Training Camp
Five Maccabi delegations got a pre-games workout at Camp Maas.
LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer
E
yen though it was
the weekend after
summer sessions
ended at Camp
Maas, there was no shortage
of activity there on Aug. 14
and 15.
The 330 teens from the
Los Angeles, Orange
County, San Francisco,
Mexico and Hartford delega-
tions used the Ortonville
camp as a training center
prior to this week's Maccabi
Games.
Paul Delson of San Francisco addresses the girls' soccer team during practice. The team is made up of athletes
For Los Angeles, the
early trip wasn't an unusual from Har t ford and San Francisco.
one. "We've done this since
1989 to get acclimatized,"
said Gary Hansen, the LA
girls' basketball coach as he
watched his team scrim-
mage against Mexico's 13-
14-year-old boys' team. "It's
easier than taking a red-eye
flight on the day it starts."
Ordinarily, the LA ath-
letes stay with their host
families when they arrive
early, but because the event
is a full week this year
instead of five days, arrange-
ments with Camp Maas
were made.
Hansen was pleased with
his team's preparation, but
wasn't too happy with the
four-and-a-half hour drive
from Detroit Metro Airport
to Maas — the bus driver
got lost and then the bus
broke down.
LA began its tradition of
arriving early after several of
its athletes missed the open-
ing ceremonies in Chicago
in 1988.
15-year-old Jason Gruenbaum of LA practices the shot
Los Angeles' Matt Bendik goes in for a shot as team-
Not everything was par-
put.
mate Adam Allegro guar 3.
8/21
1998
24 Detroit Jewish News
adise at Camp Maas
for some of the LA
delegation: 6-foot-4
basketball player Adam
Allegro thought the
mattresses were too
short, and baseball
player David Wurth
wasn't pleased with the
food or the 8:30 a.m.
departure time last
Sunday morning.
However, "it's fun
because we got to hang
out and bond before
the games started,"
said Wurth.
Eight girls and one
coach from the
Hartford delegation
came to the pre-games
camp to meet the eight
girls from San
Francisco they would
be teammates with in--
soccer. Neither delega-
tion had enough ath-
letes to form teams on
their own.
"Things are OK so
far, except we only get
one practice together,"
said Sarah Wolfe of the
"San Hartford" squad.
Hartford's Alan
Goodman, who's
coaching the com-
bined team, thought
the girls bonded well.
"It's a good mix of
kids," Goodman said.
"They're certainly frat-
ernizing well together."
In addition to the
athletes using the fields
and courts for practice,
there were Saturday
morning Shabbat ser-
vices and a dance that
evening following
Havdalah.