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