HEALTH, TRAVEL, SPORTS, FOOD

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Travel: Saleyn bewitches

the Jewish traveler.

Food: Get patriotic

ETEE0 Ul gE

on the 4th of July.

This Week's focus:

Sports

Family Affair

Detroit's Maccabi
soccer and chess teams
feature sibling support
and parental coaches.

MIKKI MENTZEL
Special to The Jewish News

F

amily involvement will play a big role
for new JCC Maccabi Games athletes
in Detroit this year.
Three pairs of sisters are playing on
Detroit girls' soccer team, and two coaches have
daughters on the team. Twin brothers are teamed
up on another soccer team, while two brothers
will be in the chess competition in the Aug. 16-
23 event.
Eric Klein is a first-year soccer coach and his
daughter, 13-year-old Jessica, is a first-year Mac-
cabi participant. Klein said he "wanted to get my
daughter involved and get back to coaching. It is
a great opportunity to meet Jewish kids and have
a lot of fun with kids of different ages."
For Jeff Fox, the games mark a second appear-
ance as Maccabi girls soccer; his team won sec-
ond-place honors in Pittsburgh last year.
Coaching the team means getting to work with
his two daughters. Lindsey, 16, is in her fourth
and final year; Jodi, 14, started her Maccabi
career last year.
"I love being involved with my kids," said Fox,
who was his daughters' coach in kindergarten
through fifth grade, adding that if not for the
Maccabi games he "would not have been able to
coach my daughters together, on the same team,"
due to their age difference.
Lindsey, who plays sweeper, says her dad is
careful to avoid the actuality or the appearance of
favoritism. "He acts like any other coach would,"
she said. -

Alex Halpern
watches teammate
Jordan Harris
kick the ball past
him in practice.

Many players might not like playing on a team
with their sister. But "playing with my sister is a
bonding experience," said Jodi, the teams goal
keeper.
Similarly, Vicki Shapiro is looking forward to
being on the same team with her sister Lori, 13,
" spending time together doing something we
both enjoy." Both are midfielders.
According to Lori, "I picked up the game
because it was fun, but having my sister play it
helps."
The Detroit girls will be split into two teams,
blue and white. The teams won't be divided until
just before the Games.
Both head coaches for the 13-14-year-old soc-
cer teams have sons playing, as does Andy Gor-
don, coach of the 15-16 team.
Gordon played at the University of North Car-
olina and coached a Clark University (in Massa-

chusetts) team into the NCAA tournament. He
has since been coaching junior soccer, ages six to
14, but this is his first Maccabi outing.
"I was asked to coach and thought it would be
a great way to be involved with the community
and greater Detroit," he said. "It's an area that I
know about and can contribute in."
Jordan and Nick Schwartz are the 16-year-old
twins playing as central defenders for the older
soccer team. The boys will be part taking in their
fourth Maccabi, having won silver medals with
the team in Pittsburgh.
"We know each others moves and what we are
going to do next," Jordan said. "It definitely helps
us play better."
Mike Tuomey and Lonny Goldsmith will
coach the 13-14 boys Detroit white team, and
Beau Sevy and Ed Raykhinshteyn are the coaches
for the Detroit blue team.