Team Atlanta Learns the Value of Sportsmanship and Community During 2016 JCC Maccabi Games

115 Teen Athletes Bring Home 8 gold medals, 8 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals from Olympic-style Games in Columbus, OH and St. Louis, MO

Overall, Team Atlanta participated in more than eight sports, with teams including girls’ soccer and basketball; and boys’ soccer, basketball, baseball, and flag football, as well as individual events such as dance and tennis. Team Atlanta’s 20 medals included: eight gold medals, eight silver medals, and four bronze medals.

Libby Hertz, Chair of the 2016 JCC Maccabi Games for the MJCCA shares her experience in Columbus this summer, exclaiming, “I have been involved with the JCC Maccabi Games for nine years and I never tire of the impact that this program makes on the athletes, coaches, spectators and on the host community. Team Atlanta embodied the spirit of the JCC Maccabi Games, which emphasizes sportsmanship, goodwill, and a strong Jewish identity. Team Atlanta was polite and respectful and each one of our athletes showed compassion and kindness. I am incredibly proud to have been able to be a part of this team,” says Hertz. “Thank you, Team Atlanta parents, for sharing your kids with us. You have given them an incredible gift in sending them on this journey, one that they will remember for a lifetime.”

MJCCA delegation heads included: Libby Hertz, Jacob Sabel and Jack Vangrofsky in Columbus, OH; and Stacie Graff, Art Seiden, and Phil Kahn in St. Louis, MO.

MJCCA’s Medal Winners included:

Team Atlanta-Columbus:

• U-16 Girls Soccer won Gold, coached by Jack Vangrofsky and Ryan Pollard.
• U-16 Boys Baseball won Gold, coached by Todd Starr, Tommy Carola and Daniel Kaufman.
• U-16 Boys Basketball won Gold, coached by Brian Seitz and Jacob Gluck.
• U-16 Boys Soccer won Bronze, coached by Bob Meyer and Roey Shoshan.
• Our tennis team won Silver U-16 Boys Recreational Division, and Bronze U-16 Boys Competitive Division.

St. Louis Delegation:

• U-14 Boys Baseball won Silver, coached by Michael Cohen, Tyler Andrews, and David Levy.
• U-14 Boys Soccer played with amazing ruach and passion for the game all week. The team was coached by Mike Wolff and Daren Silberman.
• U-16 Girls Basketball played hard and came home with the Midot medal, a sportsmanship medal that is awarded by coaches for embodying the JCC Maccabi Games core values of repairing the world (tikkun olam), respect (kavod), joy (rina), pride (ga’ava), big-hearted (lev tov), and Jewish peoplehood (amiut yehudit). The team was awarded its Midot medal by the U-16 Girls Basketball team from Israel. Team Atlanta U-16 Girls Basketball was coached by Michael Feldman and Mike Radetsky.
• U-14 Boys Basketball fought till the end and came in 4^th place, coached by Kenny Silverboard and Arron Critchfeld.
• U-16 Boys Flag Football team won Silver, coached by Ronald McRae and Jared Khan.

Our dancers brought home a collection of medals in:

• Silver Student Choreography
• Silver U-14 Girls Lyrical Duet
• Bronze U-14 Girls Jazz Group Dance

The Atlanta Track and Field Team racked up medals in: 

• Gold 800 M
• Silver 800 M
• Silver 300 M Hurdles
• Gold 110 M Hurdles
• Gold 5x200 M
• Gold 4x400 M

Our tennis team, coached by Jonathan Elster and Mark Brown won:

• Gold U-14 Boys Recreational Division
• Silver U-14 Boys Recreational Division
• Bronze U-14 Boys Recreational Division
• Silver U-14 Girls Competitive Division
• Silver U-14 Boys Recreational Division 

When asked their favorite memory from the 2016 JCC Maccabi Games, our athletes enthusiastically shared their experiences:   

“I liked meeting new people from all around the country, out of the country, and connecting with them and sharing our lives.”  -Team Atlanta Dancer

The JCC Maccabi Games sets themselves apart from other sports competitions with its community service component. The JCC Cares program allows athletes to give back to the host community that has graciously offered them remarkable hospitality for the week. Through JCC Cares in Columbus, the athletes entertained local, senior citizens with stories and talent, and played with athletes in a Special Olympics program. In St. Louis, athletes packed more than 150,000 meals during JCC Cares for the St. Louis Foodbank.

About the JCC Maccabi Games®

The JCC Maccabi Games are an Olympic-style sporting competition held each summer in North America. The Games are the largest, organized sports program for Jewish teens in the world. The Maccabi Movement began in 1895 when the first all-Jewish sports club was formed in Constantinople. The first world Maccabiah Games were held in Israel in 1932. This two-week competition takes place every four years and has featured many world-class Jewish athletes including: Mark Spitz (swimming), Mitch Gaylord (gymnastics), Ernie Grunfeld and Danny Schayes (basketball), and Brad Gilbert and Dick Savitt (tennis).

The first North American JCC Maccabi Games were held in 1982. Since then, the JCC Maccabi Games have grown from a small pilot project in one host community, to a sporting competition held each summer in multiple sites throughout North America. Atlanta hosted the Games during its 25th anniversary, in 2007. Today, more than 5,000 teens, ranging from 12 to 16 years of age, participate in the JCC Maccabi Games each summer.

The Games are co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Center Association of North America, Maccabi World Union, Maccabi Canada, and Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel.

(1)MACgirlssoccermedalists.jpg
(2)MACBoysbaseball.jpg
(3)MACtennis.jpeg
(4)MACDancers.jpg
(5)MAC-JCC-Cares.jpg

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: Libby Hertz and Stacie Graff

Photo Captions (1-5):

• U-16 Girls Soccer team celebrating as gold medal winners in Columbus, OH.
• U-16 Boys Baseball relishing a silver medal win in St. Louis, OH, beating the rain, a shift in their tournament schedule, and tough competition.
• U-16 Boys Competitive Tennis bronze medalist makes a fierce return on the court.
• U-14 Girls Lyrical Duet division winners performing their lyrical duet entitled, “Tears in the Ocean” that earned them bronze medals in Dance.
• U-14 Boys Basketball players take time out to give back to the community as they pack meals for the St. Louis, MO Foodbank during JCC Cares, a community service component of the JCC Maccabi Games®.

Media Contact: Lesley Gamwell, 678.812.4134 lesley.gamwell@atlantajcc.org    

Program Contact: Stacie Graff, 678.812.3972 stacie.graff@atlantajcc.org

###