Sports

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Gilbert native Larry Slater didn’t always have a passion for sports photography. It wasn’t until he took a trip to the NCAA wrestling championship in Las Vegas in 2005 that his interest in photography was sparked.

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Jordan won its first-ever Olympic medal thanks to the performance of a Palestinian taekwondo fighter whose family left Israel 20 years ago.

Team Phoenix brought home 15 medals from the JCC Maccabi Games held in St. Louis July 29-Aug. 5.

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Lebanese Olympians refused to ride on a bus with Israeli athletes to get to the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 summer games.

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At 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighing around 150 pounds, 26-year-old optimistic and powerful blonde Ilana Kratysh will become the first-ever Israeli woman to compete in the wrestling events at the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, which began Aug. 5. On Aug. 17 she will fight for the gold in the under 69-kilogram category.

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Jewish-American Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman has been named again to the U.S. women’s Olympics gymnastics team.

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NEW YORK — Like his fellow competitors on “American Ninja Warrior,” 25-year-old Akiva Neuman pushed himself to his physical limits — climbing, jumping and running through an intense obstacle course — in the hopes of making it to the national finals in Las Vegas.

This isn’t a sports story, even though it’s about the Jewish Youth Group Sports League, which recently completed its first season of basketball play at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center in Scottsdale. No, this is a story about community-building.

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David Blatt, the Israeli American who was fired this season as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, reportedly will interview with the Sacramento Kings for the same position.

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When Jews visit the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, they can learn about the two most celebrated members of the tribe who have been inducted into the hallowed museum: Hank “The Hebrew Hammer” Greenberg and Sandy Koufax.

The League is, without a doubt, the best place for Jewish teens to be on a Sunday night, when 80 teens from local Valley Jewish youth groups come together to play basketball, eat pizza and cheer on friends. Many more attend just to socialize and be part of the excitement. 

Six athletes from the Valley competed as part of Team USA in the 2015 Pan American Maccabi Games, the quadrennial Jewish regional athletic competition, held at the end of December in Santiago, Chile.

Out of baseball after four years playing in the minor leagues, Brent Powers, a Christian from Texas, took a tour of Israel last year with his wife. He was smitten with the country and considered how to return.

Teams are now forming for the 2016 St. Louis JCC Maccabi Games, which gives teens an Olympic-style experience to compete, collaborate and grow with Jewish teams from around the world. An informational meeting for parents and teens will be held 6:30-7:15 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11, at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale.