Nick Ypsilantis, and Nick Markopoulos.

The 14th Teddy K Classic in memory of Teddy Kariotis will be the last of the Greek Hoop Tournaments Tour. The tournament attracts over 30 teams to Hellenic College in Brookline, Massachusetts. Director Tony Kariotis can be reached at 617-590-8051. The tournament will be held on May 8-12 in the “Athens of America” Boston.

Greek Hoop Scoop- Check out an amazing site about all things about Greek Basketball. They cover Greek and Orthodox basketball tournaments individual players, teams, and much more. Editor Terry Poulos, is a long-time sports columnist for The Greek Star and Windy City Greek.com as well as a Greek American media journalist.

The 94th NHIBT-National Hellenic Invitational Basketball Tournament took place in Chicago on March 20-24 th, for High School and Senior Divisions. A great Tournament.

The 78th Harry Agganis Basketball Tournament took place April 5-7, at the Saint George Community Center in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Greek Idiom - Κάνη το κορόιδο -he plays dumb.

Greek Philosphy-  Η αριστεία δεν είναι ποτέ τυχαία. Είναι πάντα το αποτέλεσμα υψηλών προθέσεων, ειλικρινούς προσπάθειας, και έξυπνης εκτέλεσης." - Αριστοτέλης 

Read Aristotle's translation. ->

We would like to thank GAS followers that wrote to us indicating they enjoyed our staff honoring The Heroes and Heroines of 1821. We have done well on all of our GAS platforms, however, we would like to notify all Facebook followers. 

📢 Don’t Miss Our Latest GAS News! 📢

Want to be the first to know when we post GAS updates? Just follow these simple steps to get notifications:

1. Visit our Facebook page  Greek American Sports.
2. Click the ‘...’ button (It's right next to the 'Like', 'Follow', and 'Share' buttons).
3. Select ‘Following’. This will bring up a settings tab.
4. Under 'News Feed', choose ‘Favorites’ to see more of us or ‘Standard’ to see us in your regular feed.
5. In the 'Notifications' section, click ‘Posts’.
6. Choose ‘Standard’ or ‘Highlights’ based on how often you want to hear from us.
7. Press ‘Update’ to save your preferences.

Voilà! Now you’re all set to receive alerts from us. 🎈

The spirit of Hellenism, our deep sense of community, love for Greek youth and athletes has driven this national community grassroots effort. We have launched the first ever GAS/Kosmos effort and we have kept our promise to fulfill our mission statement. We will keep working and fighting to deliver GAS to every Greek American Sports fan. So pick up your telephono and check us out right now! We hope your community takes on our GAS Sports Challenge and sends us your  community sports video. GAS would love to see your community sports video.

GAS has already connected athletes throughout the United States with each other through our GAS Instagram, as well as received wonderful feedback from parents and elderly grandparents who have commented how proud they are of their grandchildren from the U.S.A. and Greece. In our next post we will be writing about this year's Harry Agganis Basketball Tournament ,high school sports, college hoop, and a division 1 hockey player, and more.