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Team GB Maccabiah Games coverage

Team Maccabi GB scoop first medals of Maccabiah Games

BY DAVID SAFFER

Maccabiah debutants Team GB girls lacrosse team has claimed at a silver medal at the 20th Maccabiah Games. Competing for the first time in the games the result was an outstanding result during the opening few days action, despite losing the gold medal match to the USA. The Lacrosse team had opened their account with a first ever win at the Maccabiah when they defeated Israel 17-15 in overtime. A thrilling match had finished 15-15 so both teams agreed to play on until someone came out victorious.

Team GB came through and after losing to USA 18-6 in the second group game, defeated Israel 9-3 in the semi-final shoot out to earn another shot at Team USA in the gold medal match in Netanya.

Amy Ansell who set up the team flew out for a surprise visit to see the semi-final clash. “It was an epic game so they have now definitely won a medal,” said an elated Amy, who flew back to London after the game. “The atmosphere was incredible, with parents and supporters excellent.”

Elsewhere, Jonah Alfert picked up the first medal for Team GB when he won bronze in the U55kg category prior to Phil Bloom winning bronze in Masters Judo over100kg category. More Team GB success came in team events with the junior girls and masters’ mens table tennis winning silver in the team event, and junior boys winning bronze.

As the sporting action began in earnest, the U18 Badminton squad kicked off its campaign. Eleanor Levy, 15, who has only been playing the sport for six months won her opening encounter against India. “I came out with very low

Opening ceremony in-depth coverage on Page 24-25 ALL PHOTO CREDITS: DANI DEITCH

expectations and didn’t think I’d win a match so it’s amazing to win a game at the Maccabiah,” she said. “The Team GB spirit, everything surrounding the trip has been amazing, it’s an experience of a lifetime.”

“I’m very excited about playing against Israel and Turkey,” added teammate Ariella Aaronson. “I’ve not been playing for long so mostly came for the experience and it’s been amazing.”

Despite losing their opening clashes, taking part in a Maccabiah has been a positive experience for Joseph Gavzey and Joel Winston, who both chalked up 11 points but went down to the Israeli number

one and two seeds in their opening group stage match. “It’s going to be really tough but we are trying our hardest,” said Joseph. “I’ve been training for two years to get into the team and it’s been worth it, the experience has been incredible.

Being here has been greater than my expectations.

“I’m very much enjoying it,” commented Joel. “It’s exciting, meeting new people and playing against amazing players that I’d not normally come up against.

“There was only a slim chance of getting through the group so to be part is great.”

Team GB Cricket defeated Israel by 85 runs. Marc Reinhold scored

87 and Adam Brand 51 in a total of 187-9 before rattling out Israel for 102 with Ben Lederman taking 5-15 and Steven Reingold 3-31.

In early futsal fixtures the U16

Boys drew with Israel 2-2 whilst the U18s thumped Italy 6-2 then lost heavily to Spain 6-1. The junior CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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U16s drew with Canada then hit four goals in victories over Italy and Venezuela. The U18 side also drew with Israel then enjoyed superb wins against Spain 2-1 and Germany 2-0. As for the open men team, following a hard fought 1-1 draw with Australia they won close

Master Tennis Humberto Ismajovic and Andrew Shindler

contest 1-0 against USA. And the Masters 35s drew 1-1 with Israel prior to a 3-1 loss to Chile, whilst the Masters 45s enjoyed a 2-1 victory against Peru. Australia and Canada defeated the Girls and Women’s team respectively.

In junior tennis there were wins for Sam Radiven, Adam Bolchover, Ben Felt and Jamie Osrin while Josh Hennes lost his opening encounter.

But Issy Brand, Katy Spalter, Jasmine Randall, Charlotte Salt and Joe Salt all lost. In masters tennis, Alan Rechtman, Diana Gold, Robert Ollman, Alex Barnett, David Mattey, Sarah Schechter and Sheldon Sussman all claimed wins in opening encounters. Great Britain taking on Australia in open football

Opening ceremony draws huge crowd of over 30,000

BY DAVID SAFFER

Around thirty thousand athletes and supporters from around the world attended the opening ceremony of the 20th Maccabiah games at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. Televised live on Israel’s Channel 2 news, the ‘Jewish Olympics’ is the world’s third-largest sporting event and attracts athletes from eighty countries over a two-week period in July. Participants are competing for over two thousand medals in forty-five different sports across eight cities in Israel.

Rio Olympic gold medalist, American swimmer Anthony Ervin, who also won gold at Sydney 2000, lit the Olympic flame at the end of an emotive night with a theme celebrating fifty years since the reunification of Jerusalem.

