Coach Gordon said the teens, over-
all, were pleased.
"They have good days and bad
days. Every coach emphasized that
playing is only one or two hours of
their day but it's tough because every
coach wants to win.
"Losing isn't the end of world, so
the kids go and have fun. Everybody
wants to win, but the coaches and
kids know that everybody can't."
The JCC Maccabi Games are an
annual athletic and social event for
Jewish teens ages 13 to 16. The Jewish
Community Centers Association of
North America sponsors the games,
begun. in 1982, to provide opportuni-
ties to compete athletically, make new
friends and have Jewish social experi-
ences.
The games this year were held in
four cities over two weeks: Columbus
and Houston, Aug. 8-13, and Cherry
Hill, N.J. and Rochester, N.Y., which
started on Aug. 15 and end today.
The games didn't slow down when
tragedy struck the North Valley JCC
in Los Angeles' Granada Hills area, as
a gunman shot five people, including
three children.
Delegation heads in Columbus
were summoned for an emergency
meeting after the Aug. 10 incident.
We were shocked because we were
so out of the loop," Coach Gordon
said. "We got the team together and
passed out letters to give to their host
families but never heard much about
it after the initial shock."
Coach Gordon said security was
doubled everywhere; organizers were
very strict about delegates wearing
their credentials.
"I never once felt threatened in any
way," she said. "I felt secure, but I
wasn't going to be cavalier about any-
thing."
In Houston, security wasn't visibly
increased, said Jill Spokojny, who served
as Detroit's delegation head there.
"Security was really wonderful from
the beginning, so I'm not sure that it
made that much difference," she said.
"I don't think the kids felt any change
or limitation in movement."
The stars of Detroit's show in Texas
were gymnasts Breanne Cohen and
Clara Seymour. Each won five gold
medals in their respective competition
levels, five and eight. They each won
the vault, bars, balance beam, floor
exercises and the all-around.
Detroit's bowlers were also success-
ful. Reva Gorbaty won the girls 15-
16-year-old gold. Scott Robbins fin-
ished third in the boys 15-16 division.
Robbins also won a gold and silver in
two different team events with com-
petitors from Houston, Kansas City
and Charlotte on his teams.
Detroit's table tennis players
brought home eight of 12 possible
medals: silver and bronze in the sin-
gles and doubles of the 13-14 and 15-
16-year-old divisions.
Joey Yashinsky won
a silver and Dan Black
1. Alexander Lubyansky, 14, Farmington Hills, thinks
bronze in older singles.
it's a big ole to be home from soccer compe tition in
Jordan Friedman -
Columbus.
teamed with Black for
the silver in doubles.
2. Catie Luria, 14, of Bloomfield Hills, takes a water
Ben Kalish paired with
break during softball practice.
Yashinsky for the
bronze. In the younger
3. Dancer Ian Mondrow, 13, of West Bloomfield, prac-
division, Mike Goode
tices his routine before heading to Houston.
won a silver in singles
and doubles. In dou-
4 Beth Adelson, 14, of Commerce Township, fields a
bles, it was with Ryan
grounder during softball practice.
Wolok. David Permut
won a bronze in singles
5. Nicole Falkauff 15, of West Bloomfield, placed first
in the 1600-meter fun run in Columbus.
and doubles, teaming
with Scott Weintrob.
6 Detroit's girls soccer coach Jeff Fox, delegation head
On the tennis
Karen Gordon, volleyball coach Leah Fox and girls soccer courts, Danny Matz
coach Jodi Berris, all in Columbus.
won the silver medal in
the boys 15-16 divi-
sion.
Although most of
Detroit's teams went to
Columbus, two of the
five sports in Houston
braved hot tempera-
tures outdoors to win
medals. The baseball
team won a bronze in
the 13 14 year old
division.
The softball team
bounced back from a
5-1 loss to Chicago in
the tournament open-
er. They advanced
through the tourney to
win the silver, losing to
Chicago again in the
finals. The team's two
-
-
-
biggest wins were against Houston to
end the preliminary round and against
Baltimore to reach the finals.
Jackie Rosenberg had a hand in
both with three hits versus Houston in
a 14 2 win and shutting down
Baltimore in a 9-3 victory when she
starred on the mound. Hilary Goldin
played a key role, scoring three runs
against Houston and delivering three
hits against Baltimore. Catie Luria and
Dana Colman each scored key runs
against Baltimore; Joanna Wayburn
had two bunt singles and Stacy
Wechsler also had three hits.
"Our greatest thrill was winning four
games and being awarded the silver
medal after not winning one game since
Houston in 1995," said softball coach
Don Rudick, who was assisted by Marty
Gold and Gary Birkoff.
-
Cherry Hill's
Action Starts
Detroit's in-line hockey team, which
began competition Monday in Cherry
Hill, N.J., won its first two games, 9-3
over Cherry Hill's A team and 9-0
over Wilmington, Del.
On the first day of swimming,
Detroit had three top-six finishers:
Leah Karchin swam the 15 16 girls
100-yard butterfly in 1:19.57 to finish
fifth; Emily Canosa finished the 15-16
girls 200 freestyle in fifth with a time
of 2:15.55; Canosa's brother Eric
swam the boys 15-16 200 freestyle in
2:12.23, finishing sixth.
-
Houston
Medalists
Baseball 13-14
Gold: Boca Raton
Silver: Houston
Bronze: Detroit
Softball
Gold: Chicago
Silver: Deroit
Bronze: Atlanta
Table Tennis
Boys 15-16 Singles
Gold: A. Bekkerman, Baltimore
Silver: Joey Yashinsky, Detroit
Bronze: Dan Black, Detroit
Boys 13-14 Singles
Gold: David Worfish, Dallas
Silver: Mike Goode, Detroit
Bronze: David Permut, Detroit
8/20
1999
Detroit Jewish News
107