SRI Travel
& Promotion, Ltd.
saw how much fun the games were
and joined the girls' basketball team
this year, now that she is 13.
Friends Far And Wide
Many friendships are created during
the games, some pals from the com-
petitors' own city and others from
more far-flung places. Volleyball
player Amee Joshi, 16, of West
Bloomfield, a Walled Lake Western
High School student, said, "The
actual athletics are fun, but it's
meeting all the people and just hav-
ing a great time" that she cherishes
most.
"I have a friend that I met last
year," Joshi said, "and he's going
again this year. We keep in touch
through e-mail. The only times we
see each other is at the games and
this is my last year."
Track coach Joel Kashdan of
Birmingham recalls a girl on his
team in Houston last year who met
a boy there and
later returned to
Houston to attend
his prom. "That's
kind of cool,"
Kashdan said.
Friedman, a
bowling coach and
this year's
Richmond delega-
tion head with
Karen Gordon, said,
"These kids are hav-
ing an opportunity
to meet kids they
probably would
never have a chance
to meet. There's tears at the end of
the games because they're going to
miss each other until next year or
whenever.
"As far as the competition, obvi-
ously we've won gold medals and
things like that. But if we can estab-
lish that bond, that little light in the
kids' eyes, then we've more than
accomplished our task."
Coach Meyers added, "Whoever
thought up the idea of Maccabi did a
good job, because it's something that
a lot of kids will never get to experi-
ence again. The friendships, the
camaraderie, the team effort — all of
that combined with the Judaism
aspect is something unparalleled. It's
just a really, really cool idea.
"I have friends that aren't Jewish
and they say they wish they had
something like this. There's no other
religion that does anything like this.
There's nothing else that you can
compare it to." ❑
Servi
Maccabi
joy means so much to a coach,
because you feel you've helped them
achieve their goal. In the end they're
hugging me, saying, 'Thank you,
thank you, thank you."'
Jewish identity and love of
But Maccabi has always been about
more than sports.
"I would say that one of the girls'
goals at night is to dress up and
meet boys," said Genny. "That's part
of the reason I did it.
"With my team, I feel that I'm
not only a coach, but a mentor.
They can come to me for things
other than volleyball. It's not that
long since I was in high school and
suffering the heartache of breaking
up and of graduating and leaving
your friends. I've been through all
that.
"Ironically enough, the person
I'm dating now, Jarrod Roth, I met
through the Maccabi Games.
"He was a volleyball player,"
Genny said. "I met him through vol-
leyball when we were 16, and then
we met as coaches a few years later."
Jerrod is coaching Detroit's outdoor
beach volleyball team this year.
sports are happy returns.
DAVID SA.CHS
StaffWriter
F
or some participants, the
Maccabi experience can have a
lasting impact.
Gennifer Bertin was 14 in 1990,
when her dad Ken Bertin was coach-
ing Detroit's Maccabi volleyball
teams. He asked her to play in that
year's games in Detroit.
"I was very apprehensive," she
said. "I was not an athlete and didn't
want to become one.
Social Aspects
Camaraderie Abounds
-
Gennifer Bertin, volleyball coach
"He kept saying, You got to do
it. It's not so much about the athlet-
ics, it's more about the Maccabi
experience. It's about meeting peo-
ple, everybody coming together, peo-
ple of your faith.'
"I was not religious and I really
didn't want a whole big part of reli-
gion," she said. "But I recruited
some of my friends and I had a won-
derful time, and I did it the next two
years, too."
Genny, 24, remained active in
Maccabi and is now in her fourth
summer of volleyball coaching, still
with her dad. "It gives us time to
spend together," she said.
The core of their team has been
together those four years and is
poised to snare a gold medal in
Cincinnati after finishing in second
place last year.
Genny said her team's success has
been thrilling. "Seeing their tears of
Coaches also serve as chaperones
during the nightly Maccabi social
events. They share camaraderie with
their counterparts from other locales
and swap team pins, hats and warm-
ups. "I traded my jersey to get this
one from St. Louis," Genny said.
The Maccabi experience intro-
duced Genny to athletics, eventually
helping her to become a sports jour-
nalist. She is currently a producer of
in-house video for Palace Sports and
Entertainment in Auburn Hills,
working with the Detroit Pistons
(basketball), Shock (women's basket-
ball) and Vipers (hockey).
"I consider Maccabi a culturally
Jewish experience. It didn't start out
that way for me. It was more social,"
she said.
"I think it's an important way for
people to meet others of their back-
ground. As a teenager, I didn't appre-
ciate my background and almost
tried to shy away from it a little bit.
I think the Maccabi Games have
helped me not to.
"I don't know if everybody goes
away with the same experience I
have," Genny said. "But this is my
contribution. I'm helping young
boys and girls learn to play a sport
and helping them be teenagers."
❑
International
Travel
Specialists
Please call for
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deluxe trip to Israel
X 2999 00
per person
Space is still available.
We specialize in
customized tours to
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Chamblee, GA 30341
770/451-9399
888/451-9399 Toll Free
770/451-0970 Fax
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