Sports
Games Reflect
Diversity
Two-hundred special athletes
frolic at 17th annual Fame Games.
BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News
Above: Austin
Chad, 9, of Royal
Oak takes first
place in the
50-yard race.
fter facing two straight
years of bad weather, par-
ticipants and volunteers in
the annual West
Bloomfield Community Fame Games
had a sunny and warm late summer
day last Sunday for the 17th annual
event that showcases the athletic abili-
ties of children and adults with special
needs.
A diverse group of more than 200
athletes and an equal number of vol-
unteers — giving one-on-one assis-
tance — took part in the Sept. 7
games at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield.
Some athletes were so excited, they
arrived a few hours early. They all
Right: Robert
Rossetto, 12,
ofMilford
zooms ahead to
the finish line.
To Meet Sept. 14
Maccabi Girls
Win Silver Medal
The Jewish Community Center swim
team, the Center Hurricanes, will have
a pre-season swimming evaluation ses-
sion 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, at the
JCC in West Bloomfield.
The team is sanctioned by U.S.
Swimming and practices Sundays, 1-4
p.m., and Monday-Thursday from 5 to
6:30 p.m. or 7-9 p.m., depending on
ability.
Dena Bernstein Fields has been
named to coach the Hurricanes. A
swimmer in high school and college,
she has been an assistant swim coach
with the Detroit Maccabi Club for the
past 12 years.
For information or advance registra-
tion for the Hurricanes, call Heather
Whelan at the JCC, (248) 432-5502.
The Detroit Maccabi Club girls vol-
leyball team took second place at the
teen JCC Maccabi Games in
Palisades, N.J., last month.
Detroit faced defeated Palisades
Blue, 25-11, 25-13, and the same
day defeated the eventual bronze
medal winning Palisades White, 25-
19, 25-16.
The next day, Detroit played an
experienced Israeli squad and lost,
25-12, 25-19. In the afternoon,
Detroit came back to beat Delaware,
25-19, 25-14. Detroit swept
Bensonhurst the next day 25-6, 25-
8.
Seeded second to Israel, Detroit
had a bye to start Thursday. In the
last match before the medal games,
JCC Swimmers
9/12
2003
92
started the event with an enthusiastic
Olympics-style procession into the
main JCC lobby, concluding with the
lighting of the Fame Games torch.
"All of the games are held inside
now to avoid weather problems and
keep the athletes more comfortable,
but the wonderful weather this year
made things more pleasant and kept
everyone in a good mood," said Joyce
Weckstein of Southfield, who received
a special award for being volunteer
chairperson the entire 17 years.
"We achieved another success and
every athlete was a winner," added _
Nancy Furgang, JCC special needs
director. "They do their personal best,
and we do our personal best for the
community."
Judy Taub of West Bloomfield has
been a volunteer all 17 years, and said
Silver medal
volleyball team
Detroit defeated Palisades White in
two back-and-forth games, 25-22,
25-23.
In the gold medal game, Israel
showed what three practices a week
for a year can do for a team,
although even their
coach admitted that Detroit's girls
passed the ball better than any team
he had seen. Although Israel won the
final 25-11, 25-14, 25-16, Israel
used no substitutes and was forced to