sports

Fun And Games

After playing host in 2008, Detroit teams visit four
cities for the JCC Maccabi Games in August.

K

Alan Hitsky

Associate
te Editor

aren Gordon sees residual
benefits to hosting 2,000
Jewish teen athletes last
summer. In the afterglow of
a very successful JCC Maccabi Games
here in Detroit, the local delegation has
a certain cache the following year.
"The kids are always proud to rep-
resent Detroit, but now they represent
everyone who helped out and everyone
who participated last year."

Gordon, a wife, mother and school
teacher, was Games director in 2008
and is Detroit's delegation head in
2009.
One of the benefits of being a
previous host city, she said, is that
limited spaces tend to be offered
to previous host delegations when
slots become available. "We don't
have a younger baseball team [age
14 and under]," Gordon said, but
we were able to add four kids to
help another delegation. That's a
win-win for us."

A host community adds local
athletes to its own Games to improve
competition and have more host
families. Detroit had more than 400
athletes on its team last year. But
visiting teams are limited by host
cities and there is always a drop-off in
numbers after a delegation hosts.
The economy and availability of
scholarships also are a factor, but
Gordon said the Detroit delegation of
150 "is about where we were before."
ArtsFest, which is a separate
program under the Maccabi

umbrella, has more than doubled
to 16 Detroit participants this year.
`It's just great to get kids into the
experience," said Gordon, "and not
everyone is an athlete." She lauded
the passion of ArtsFest delegation
head Dalia Keen.
Gordon said another benefit to
being a host city last year is that, in
addition to the great veteran volunteer
coaches, "we attracted some
wonderful new coaches." All of the
adults are volunteers who pay their
expenses to and at the Games. ❑

Detroit Delegations

San Francisco, Aug. 2-7

Delegation head, Stuart Bass
• Soccer, 14 and under boys,
Coach David Schwartz, Samuel
Kepes, Lorne Newhouse, Brett
Rubenfire, Al Yerman.
• Soccer, 16 and under girls,
Coach Franci Silver, Coach Larry
Silver, Rebecca Fedder, Sarah
Hoberman, Stacey Indianer,
Rachel Lubin, Alyssa Neff, Emily
Rozin, Ashley Silbert.
• Track, Coach Leslie Mangas,
Nicole Meisner, Jenna Pickman,
Max Sandberg, Emery Weiss.

San Antonio, Aug. 9-14

Delegation head, Barry Bershad
• Basketball, 16 and under
boys, Coach Eric Leib, Jeremy
Fishman, Seth Goldman,
Jarrod Kohlenberg, Joey
Leshman, Jesse Medina, Omar
Oppenheim, Mitchell Shecter,
Logan Smith, Max Unger.
• Bowling, Brandon Shulman.

Orange County, Calif.,
Aug. 9-14

Maccabi ArtsFest
Delegation head, Dalia Keen,
Coach Adina Pergament
• Film and TV Production, Tilly
Behrmann, Alex Levine, Alison
Hacker.
• Rock Music, Koby Berman.
• Musical Theater, Emily
Fishman, David Kaplovitz, Jenna
Sperling.

• Vocal Music, Jamie Hacker,
Erika Lowenthal.
• Digital Photography, Rachel
Brunhild, Madison Meltzer, Dylan
Keen, Jessica Polk.
• Visual Art, Ryan Simpson,
Rebecca Stroster, Haley Jacobs.

Westchester, N.Y., Aug.
16-21

Delegation head, Karen Gordon
• Baseball, 14 and under
boys, Coach Brad Schwartz,
Michael Klar, Evan Paul, Teddy
Sallen, Zachary Warren.
• Baseball, 16 and under
boys, Coach Mort Meisner,
Assistant Coach Gary Bistrow,
Ryan Bloom, Matt Fagan, Brett
Felsenfeld, Jared lshbia, Kevin
Malerman, Adam McDowell,
Mark Meisner, Josh Randolph,
Jason Schreiber.
• Basketball, 14 and under
boys, Coach Steve Weiss,
Dylan Deitch, Andrew Forbes,
Ben Greene, Evan Ketai, Brett
Schwartz, Brad Sloan, Zachary
Smolar, Ivan Spizzen, Eric
Weiss.
• Dance, Coach Allie Rubin,
Sivan Bachar, Jamie Gildenberg,
Jaclyn Nagel, Eve Sherbin,
Allison Swimmer.
• Basketball, girls, Coach
Adam Bornstein, Claire Bogrow,
Rachel Bornstein, Leah Cohen,
Stephanie Curhan, Jaime
Lederman, Reva McDowell,

Ariana Terebelo, Lauren Tisdale,
Carly Wolf.
• Golf, Hunter Bielfield, Jacob
Bielfield, Sam Kent.
• Inline Hockey, Coach Bryan
Robbins, Assistant Coach Mark
Lipson, Jacob Charlip, Jamie
Daniels, Max Dubin, Jordan
Emmer, Jarrett Friedland, Austin
Goodman, Tyler Hantman, Dylan
Kamen, Brian Lipson, Andrew
Murphy, Josh Raider, Zach
Rogow, Ethan Weinfeld.
• Swimming, Coach Herb
Bernstein, Assistant Coach Sybil
Offen, Assistant Coach Joel
Elconin, Emily Elconin, Jonathan
Greenberger, Andrew Jacob.
Zoe Lis, Jason Sherbel, Brandon
Sherbel, Merrill Watzman, Barry
Zeltzer.
• Tennis, Coach Jodi
Neirynck, Assistant Coach
Eric Wolfe, Ben Beltser, Josh
Breitman, Adam Cutler, Ian
Kobernick, Jacob Kroll, Noah
Newman, Cameron Peres,
Rheanna Henney, Jake Singer,
Alison Margolis.
• Volleyball, Coach Brad
Steele, Lauren Gold, Hannah
Grossman, Batsheva Honig, Lilli
Malach, Sydney Rosen, Allie
Rubin, Rachel Salle, Melissa
Weiss, Baylee Werner.
• Volleyball Mixed, Coach
Ami Ram, Brittani Friedland, Alli
Lisner, Anna Sherbin.

Karen Gordon talked to parents and athletes at a

Detroit team meeting July 26.

Baylee Werner, 13, of West Bloomfield shows off one

of her volleyball jerseys.

Carrying Detroit team bags is exciting for Anna

Sherbin, 13, of West Bloomfield.

July 30 • 2009

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