To Life
Maccabi takes the distance away
from distant cousin.
Barry Bershad said it was the
team's most victories in at least
a decade.
Detroit won its first four
games handily before being
eliminated from the competition
by eventual gold-medal winner
New Jersey, 71-60. It was New
Jersey's closest game.
Forward Matt Broder
was Detroit's top scorer and
rebounder with 64 points and
28 boards in five games. The
other Detroit players were
Aaron Dillon, Max Farkas,
Brandon Joseff, Jarret
Levine, Brandon Potash,
Ian Sherman and Jordan
Silver.
This was a talented Detroit
team. Seven of the nine boys
played some level of high school
basketball last year, from fresh-
man through varsity.
Jonathan, Howard and Russell Fridson
Steve Stein
Special to The Jewish News
R
ussell Fridson traveled a
long distance to play in last
month's JCC Maccabi Games in
Vancouver. He never dreamed he'd meet a
distant cousin while he was there.
Fridson was a member of the JCC
Detroit Maccabi Club's boys 16-and-under
basketball team. His cousin, Jonathan
Fridson, played soccer for Winnipeg.
Russell is the son of Howard and Cathy
Fridson of Huntington Woods. Jonathan
is the son of Roberto and Mabel
Fridson of Winnipeg. It took some good
fortune to bring them together.
Marty Fridson of New York, Russell's
uncle, got the ball rolling when he received
an e-mail from Roberto and realized both
boys were in Vancouver for the Games.
Cathy heard the news from Marty and she
called Howard, who also was in Vancouver
as the Detroit boys 16-U basketball assis-
tant coach.
While Russell was watching another
Detroit Maccabi team play, Howard
went to a Winnipeg soccer game to find
Jonathan. Howard got to the venue in the
second half. He talked to Jonathan on
the field after the game and the two
34
September 7 • 2006
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shared a hug.
"I came up to Jonathan and introduced
myself:' Howard said. "He was shocked
when I told him I was a Fridson, too."
The teen cousins met for the first time
that night at the Vancouver JCC. "I saw
Jonathan walking by in a crowd of people
and I introduced the boys," Howard said.
Russell and Jonathan exchanged e-mail
addresses and plan to stay in touch.
"I never expected to find another
Fridson there. It was off the hook:' said
Russell, a Berkley High School senior.
The cousins' families are strikingly sim-
ilar. Howard and Cathy have three boys.
They are Nate, 23, Blake, 21, and Russell,
17. Roberto and Mabel also have three
boys. They are Diego, 23, Matias, 21, and
Jonathan, 16.
It also was a memorable Maccabi
Games on the basketball court for Russell.
The point guard dished out 33 assists as
Detroit went 4-1. Veteran Detroit coach
Detroit basketball: Front row, from left:
Brandon Potash, Ian Sherman, Jarret
Levine, Aaron Dillon, Jordan Silver.
Middle row: Russell Fridson, Max Farkas,
Matt Broder, Brandon Joseff.
Back row: coaches Howard Fridson and
Barry Bershad.
Food For Thought
Each Detroit Maccabi athlete
and coach is required to do a
mitzvah project before head-
ing to the Games. Tennis coaches Janice
Bloom and Jodi Neirynck took the
requirement a step further prior to the
trip to Vancouver.
"Because tennis is an individual sport,
we also wanted our guys to do a mitzvah
project as a team:' Neirynck said.
The coaches drove their nine players,
all boys, to the Yad Ezra kosher food
pantry in Berkley. The group spent two
hours working there.
In addition to bringing 131 pounds of
food with them, the coaches and players
picked through 480 pounds of strawber-
ries and several bags of Pepsi products,
discarding what couldn't be used, and
harvested and bagged nine pounds of
tomatoes.
Neirynck said working at Yad Ezra was
an eye-opening experience for the boys,
something many indicated they'd like to
do again.
"Janice and I chose Yad Ezra as a team
mitzvah project because it was a side of
being Jewish the boys probably hadn't
seen:' Neirynck said. "They realized how
truly fortunate they are as they watched
clients come in and get their food. We
were surprised to learn that one of every
27 Jews in metropolitan Detroit visits Yad
Ezra on a monthly basis."
Matt Bendix, Brandon Epstein,
Jacob Freeman, Tyler Friedman
and Justin Polk played in the boys
14-under division. Jordan Goodman,
Seth Samuels, Spencer Schram and
Eric Wolfe played in the boys 16-under
division. They didn't win any medals in
Vancouver, but they certainly had a win-
ning Maccabi experience there and at
home. ❑
More Maccabi results next week.
Please send sports news to
sports@thejewishnews.com .