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Teens

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First Jay Robinson scholarship goes to softball player who is active in Jewish community.

LISA FEIN
Special to the Jewish News

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Congregation Beth Shalom
teenager has been chosen
for a new scholarship creat-
ed in memory of Detroit's
Mr. Maccabi, the late Jay Robinson.
The winner is Berkley High School
junior Sharee Pliskow, daughter of
Rhonda and Rob Pliskow of
Huntington Woods.
Sharee, who has played softball in
the JCC Maccabi Games for the past
two years, called the games "a neat
experience" that have brought her
many close friends.
Open to current and past local
Maccabi participants, the
Metropolitan Detroit Maccabi
Club's Robinson Memorial
Scholarship Award is named for the
founder and past president of the
local Maccabi Club. Robinson, who
died in 1998, was instrumental in
bringing the games, now played on
the international level, to Detroit
three times.
The Maccabi Games are intended
to help 13- to 16-year-olds build
Jewish identity and friendships
through the world of athletic and
skills competition.
At Beth Shalom, Sharee is enrolled
in the Hebrew high school and teach-
es Israeli dancing to fifth graders in
the religious school.
President of the Fanny Brice B'nai
B'rith Girls Chapter, Sharee said she
learned Israeli dancing last summer at
a B'nai B'rith Youth Organization
program. She also takes jazz, tap and
lyrical dance lessons.
In addition to her Jewish involve-
ment, Sharee works at the
Huntington Woods Public Library
assisting patrons.

6/2
2000

98

Sharee Pliskow,
Danny Bortnick of ti
Houston and Joanna
Wayburn of
Southfield at the
Maccabi Games in
Houston last year

Sharee applied for the Maccabi
scholarship, she said, because she
needed extra money to attend two
BBYO camps this summer. "My only
way to go to these camps was to get a
scholarship," she said.
The scholarship she won will
enable her to attend Kallah, a four-
week camp for girls. It helps strength-
en her Jewish identity through lec-
tures, seminars, Israeli song and dance
and creative and dramatic arts. She
also will attend the BBYO
International leadership-training con-
ference, a three-week program aimed
at developing and elevating leadership
skills.
Proud mother Rhonda Pliskow
noted that Sharee "loves being a team

player in sporting competition and
other activities."
Don Rudick, a Detroit Maccabi
Club board member and past assis-
tant track and softball coach,
worked with Sharee last year. He
described her as "a very energetic,
outgoing and social person." He
added that she has stayed in touch
with many of the other Maccabi
participants.
Rudick said the games are held
annually in a few cities each year,
with teams from around the country
competing in the city hosting their
competitive discipline. The first
games were held in Memphis in
1982. Detroit hosted the games in
1984, 1990 and 1998. Teens between

ages 13-16, as of Aug. 1,
are eligible to participate in
this year's games. In 1998,
3,200 teens took part. The
number increased to 4,500
last year.
The competitive disci-
plines vary, but typically
include basketball, bowl-
ing, chess, golf, racquet-
ball, soccer, softball, swim-
ming, table tennis, tennis,
track and field and volley-
ball.
Most teams hold tryouts
in February, while some
teams have interested par-
ties sign up to participate.
For the best chance to go,
Rudick encourages teens to
try out for more than one
team.
However, "There is
always a place for teens to
participate," he said.
Once chosen in March,
the teens involved with
indoor activities begin
practice right away. Outdoor practices
begin when the weather warms up.
The JCC Maccabi games are now
held each year in August.
Beth Kellman, Jay Robinson's
daughter, is a board member of the
Detroit Maccabi Club. Her involve-
ment with the games covers 16
years.
To her, the Robinson memorial
scholarship "promotes everything my
father stood for," Kellman said.
"It encourages teens to partici-
pate and takes them one step fur-
ther in pursuing his ideals," she
said. "My father believed in partici-
pating in the Jewish community
and in helping Jewish teens meet
other Jewish teens." ❑