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August 20, 2004/Elul 3 5764, Vol. 56, No.48
Valley athletes win medals
JENNIFER GOLDBERG
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 The Phoenix Maccabi basketball team huddles around coach Rick Sheinson during a playoff game. The team finished fourth at the Austin Maccabi Games. Photo courtesy of Dee Scott |
When the days of competition, service and fun were over, the Phoenix Maccabi team had a lot to be proud of. Swimmer Lauren Freedman won a silver medal in the 200-meter freestyle relay, swimmer Daniel Ference captured bronze medals in the 50-meter backstroke and the 200-meter freestyle relay, and the baseball and basketball teams each took fourth place.
"We did amazingly," says Dee Scott, the team's administrative assistant and swim coach. "We worked so hard."
The Austin Maccabi Games, held Aug. 1-6, drew more than 30 delegations. Three other Maccabi Games were held nationally this summer, in Columbus, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; and Boston.
The opening ceremonies in Austin were comparable to the Olympic opening ceremonies in terms of emotion and style, says Scott. Each team walked onto the floor at a University of Texas amphitheater, while pictures of the team were flashed on giant screens and a song the team chose blared in the back-ground. The Phoenix team chose a Ricky Martin song and did a team cheer.
"We were all wear-ing our uniforms," Scott recalled. "Our colors were red and black, and I thought we looked really professional as athletes, as well as really fun, and really intimidating, which was what we wanted."
During the opening ceremonies, several rabbis spoke, and the adults and teens alike recited a pledge dedicating themselves to safety and sports-manship.
Tennis player Josh Bochner, 13, says the ceremony was "very emotional. It was a lot of fun going out onto the floor with our team." Bochner made it to the quarterfinals competition at the Games.
A highlight for baseball player Michael Kaminsky, 15, was watching a video that Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong had prerecorded for the athletes. All the Maccabi athletes received Armstrong's yellow "Live Strong" bracelets.
Kaminsky says, "It was pretty strange, looking around and seeing that many Jews. There's not so many at my school and other places I go."
Bochner's mother, Cheryl, traveled to Austin to cheer on her son. She says, "The opening ceremonies were definitely a great experience to watch and great for the kids."
Athletic competitions were held mornings and afternoons, with lunch, community service projects, and nighttime activities rounding out the teens' schedule. The teens stayed with local host families.
"From the minute they get up until 10:30 at night, they're going, going going," says Scott. "They're nonstop outside all day long."
Kaminsky says he will long remember the baseball game in which he pitched against Atlanta on Aug. 4.
"It was pretty much do or die - if we lost we were done, and if we won, we went to the medal round," Kaminsky recalls. "We were losing, and we came back in one of the later innings. Then they came back and it was back and forth for three innings and we finally won that game. And it was a big upset, because we were the number six seed and they were the number three."
Besides the athletic compe-tition, the teens participated in Days of Caring and Sharing, a community service program. Ference, 15, put together packets on child abuse and other family-care issues. Other local Maccabi athletes brainstormed ideas for fund raisers and assembled gift baskets for local charities.
Scott says, "As teen-agers, sometimes sports are more on their mind. But for them to put 100 percent into this project for that two hours, I was very proud of them."
A highlight for the Phoenix Maccabi team was the support they had from friends and family members. Kaminsky's parents, Hillary and Harry, traveled to Austin to support their son, as did Ference's parents, Susan and Steve, his sister and both sets of grandparents.
"The spectators and family members were from all over the United States," including Chicago and New York, Scott explains. "We had a really good spectator base. We had a lot of friends and family at each event. A lot of pictures, a lot of screaming, 'Go Phoenix.' It was very nice."
The evening social event on Aug. 4 and the closing party on Aug. 5 were opportunities for the teens to let loose and interact with other Jewish teens on a non-competitive basis. On Aug. 4, they went to Dell Diamond, a minor-league baseball park. "Austin Powers: Inter-national Man of Mystery" played on large screens while a bubble machine doused them in suds. The athletes had another chance to bond with one another at an Aug. 5 closing party, an all-out bash with karaoke, dancing, food, games, videos and more.
Cheryl Bochner says, "I think it's great for their age group to get to be part of this, connect with other Jewish kids and other Jewish families, and be with the host family. It's a good opportunity."
Ference says his favorite part of the trip was "just meeting the kids from all over the country and interacting with them, talking with them."
Through the grueling schedule, the oppressive heat and the fierce competition, Scott says that the Phoenix team was not only successful on the field, but off it.
"Our kids bonded a lot with other delegations. They had a lot of fast friends. I was very impressed with our kids - the camaraderie that they had, the professionalism that they showed and the enthusiasm. They were always yelling and screaming and wishing people good luck."
The team will begin tryouts for next year's Games (to be held in Dallas) early next year.
Phoenix will host the Maccabi Games in 2006.
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