Athletes also honored as torchbearers were Israeli NBA basketball star Omri Casspi, together with Israeli Olympic medalists Yarden Gerbi and Or Sasson, Israeli paralympic medalist Moran Samuel and French Olympic swimming star Fabien Gilot. Following the lighting ceremony athletes and supporters passionately sang the Israeli national anthem.

The opening ceremony began with a Maccabi youth movement flag parade.Twenty years on from when a bridge collapsed at the 1997 Games, claiming the lives of a number of Australian athletes, the crowd erupted as the Aussie delegation of six hundred athletes entered the stadium for the athletes’ parade. Delegations which

followed included Great Britain, with a four hundred-strong contingent led out by seven-time veteran competitor Bernie Davidson, whose granddaughters, Jazi and Ella, were competing for the first time in football and netball teams respectively. “Carrying the flag at the opening ceremony made me feel like twenty-one years old again,” reflected lawn bowler Bernie. “And having my granddaughters, Jazi and Ella, behind me was a great experience. It was a real honour carrying the flag, I was very surprised and it absolutely lived up to my expectations.”

He added, “The whole package of the Maccabiah is wonderful, you meet so many people from around the world that come up and greet you, and the opening ceremony is unique here in Jerusalem. The Maccabiah is all about what you put into it. You work hard and play hard but the most important thing is sportsmanship.”

Aside from the two-and-a-half thousand person Israeli delegation, the USA had the largest group of eleven-hundred athletes.

At the other end of the spectrum just one competitor represented Portugal and Taiwan, whilst China sent its first ever delegation.

“The opening ceremony was immense. The performances, teams and atmosphere was absolutely brilliant,” said badminton player Joseph Gavzey. “The ceremony was unbelievable, it’s so difficult to put into words,” added teammate Eleanor Levy.“Walking out was scary but you felt really special knowing you had got there

and everyone was there to support you.”

“Just to experience the opening ceremony was is what I hoped it would be,” commented Ariella Aaronson, also a member of the badminton side. “You see the ceremony in the Olympics, so to see what it feels like when a team walks out, to get that rush of energy and excitement with all the lights flashing around was really special.”

Team GB had a large section of vocal supporters in a passionate crowd, following their family

members. For some the ceremomy is a four-yearly event, for others a first visit. The Schweiger family is following footballer Danny and his daughter Ella, playing for the under-sixteen girls team. Attending the Maccabiah has been an ongoing theme going back many games. Dad Tommy commented, “Being here makes me proud to be a Jew and I’ll cry when the Hatikva is played. The comradeship my family has had through the Maccabiah movement, especially in the UK, goes back years. We have made so many friends and

The huge crowd enjoying the opening ceremony

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it’s all about being here. If you win then it’s a bonus.”

“We’re following the under-eighteens football team,” said Susie Margolis from Manchester, who was with husband Simon and daughter Sadie. “We’ve managed to catch a word with Harry at the end of games, which is great. The ceremony is an amazing experience, the atmosphere is fantastic.”

Joanne and David Winston are at the Maccabiah watching son Joel play in the badminton CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

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tournament. “When Joel made the team and learnt more about the Maccabiah we had to come,” David said. “We’ve come with a blank sheet of paper and have had a wonderful time, the opening ceremony was incredible.”

President Reuven Rivlin officially opened the games, prior to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing athletes in a packed crowd.

The Israeli Premier recounted experiences of his own sporting endeavours as a wrestler when he broke an arm as a teenager and then a leg playing soccer. Relating the story of the Maccabees liberating Jerusalem against all odds 2,200 years ago, he exclaimed, “The Maccabees liberated Jerusalem, they made us free and independent. Centuries later, when our people were dispersed, homeless, totally incapable of defending ourselves, we suffered the greatest tragedy known in the history of man. And yet, we came back, rebuilt

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Proudly representing GB at the opening ceremony

our land, re-established our state and rebuilt an army. “The people of Israel are strong and the State of Israel is strong.”

He continued, “Welcome to Israel, welcome to Jerusalem. Good luck to you all.” Prime Minister Netanyahu noted the event was the largest since it began 85 years ago. Summing up the spirit of the games, he noted, “The sporting spirit pushes us to break down the barriers of the body and soul. This is the spirit we expect from you today in the competitions on the sports fields and in the swimming pools. Together, we will join in

the true festival of sport.”

Israel’s Premier also recalled the 1997 tragedy and Israeli athletes murdered by terrorists at the Munich Olympics in 1972, some who were Maccabiah champions. “Our hearts are with their families,” he lamented.

Declaring the games open, Prime Minister Netanyahu hoped for “uplifting days, record-breaking moments; personal records, national and international records.” Signing off, he said, “Our land is your land, our home is your home.”

