THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
36 Friday, February 5, 1982
Tiny U-111 Woman Sprinter Wins More Than Races in Israel
By STEVE RAPHAEL
two second place medals as
a member of the U.S. 400-
and 1600-meter relay
teams.
The Maccabia Games are
history to Kazinec who now
does her running as a
member of the University of
Michigan women's indoor
and outdoor track team.
Aviv last July, her mind
could not comprehend the
As Brenda Kazinec sped feat.
"It was an honor without
across the finish line to win
the 100-meter dash at the perspective," she said.
As Kazinec was getting
Maccabia Games in Tel
Special to The Jewish News
TEL-EX
CINEMAS
1111111MMNI
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BRENDA KAZINEC
her wind back an observer
strolled up to her and put
that victory into perspec-
tive. "Congratulations," he
said, "you are now the
world's fastest Jewish
woman."
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Kazinec, whose feet are
planted firmly on the
ground when she isn't
running the sprints
thanked the man and
laughed at his comment.
"I just wanted to do well,"
said the 21-year-old Uni-
versity of Michigan student,
"It was nice winning the
race, especially since an Is-
raeli woman was favored to
win."
Kazinec, who has been
running competitively since
grade school, was also the
upset winner in the 200-
meter race. She also took
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FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT'S
I "THE WOMEN NEXT DOOR" (R)
But six months after
her upset wins in Israel,
those events are starting
to take on a new perspec-
tive for her. Because
more than the title, the
medals or the satisfaction
of winning, Brenda
Kazinec has gotten some-
thing out of her track ex-
perience that she said
will last forever.
"Going to Israel was a
dream come true," said the
Cleveland native who had
.never been to Israel before.
"Touching my roots and
feeling that sense of Jewish
history has made all of those
years of running worth-
while. I am a farily religious
person with a strong Jewish
identity. But in Israel I
really experienced what it is
like to be a Jew." -
Kazinec arrived in Israel
July 2 with the rest of the
American team. Since she
wasn't scheduled to compete
until July 15, she toured the
country. She walked the
land and talked to its
people.
Not satisfied with her ini-
tial tour, she decided to visit
places on her own, espe-
cially Jerusalem which she
visited twice to stand at the
Western Wall and walk
through the old world mar-
ketplaces.
"I knew about Judaism
and Jewish history," she
said, but when you walk
along those historic
streets and hills every-
thing just comes to life. In
America, history is only
200 years old. In Israel, it
goes back thousands of
years. It was quite a feel-
ing to realize that my an-
cestors walked along
those very same paths
centuries ago. I can't wait
to go back to Israel on my
own."
Getting in touch with her
Jewish roots has been only
one of the rewards Brenda
has garnered from track.
The middle of three daugh-
ters of George and Grace
Kazinec, Brenda said her
track experience has
broadened and enriched her
life on other fronts.
"My track experience has
really opened my eyes to a
lot of things and exposed me
to a lot of people and places I
would have never known or
visited," she said. "If I
hadn't got a track schol-
arship to Michigan I would
have never left Ohio."
At Brush High School in
the Cleveland suburb of
Lyndhurst, Kazinec won
the state 220-yard dash
championship with her
best-ever time of 24.4.
Going into her senior year
at Brush, she was ranked
sixth in the nation among
high school women sprin-
ters.
The college coaches
came buzzing around
and Kazinec, a National
Honor Society student,
sifted through 20 schol-
arship offers before set-
tling on Michigan. She
has a B average at Michi-
gan while majoring in
business.
At Ann Arbor, Brenda
runs the sprints and a leg on
the school's nationally-
ranked 400- and 800-meter
relay teams. You can't miss
Brenda on those teams.
"I am the ultimate minor-
ity of one," she laughed.
"I'm everything a sprinter
isn't supposed to be. I'm
short (5'3", I'm white and
I'm Jewish. My teammates
are tall and black." But we
are also very close. We've
really had some wild con-
versations about our back-
grounds, values and beliefs.
We've learned a lot from
each other."
Still Brenda, now a
junior, has not had the suc-
cess in college that she had
in high school. A series of
nagging injuries have pre-
vented her from equaling
her best high school times.
Winning the 200 meters
in Tel Aviv last summer
with a time of 24.8 buoyed
her confidence for the
upcoming season that
began in January.
"Winning that race," she
said, "proved to myself that
I can still run well. I'm
really looking forward to
this year."
At a recent indoor track
meet at Western Michigan
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Brenda Kazinec is shown during a meet last year
anchoring a University of Michigan relay team to a
win.
University, she took firsts
on the two relays and won
the 300-meter dash.
Brenda now is aiming for
Big Ten titles in the sprints.
"If I continue to run well
and improve then I defi-
nitely will try out for the
U.S. Olympic team in
1984," she said. "I also
would like to run in other
Maccabia Games. But it's
just one step at a time right
now."
If her track career ends
when she graduates, then
Brenda will pursue a busi-
ness career combined with
the coaching of youngsters
in track, as she does each
summer in Cleveland. She
also plans to take up Jewish
community offers to talk to
young girls about what
awaits them if they pursue
track.
Zionist Youth
Corps Sought
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Some 800 Israeli youths
attending the Zionist Youth
Congress here, were urged
to engage in public and so-
cial service in addition to
their military service which
is compulsory.
President Yitzhak Na-
von, addressing the gather-
ing last week, called on
young Israelis to volunteer
for the security forces and to
help youths in poverty
stricken areas.
"There are presently
thousands of youth who do
not study or work and may
constitute a reserve, a bait
for criminals and drug
dealers to take advantage of
them," Navon said.
Arye Zimuki, chairman of
the Zionist Council which
organized the one-day con-
gress, said one of its pur-
poses was to announce a
new plan for one year of
public service for Israeli
youths prior to military
service. Other goals include
the establishment of con-
tacts between Israeli youth
and Jewish youth in the
Diaspora; furthering
Zionist education in Israel;
breaking down barriers be-
tween communities in Is-
rael, and encouraging the
immigration of Jewish
youth from abroad.
Navon Deplores
Low Birthrate
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
President Yitzhak Navon
deplored the low Jewish
birth rate in the Diaspora
and told a group of visiting
leaders of the Israel Bond
Organization that it was
only marginally better in
Israel.
Navon addressed 200
Bond leaders from the U.S.
and Canada at a dinner
marking the close of their
five-day mission to Israel in
connection with the proj-
ected Mediterrean-Dead
Sea Canal.
Fifty of them announced
they would each purchase of
minimum of $100,000 in Is-
rael Bonds, thus making
them canal "founders." The
Bond Organization has set a
target of 1,000 such "found-
ers."