Detroit 14U boys basketball players like the taste of their bronze medals. Joining them are their coaches and Detroit 16U boys basketball players An Eizen and The Detroit girls fast-pitch softball team won a gold medal in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Dylan Backalar. Medals At Maccabi Swimmers lead the way with a baker's dozen. Steve Stein Contributing Writer were assistant coaches. A basketball player from another del- egation heard that the son of Dan Gilbert — best known in the sports world as the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and LaBron James' boss — played for Detroit. "So he ended up asking A.J. who was Dan Gilbert's son. A.J. said he'd never heard of the guy:' Fishman said with a laugh. W e continue our coverage of the 2015 JCC Maccabi Games & ArtsFest with news about Detroit swimmers, girls fast-pitch softball and 14U boys basketball teams and the teens who participated in ArtsFest. All the events were in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Pool Haul Detroit's swimmers brought home 13 medals. David Schmall was the leader of the pack. He won a gold medal in the 50 backstroke, a silver medal in the 100 back- stroke, 50 breaststroke, 100 butterfly, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay and a bronze medal in the 50 butterfly and 50 freestyle. Aaron Zelmanov and Taylor Golden Wise each won a silver medal in the 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay. Michael Umansky won a bronze medal in the 400 medley relay. Detroit coach Ronda Brodsky said she had a blast meeting people from all over the world like she did at previous Maccabi Games, noting there were large delegations of swimmers in Fort Lauderdale from Great Britain and Australia. "But the best thing as a coach is to see the same coaches year after year with some of the same swimmers:' she said. "It gives you a welcoming feeling and the kids build off that:' There always are plenty of memorable incidents at the Maccabi Games. One this year involved Detroit's swimmers. Brodsky said a swimmer from Philadelphia was listed as being from Detroit so before he received a medal, "I gave him a Detroit shirt to wear on the podium:' The JCC Cares community project for all the swimmers involved working at a 100 September 10 • 2015 Detroit swimmers David Schmall, Taylor Golden Wise, Michael Umansky and Aaron Zelmanov won 13 medals. Feeding South Florida food bank. "We learned a lot about teamwork and how much faster we got things together when we worked as a team:' said Brodsky, who helped the swimmers pack up boxes of food. Megan Satawa, Grace Sherbin, Jordyn Taylor, Jacqueline Spizizen, Alexandra Kamin and Jessica Verona. For its JCC Cares community project, the team did volunteer work at the Boys & Girls Club in Fort Lauderdale. Gold Times Two A.J. Who? It was another golden Maccabi Games for the Detroit girls fast-pitch softball team, which won its second consecutive gold medal after winning at home in 2014. After struggling in pool play in Fort Lauderdale, losing three of four games, Detroit never lost again. It won an extra- inning game to qualify for the champion- ship game. Aaron Sherbin was the team's coach and Larry Frommer and Zoe Schmerin were the assistant coaches. Players were Lucy Appel, Hannah Cherrin, Jenna Frommer, Sydney Gordon, Jordyn Kravitz, Sarah Lynch, Isabel and Samantha Randel, The Detroit 14U boys basketball team won a bronze medal. Coach Jeremy Fishman knows why. "We won the medal mostly because of the hard work of the kids who deserved it most, the ones who always showed up ready to play and always had a good atti- tude he said. The team's JCC Cares community proj- ect was to create cards for sick children who were patients at a children's hospital. Blake Zamler, Evan Vine, Benny Fellows, Jack Gurwin, Jordan Salesin, A.J. Gilbert, Mitchell Sherr and Gabe Barish were on the team. Sander Eizen and Jefrey Fishman You Gotta Have Art Seven teens from Detroit participated in ArtsFest. Celia Lipton, Benny Kirshner and Jake Rubin were in acting/improv. Caitlin Finery and Lily Kollin were in musical the- ater and Rachel Millman and Riley Steam were in visual arts. Other ArtsFest categories are culinary arts, performance dance, rock band, star reporter and vocal performance. More than 100 teens from Israel, Canada, Australia. Great Britain, Poland and across the U.S. participated in ArtsFest in Fort Lauderdale, double the turnout for ArtsFest in 2014 in Detroit. The annual ArtsFest Showcase was held at the Epstein Center for the Arts at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Fla. The showcase gives ArtsFest participants an opportunity to display their talents for an audience. It's a culmination of three days of workshops with artists-in-residence. Culinary arts students made appetizers that were served to audience members as they entered the Epstein Center and visual arts students displayed sculptures in a gal- lery. Two of the artists-in-residence in Fort Lauderdale — Lisa Melinn (acting/ improv) and Eric Gutman (musical the- ater) — are from the Detroit area. ❑ Please send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com .