With two days to go before they board planes that will take them to the 20th Maccabiah Games in Israel, three young athletes with strong ties to the Valley are brimming with anticipation.

In baseball, they say time begins on Opening Day. Everyone has a chance for a fresh start. Most of the old familiar names are back, although some have new addresses. If you count Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, there are nine Jews who begin the year on Major League rosters. But then ther…

Ethan Cohen and Jack Ratterman, both 16, have devoted most of their lives to soccer, and now that devotion – and talent – has propelled the teens onto Team USA’s youth boys’ soccer team at the upcoming 20th Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Team Israel saw its Cinderella run at the World Baseball Classic end with a loss to Japan in Tokyo.

Israel’s first professional golfer is in the Valley this week to compete in the Bank of Hope Founders Cup Tournament March 16-19 at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix.

JERUSALEM — Team Israel blasted Chinese Taipei in its second game of the World Baseball Classic.

TEL AVIV  – Noah Roth likes to recall two moments from Israeli marathons in which he’s raced: a competitor in Jerusalem breezing by him in 2010 wearing all-black, haredi Orthodox garb but for a white athletic shirt; and a Russian woman on this city’s Allenby Street who last year handed sprin…

JERUSALEM – Former NBA All-Star Amar'e Stoudemire was honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Award in Israel for his philanthropy and leadership in building bridges among communities.

PGA Jewish golfer Daniel Berger, 23, from Plantation, Florida makes his putt on the ninth hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open course, Pro Am, on Feb. 1 at the TPC Scottsdale. He placed seventh, winning $216,075. Attendance for event set a record of 655,000 for the week.

PETACH TIKVAH, Israel – For questions about Israeli food and culture, Corey Baker and Jeremy Bleich were their teammates’ go-to guys.

Rabbi Leib Bolel is preparing for the Ironman Arizona triathlon. 

For years, I've told anyone who would listen that the Cubs were the team of the Jews. I've written two blog posts about it during the past month alone.

KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank  -- The Chicago Cubs are facing the Cleveland Indians in a historic World Series, and most of Israel could not care less. This Jewish settlement is different.

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer stepped up to an 800-pound gjallarhorn and exhaled with all he had to launch the festivities that officially inaugurated the team’s $1.1 billion stadium.

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.

Hundreds of fans showed up at Ben-Gurion Airport to welcome home Israel’s Olympic medal-winning judokas Monday night (Aug. 15).

Yarden Gerbi became the first Israeli to medal at the Rio Olympics, bringing home a bronze in the women’s 63-kg judo competition.

JERUSALEM – Hapoel Jerusalem basketball fans know that when the owner of their team tweets a smiley face, the signing of a new player is about to be announced.

 The United States women’s gymnastics team, led by its Jewish-American captain Aly Raisman, won the Olympic gold medal in Rio.

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.

Jewish-American woman’s gymnast Aly Raisman earned a spot in the individual all-around competition at the Olympics in Rio.

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 …

JERUSALEM — Amar’e Stoudemire, who retired from the NBA last week, has signed a two-year deal with the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team.

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.

Dean Kremer became the first Israeli to sign a contract with a Major League Baseball team.

PARDES HANNA, Israel — When Yoel decided, at age 8, to begin observing Shabbat, there was one problem: It meant he couldn’t join most of Israel’s youth soccer teams, which played games on Saturday.

Scoring a new personal best, Jewish figure skater Max Aaron from Scottsdale was part of a trio that landed the U.S. skaters in the top 10 at the ISU 2016 World Championships.

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.

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.