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Maccabi Games 2008
ON THE COVER
Ready To Roll!
The Maccabi teens, and hundreds of Detroiters, will make it happen.
Alan Hitsky
Associate Editor
Kretchmer says.
The Maccabi participants will spend
Monday night with their host families.
Several congregations and some neigh-
borhoods have planned barbecues. On
Thursday, following championship rounds
in some sports, the teens will be bussed to
the Michigan State Fair in Detroit for the
Federation-sponsored "Fair To Remember"
Israel 60th anniversary celebration. There
will be an informal closing ceremony and
passing of the torch to 2009 Maccabi host
communities at the end of the evening.
Kretchmer has been struck by the passion
of Maccabi. Never involved with Maccabi
before — his own children are 9 and 11 —
he has been impressed with the volunteers
and the JCC professionals. "These people
don't miss meetings; he says, "and they are
always prepared and ready to go. They are
very passionate about giving non-Detroit
people a Detroit experience'
S
unday at 7 p.m. promises to be the
start of the largest, loudest and
arguably most festive party the
Detroit Jewish community has ever thrown.
At 7 p.m., 2,700 Jewish teenagers from
around the world will begin parading into
the Palace of Auburn Hills to kick off the JCC
Maccabi Games. The five-day event is packed
full of athletics, social events and volunteer
opportunities for the teens. But it couldn't
happen without the support of hundreds of
community volunteers who will host the out-
of-towners in their homes, carry water and
answer questions, arrange for the transporta-
tion network, feed 3,000 athletes and coaches
daily and do a myriad of other behind-the
scenes activities to make the Games work.
Detroit's fourth time hosting the JCC
Maccabi Games has been in the planning
stages for nearly two years. Detroit Maccabi
Club activists Karen Gordon, the Detroit
Games director, and Dr. Harold Friedman,
Games chairman, recruited the volunteer
chairs. Many are veterans of the previous
Games in Detroit: 1984, 1990 and 1998.
The man responsible for Sunday night's
opening ceremonies and the Tuesday and
Wednesday social evenings at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield is still
trying to figure out how he raised his hand.
But Geoff Kretchmer, president of Star Trax
Event Productions in Southfield, knows the
events will be great.
Special Events
Two National Basketball Association own-
ers have been generously involved, says
Kretchmer. Bill Davidson of the Detroit
Pistons has provided the opening ceremo-
nies venue, as well as the flash of the Pistons'
pyrotechnic show. Dan Gilbert, owner of the
Cleveland Cavaliers and Rock Financial, will
be co-emcee with Nate Forbes, of the Forbes
Co. and one of Detroit Maccabi's baseball
coaches. Mike Stone of WDFN sports talk
radio will assist with live interviews through
the evening.
Kretchmer is planning continuous enter-
tainment for 15,000 parents and guests, plus
the athletes. From the time the teens join
their teams at 6 p.m. until they return to
their host families at 9, he will have videos
from Israel and past Maccabi Games, a laser
light show, Southfield High School's award-
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Hillary Kahn, 16, of West Bloomfield passes the ball.
winning drum line, the Dan-Nate-Stoney
show, a torch-lighting ceremony and some
surprises.
Tuesday evening for the teens, Kretchmer
has scheduled Maccabistock ("Think
Woodstock:' he says) on Sachse Field behind
the JCC. Bands will include Soul Sisters, Jam
Society with Ari Teitel on bass, and Oliver
Future. "We'll have beach balls, beads and
fake tattoos, like in the '60s:' says Kretchmer,
"and a D.J. from Star Trax"
The in-line hockey arena will house
inflatables for the teens to play on and the
blacktopped parking lot outside will hold the
food service.
Wednesday evening, the teens will be back
at the JCC for a different kind of party — So
You Think You Can Dance. He envisions a
"really hot" disco/dance effect with special
lighting and a mobile arcade. "Our goal is
to make it interactive, to keep them danc-
ing and to make the two events different:'
The Venues
Jesse Polan is a business consultant in
Farmington Hills, a former Little League
baseball coach in Franklin and a veteran
Maccabi golf, basketball and baseball coach
and delegation assistant. With the Games in
Detroit next week, he took on an even bigger
assignment.
By the side of his office desk are 12 blue,
three-inch, Maccabi loose-leaf binders.
Behind his chair, a 36-inch lateral file drawer
is completely filled with even more Maccabi
materials.
Polan was asked in February 2007 to be
the Detroit Games athletics chairman. For
the last few months, ifs been a full-time job.
He and his committee have spent most
of their time securing 20 athletic sites for
14 sports, building an athletic committee of
more than 100, writing job descriptions for
23 volunteer activities, and recruiting and
training people for the 926 volunteer slots
needed just for the athletic venues. Several
veterans on his committee are hiring the
paid officials.
"There are lots of people helping in many,
many ways," Polan said last month. "We just
need more:' He's especially worried about
having enough volunteers on Monday, the
first day of competition. "It's the beginning,
and there tends to be a lot of confusion:'
But people and organizations have
been generous with their time and dona-
tions. Many of his volunteers are taking