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March 03, 1989 - Image 52

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1989-03-03

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

SPORTS

Pedal
Power

Susan Rosenthal is
preparing for the
Maccabiah by
`riding' to Israel.

MIKE ROSENBAUM

Sports Writer

lir he United States Macca-
biah team is getting a lot
mileage out of Susan
Rosenthal's foot surgery.
Rosenthal, of
Southfield, is a veteran of two
previous Maccabi events. She was a
translator for the Spanish-speaking
delegations at the 1984 Youth Games
in Detroit and was an assistant
manager for the U.S. team at the 1987
Pan American Maccabiah. This year
she will be an accommodations
manager for the U.S. squad at the
World Maccabiah Games in Israel.
But last fall, as she recuperated
from foot surgery, she thought of
another way to support the U.S. team.
She decided to pedal a stationary
bicycle 7,500 miles, the approximate
distance between Southfield and the
stadium at Kfar Hamaccabiah in
Ramat Gan, Israel. She is accepting
pledges for her efforts, which will go
to the U.S. squad.
Rosenthal, who averages 20 miles
per hour, rides "anytime I have a free
hour. Right now I'm pretty much do-
ing a lot of biking on the weekends
and in the evening after work. I
privately tutor kids in Spanish, do
private exercise consulting after
school, so I primarily bike in the even-
ings. I'll usually do between 40 and
50 miles in an evening. I'm just about
in London;' she said recently. "I have
the continent to go.' I'm going to be
biking until about June 20."
Since February, Rosenthal has
pedalled over 3,000 miles.
After meeting the U.S. team's soft-
ball chairman at a Maccabiah
meeting in Philadelphia last year,
Rosenthal decided to earmark at least
some of the money she raises to the
men's softball team.
_ She says the softball chairman is
an "enjoyable" person who "loves the
game of fast-pitch softball. He also
happened to be portly. And he was
very, very receptive to my suggestions

,52

FRIDAY; MARCH 3, 1989

Surrounded by Maccabiah memorabilia, Susan Rosenthal "pedals" to Israel.

of how to get into better condition.
"Because he was so receptive I
told him that the first monies I'd raise
would go to that softball team . . . So
I am currently at least trying to raise
enough money for a softball player.
Because we don't know if that softball
player might be the one to hit the
home run or catch that winning out."

Rosenthal teaches Spanish at
West Middle School in Rochester. A
gradaute of Michigan State Universi-
ty, she studied for a year at New York
University in Madrid. Since return-
ing from Washington, D.C., where she
lived from 1981-83, she has taught ex-
ercise, health and fitness at the
Maple/Drake Jewish Community
Center, Akiva Hebrew Day School,
Weight Watchers as well as two
businesses and a variety of health
clubs.
She began her education in
health and fitness at the JCC in 1977,
studying dynamic aerobics, an
aerobic-dance program. Rosenthal
continued her education through
workshops and seminars. She now
does private consulting work only,
working with people in their homes.

Rosenthal's interest in the Mac-
cabiah movement was triggered by
Detroiter Max Sheldon, a Maccabiah
track and field athlete from the 1930s
who is now a regional vice president
of the U.S. Committee Sports for
Israel. Rosenthal says Sheldon "first
filled me in on the whole ideology of
the Maccabiah movement. Yes, it's
Jews in athletics, but it started out

originally as a Zionist movement. It
has lost some of that now, but it is cer-
tainly a way of Jewish athletes get-
ting together and promoting the
Judaism as well as the athletics."
Her 1984 involvement in the
Youth Games was also sparked by her
interest in Spanish and her year in
Madrid. She belonged to a Madrid
synagogue, where she attended a ser-
vice visited by the queen of Spain.
The members of the synagogue
"received me so well," she
reciprocated by doing volunteer work
with the Spanish delegations at the
Youth Games. Although Spain was
not there, she worked with the Mex-
ican and Venezuelan delegations.
"I met all these fabulous folks
from Mexico and Venezuela. As it's
turned out, I've been back to Mexico
in the interim and I have all these
great friends. I went down to their
Jewish center. It's just like seeing
meshpocha — friends, family — down
in Mexico. And it's the same way
down in Caracas!"
She travelled to Caracas for the
1987 Pan Am Maccabiah. Though she
specialized as a translator, she did a
variety of other jobs ranging from "go-
fer" work to keeping statistics at
basketball games.
Walking into the stadium in
Caracas, Rosenthal recalls being
"overwhelmed by pride, excitement.
Here you were, knowing you were all
Jewish athletes and you're lost for
words. You need new superlatives; you
need new adjectives. But then we had

the next 16 days of the most wonder-
ful sports and sportsmanship."
Rosenthal expects to again serve
as a liaison with the Spanish-
speaking delegations at Detroit's
1990 Maccabi Youth Games.
With two Maccabi events behind
her and a bigger one to come, Rosen-
thal feels "a lot of pride. First of all,
for being Jewish, athletically involv-
ed in something important. To use my
energies in a combination of ways
that are important to me. I love sport.
I like good sportmanship. I like to be
around other Jewish athletes . . . Plus
I have some of the most fabulous
friends who I never would have met
had I not been involved.
"This is the big event. This is
what you build up for every four
years. Traveling through Israel again
— this is going to be my third trip to
Israel — I feel extremely proud of my
accomplishments — It's just a giant
celebration. There's no losers. There's
just good sport. You're participating
and celebrating in a most important
place!"
Her Maccabi involvement has pro-
duced one regret. Rosenthal wishes
that she had known about, and par-
ticipated in, competitive Maccabi
sports when she was younger.
"I would also like to see more
Jewish families, kids, participating in
sport and knowing about this whole
kind of organization!" She would like
Jewish children to see Maccabiah
athletes "in the same way they see
Olympians and other athletic
heroes."



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