a

Detroit's teen-age Maccabi team is heading
in two directions next month.

ALAN HITSKY
ASSOCIATE EDITOR

he Detroit team presented
a major problem for the
cities hosting this sum-
mer's regional JCC
Maccabi Youth Games.
The problem is sheer
numbers.
"No one city could han-
dle our team," said the
Detroit Maccabi Club's
Dr. Alan Horowitz. With
four U.S. cities hosting 600-
700 teen athletes each, no
one wanted all of Detroit's
185-190 athletes.
"It's a logistical problem,"
said Dr. Horowitz. Detroit
will send 105-110 athletes
to St. Louis Aug. 14-19 and
70-75 to Pittsburgh Aug. 22-
26.
The North American

games, held every even-
numbered year, gathers
2,200 (Detroit 1990) to 2,700
athletes (Baltimore 1992).
The 1994 games will be held
in Cleveland. But the
regional games are much
smaller events.
difference
Another
between the regionals and
the North American event:
The regional games this
summer are accepting 12-
year-old athletes. Those
participants will have a
year's experience and still
qualify for Cleveland next
year when the age range is
13-16.
The younger athletes con-
tributed to the size of
Detroit's team. Dr. Horowitz

Track coach
Joel Kashdan
with his team.

estimates that 250-300
youngsters tried out for the
Maccabi team this spring,
with as many as 50-60 look-
ing for a spot on the boys
basketball squad and the
same number trying out for
boys tennis.
"It is frustrating in that a
lot of kids want to go, but
because of host city con-
straints we can't bring them
all. They can only invite
what they feel they can
house," said Dr. Horowitz.
He believes the tennis
and volleyball teams may be
Detroit's strongest contin-
gents. Detroit is sending
three coed volleyball teams
to Pittsburgh. Last year,
Detroit sent boys, girls and

coed volleyball squads to
Baltimore, but the
coed format was cho-
sen this year to make
it easier for other
cities to field a team.
Another change for
the regionals this sum-
mer is boys baseball
competition rather than
softball.
Detroit teams compet-
ing in St. Louis will
include boys baseball,
golf, racquetball and soc-
cer; girls softball; and boys
and girls gymnastics,
swimming, tennis and
track. The teams will leave
Detroit at 10:30 p.m. Aug.
14 on the 11-hour bus trip
to St. Louis and return the
evening of Aug. 19.
Detroit teams going to
Pittsburgh: girls basketball
and soccer; boys basketball;
boys and girls tennis and
table tennis; and coed vol-
leyball. Their five-hour bus
ride to Pittsburgh starts
Sunday morning, Aug. 22,
and the team returns Aug.
26.

Detroit Teams
Going To
St. Louis

BASEBALL

Coach Tony Spokojny; Justin
Lan, Josh Gad-Harf, Scott
Rosenblum, Jordan Levin,
Lee Lazar, Evan Klein, Ryan
Weiss, Brad Schneider, Jeff
Sampson and Scott
Spokojny.

GOLF

Coach Matt Lester; Jacob
Fenton, Danny Krochmal,
Jeff Nash, Michael Bagdade,
Brad Schwartz, Jared
Rosenbaum, David Golden- .
berg and Daniel Mafrice.

GYMNASTICS

Coach Lauren Rosenberg;
Jodie Rosenberg, Jamie
Hertza, Michele Wiener and
Elizabeth Stoler.

RACQUETBALL

Coach Stu Gottesman;
Michael Sherbow and Daniel
Katz.

SOFTBALL

Coach Don Rudick
with softball
team members
Stephanie Bloom,
Stacey Schwartz,
Michelle Tarnow and
Heather Meyers.

Coach Don Rudick; Mikki
Mentzel, Melissa Bouchard,
Jennifer Krochmal, Shari
Aviv Katz, Michelle Tarnow,
Beth Bernstein, Stacey
Schwartz, Rachel Silverton,

MACCABI page 38