Dear Friends,
Wow! Wow! All I can think to start this email with is amazement.
This past week has been an inspiring experience to share with all of our JCC Maccabi Games teens and families. If you hadn’t heard – we just spent a week in California competing at the Maccabi Games with 61 teen athletes from the Philadelphia area and Philly JCC Community!
Our athletes have played hard, cheered loudly, made friends, given back to the community, and so much more. The coaches and I are so proud of each and every one of our athletes and everything they have accomplished this past week.
And now, we are all flying home after having the experience of a lifetime!
One of our coaches, Harrison put together the message below before we left for the games, and it is worth sharing! I am glad all of our athletes, coaches, and families had the experience we were all hoping for!
Check out our Facebook to look through posts from our time in California! Spoiler alert: we are bringing home a lot of medals!!
Shabbat Shalom,
Barrie
After two years of no Maccabi Games, the coaches, parents and kids are counting the minutes until they board the plane for the 2022 Games in San Diego next week. All of our boys are participating for the first time and do not know yet the wonderful experience they will have at the games. Our parents are as excited as the kids and very supportive.
“I am excited to meet Jewish people all around the world and compete against some of the best u16 Jewish basketball players around the world.” -Theo Novick 2022 Team
We enjoyed our Annual Philly Maccabi Alumni Game last night at the JCC, and filled the boys with tons of enthusiasm about the JCC Maccabi experience, the games, the fun, the activities and the community involvement.
At the alumni game, which is always an incredible event, we had an amazing veteran group, including Jack Stern, who was just inducted into inaugural Philadelphia Maccabi Hall of Fame. Stern was part of our 2017-2018 back-to-back Gold Medal teams in St. Louis and Miami, and is one of our many Philly Maccabi Alum who has gone on to play in college.
“I would first have to say that being part of the Philly Maccabi program is where I feel I learned how to become a true team player. The camaraderie displayed at Maccabi events is unmatched to any other sports organization I’ve been a part of. I owe so many thanks to not only Maccabi as a whole, but my teammates and Coach H for making me the player and person I am today.” -Jack Stern 2016-2018 Gold Medal Teams
Our alumni are very involved as well, Sam Ostry who is also a member of our Inaugural Hall of Fame class, participated in the Maccabiah games in Israel as a team journalist for Team USA, representing Philadelphia Basketball with with Marc Zumoff former 76ers announcer and lead Maccabiah journalist for Team USA.
“The JCC Maccabi games was the best week of my summer for the four years I participated. Not only was it an opportunity to play the sport I love in another city and create invaluable experiences and memories, but it allowed me to create lifelong relationships with incredible people that have become family.” -Sam Ostry 2015-2018 Gold Medal Teams
Looking forward to a great time in San Diego and continuing with our rich Philly Maccabi culture!
Shabbat shalom,
Coach H
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