Abraham Klein, World Cup referee from 1970 when England famously played Brazil, gave the officials’ pledge to be fair and objective in accordance with the International Charter of Sports. Good-luck messages to the athletes also came from Olympic and Maccabiah legend Mark Spitz, British Prime Minister Theresa May and other world leaders, via pre-recorded videos.

Flag bearers for Israel

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Rabbis draw with Spurs legends in charity match

Moshe Lewis slots the ball into the far corner

The Rabbis talking tactics before the game

A team pic to celebrate charity and football

For all enquiries please contact Deborah on 020 8349 5268 Finchley Synagogue Kinloss Gardens London N3 3DU banqueting@kinloss.org.uk www.kinlossevents.co.uk

Moshe Lewis celebrating his goal

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Maccabi GB and UJIA unite British and Israeli youth in the Galil

BY DAVID SAFFER

Team Maccabi GB junior athletes volunteered at UJIA-funded projects in northern Israel the day before the 20th Maccabiah Games commenced, during a three-day pre-camp. Two hundred teens aged 14-18 participated in a new initiative between the two organisations, linking up with three-hundred-and-fifty Israeli children in the deprived Galil region to learn about the charitable work taking place and to run sports activities.

The project took place across Carmiel Children’s Village, the Youth Futures mentoring programme in Akko, the Equalizer football programme in Shfar’am and a summer camp in Shlomi.

Grace Alexander, 16, ran a wheelbarrow race and other activities in Shfar’am. “The highlight was getting to know the kids,” she enthused. “It was a challenge to get over the language barrier but we succeeded by using simple words in English and Arabic along with actions and hand gestures.” Lior Tapnack, 17, added, “It’s been great to spend time with kids not as fortunate as we are. Having now spent time with them it’s amazing to see how football can unite us all.”

Jake Mincovitch, 16, from Leeds, who was at Carmiel Children’s Village where UJIA is renovating dormitories, met young people not able to live with their families. Jake was part of a group

running a water balloon toss station, water gun targeting and long jump. He said, “It was a really good experience to meet such great kids and was lots of fun.”

Based in Zichron Yaakov, Maccabi GB athletes had already learnt about Jewish philanthropy and its role in supporting the first Aliya to Israel in the 19th century. Youngsters had also heard about NILI, the Jewish spy movement that assisted the British in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I and an inspiring story of Sarah Aaronson, a Jewish heroine, who gave her life for a future State of Israel. The squad then visited the Ghetto Fighters Museum where they heard about the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, and the museum and kibbutz founded by survivors.

General team manager Joel Nathan led a memorial service.

Junior squads concluded precamp by visiting Beit Halochem, a rehabilitation centre for wounded IDF soldiers. Tamara Schindler of the junior management GB Team was one of four people responsible for running the initiative with a theme of facing adversity. “We wanted junior squads to know how we face adversity as Jews, how it’s been faced in the past in our history and how it is relevant today,” she explained. “In Acco, children younger than our squads might have had seriously disadvantaged backgrounds and faced adversity in their everyday lives.

“We ran bonding sessions to

create a feeling of unity. Some children had never met anyone not from Israel so there was a language barrier, but we worked though it as a team. Beit Halochem is a rehabilitation centre for wounded IDF soldiers and is one of the most interesting places we have been to on any trip, it was absolutely fascinating. I’ve never seen so many young people engaged for such a long time. It was an incredible experience. After talks, it was interactive. We played wheelchair basketball and tennis, and there was also blind shooting.”

She added, “We heard talks about adversity that war veterans had to overcome. One veteran was in a helicopter accident and survived when his co-pilot died. He told us his first thought was why had he survived? He realised he’d been given a second chance so didn’t want to quit. Veterans were living a new life and learning from their body to move forward. For many people Beit Halochem was the highlight of pre-camp and I’m really glad we got to visit it.”

Aside from the junior squads, eighty GB Open athletes took part in educational touring including visits to the Ghetto Fighters Museum and Beit Halochem. All athletes reflected on pre-camp experiences to end the programme prior to the opening ceremony in Jerusalem. UJIA chief executive Michael Wegier said, “This is one of the biggest youth volunteering encounters by British teenagers in

GB athletes and Israeli children at the pre camp

Israel. Combined with the educational activities which made up the programme, I feel we have given our athletes a really meaningful encounter with the Israel of today.”

Maccabi GB chief executive Martin Berliner commented, “Being in Israel has given us the chance to see first-hand the wonderful work UJIA are doing across a broad number of vital initiatives.

It’s been a privilege to bring hundreds of young British people to

not only visit the projects but actively engage with young people of their own age but from very different backgrounds. It’s been a most humbling experience.”

He added, “Maccabi GB and UJIA will remain committed to educating and empowering the next generation of British Jewry to ensure our long-term future both in the diaspora and Israel. This experience will live long in the memory for all concerned.”

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