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The Numbers Games

ALAN HITSKY

Associate Editor

T

he Jewish Corn-
munity Centers
North American
Maccabi Youth
Games started
eight years ago in Memphis
with 200 young Jewish
athletes. It mushrooms Aug.
19-26 in Detroit to 2,200
Jewish athletes, ages 13-16,
participating in 15 sports. In
basketball alone there will be
32 boys' teams and 11 girls'
teams.

Beth Robinson's one-person office has grown to eight.

24

FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 1990

The kids will come from 50
American cities and 10 for-
eign countries, including
Israel, Lithuania and
Australia.
They will be housed by
1,000 Detroit-area families,
participate in competitions
and social activities organiz-
ed by 800 volunteers, and
ride 65 rented buses. The en-
tire week will only cost
$900,000.
How does the Detroit Jew-
ish community take on a
task as large as the Winter
Olympics and pay for it?
With experience.
The sixth Jewish Com-
munity Centers North
American Maccabi Youth
Games is a long name, but it
is descriptive.
Games chairman Jay
Robinson and Detroit JCC
executive Mort Plotnick
agree the Games could not
go on without the coopera-
tion between the Detroit
Maccabi Club and the JCC.
In fact, many of the key vol-
unteers and the backbone of
the Maccabi Club are mem-
bers of the Center's Runners
Club or the Health Club.
But the cooperation goes
far beyond the morning 10-
mile runs shared by Robin-
son and his Games sports
chairman, Harvey Rubens-
tein. The Center is providing
office space, telephones,
computers and support staff
for the Games, as well as be-
ing one of the central sites
for the athletic competitions.
And Plotnick has played a
central role in bringing the
Games to Detroit both in
1984 and 1990. After Mem-
phis' success in the inau-
gural Games in 1982, few
cities expressed interest in
hosting a sequel. Plotnick
envisioned a growing event
and a means of bringing
unaffiliated Jews into Jew-
ish institutions — Jewish
community centers across
the country.
With the support of the
JCC and hundreds of vol-
unteers organized by Robin-
son, Detroit in 1984 turned
Memphis' regional affair
into an international event
for 800 athletes. It was a
turning point for the Games,
which were then hosted by
Toronto (1986) and Chicago
(1988).
The 1990 Games will be
triple the size of 1984. To
handle the massive organi-
zing details, Robinson has

called upon many of the
same volunteers.
"There is a huge return of
people who worked the
Games in '84," Robinson
says. He estimates that 50 to
60 adult members of the
Detroit Maccabi Club are
taking major positions.
A number of returnees are
taking the same jobs, in-
cluding Robinson's wife,
Barbara, who is housing co-
chairman with Carol Eisen-
shtadt. Gerald Eisenshtadt
is heading operations again,
with the help of Dr. Mark
Saidman. In all, 11 of 38 key
chairmanships are being
handled this year by the
same volunteers as in 1984.
The majority of the sports
committees — charged with
overseeing each of the 15
competitions being held in
Detroit — are chaired by
persons who helped or
coached in 1984.
Eisenshtadt and Saidman
believe they are ready. "The
nine venue sites have been
selected. The United Hebrew
Schools' transportation
department is arranging for
the buses for the daily loops
to the sites and for the Zoo
the Bob-Lo nights," Eisen-
shtadt says.
The big hurdle, according
to Saidman, is getting
enough volunteers.
Not only has the number
of athletes increased since
1984. The number of corn-
petitions has also
multiplied. New to the
Games this year are golf,
chess and cross country.
Keeping track of it all is a
double-edged sword, with
the Detroiters divided into
organizing committees and
Detroit team committees in
each sport. For the teams
alone, Detroit delegation
chairman Alan Horowitz
had to recruit 15 coaches, at
least 15 assistant coaches
and oversee tryouts and
recruitment bringing 210
Detroit competitors into the
Games (See Sports, Page 51).

Equally difficult is the job
of the organizing corn-
mittees. Each is responsible
for planning the competi-
tion, hiring officials,
overseeing the game sites,
procuring equipment, stan-
dardizing the rules and settl-
ing the inevitable disputes.
Says Jay Robinson, "The
coaches' meeting (to be held
at a hotel after the Games'
opening ceremonies at the

