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Baltimoreans Gear Up For Maccabi Magic

Participants from previous JCC Maccabi Games will tell you there is something magical about the entire experience, both on and off the playing fields. New memories and friendships will soon be forming as 164 athletes and 34 coaches, representing Baltimore in 13 sports, will be competing in August in three cities –– San Diego, Akron and Detroit.

One athlete embarking on his fourth and final Maccabi Games is 16-year old Adam Belzberg of Pikesville. In fact, he will be competing in his fourth different sport. Adam has been a member of the tennis, soccer and track and field teams.

“The first year I wanted to do something I was good at and it was fun. The second year I had friends playing soccer. I also saw all the swimmers and track and field athletes winning medals so last year I did track and field and won six medals,” he said. “This year I’m playing my favorite sport, basketball.”

He will compete in Akron. About this year’s team he added, “We’re pretty good but we don’t know about the competition yet.”

A junior at Gilman School, where he plays basketball, tennis and volleyball, Adam relishes the overall Maccabi experience.

“It’s a great chance to meet a lot of people. There are great activities. It’s well organized, there are a lot of things to do and the host families are nice,” he remarked.

Without this year’s games in the books yet, Adam said last year’s in Orange County was most memorable. “We had great weather, I did well and was surrounded by fun, good people,” said Adam.

Another four-year athlete is Rebecca Bormel, a dancer who will showcase her talent in Detroit. The 16-year old Reisterstown resident has won a dozen medals to date.

“I always do a lyrical solo and I am in the group Israeli folk dance and a jazz piece,” said Rebecca, a rising senior at the Carver Center for Arts & Technology. Competing in a sport that is judged is “less tough” than a sport in which scores are kept, she said.

Marnie Baddock of Owings Mills will play basketball in Detroit for her final games. “It’s really upsetting that I can’t do it again,” she said.

The 16-year old Owings Mills High School junior has won gold, silver and bronze medals the past three summers. Marnie says this year’s team is “decent” and she enjoys meeting new people through Maccabi.

Traveling to all three venues will be the Baltimore JCC Sports & Recreation Director Paul Lurie.

“We are very excited about the 2008 JCC Maccabi Games,” he said. “We have a great group of athletes traveling to three wonderful host cities. As Baltimore hosted in 2007, we also have a number of athletes who participated in the games last year in Baltimore, but will be traveling to a different city to experience the games in a new and exciting way.”

Upcoming Schedule

@Cal Heading:Ongoing Maccabi Coverage
@Reg. Copy No Indent:To follow the JCC Maccabi Games, visit jcc.org and click on the Maccabi link.
@Headline-2col:Baltimore JCC Maccabi Teams
@Reg. Copy No Indent:San Diego Events (Aug. 3-8)

15/16 Boys Soccer (San Diego –– August 3rd –– 8th)
Lee Ackerman
Alan Blitstein
Blake Caplan
Bradley Dioguardo
Dan Frank
Daniel Marcus
Michael Millman
Daniel Pyser
David Rosenblatt
David Spivey
Alex Voskovsky
Avi Amoyal –– Coach
Jon Nelson –– Coach

15/16 Girls Soccer
Olivia Desser
Marissa Friedman
Kara Gelber
Lexi Goldstein
Tori Kovelman
Shaina Levin
Stephanie Norman
Jennifer Pearlman
Jennifer Sloane
Chelsea Smith
Carly Trattner
George Erdos –– Coach
Mike Snitzer–– Coach

Volleyball
Anna Hornstein
Katie Kessler
Gabi Klebanow
Silvia Lacayo
Elana Lesser
Rachel Miller
Jaclyn Rosenberg
Sara Shefter
Michelle Yusupov
Lynn Baklor –– Coach
Samantha Richmond - Coach

@Headline-Community:Akron Events (Aug. 10-15)

15/16 Boys Basketball
Adam Belzberg
Douglas Chazen
Adam Davey
Eric Gershowitz
Jason Holzman
Stephen Koteen
Leland Nislow
Sam Noel
Yosef Strauss
Justin Hess –– Coach
Zach Moye - Coach

13/16 Girls Basketball
Autumn Cohen
Ali Flax
Chloe Frank
Shira Ness
Grace Schwartz
Sunny Snyder
Tali Vogelstein
Mike Parson –– Coach
Brian Yaniger –– Coach

Bowling
Ryan Markowitz
Daniel Levin
Terry Tingler - Coach

13/16 Girls Soccer
Tara Danels
Skylar Fidel
Emily Jaffe
Rachel Margulies
Paulina Miller
Abigail Molofsky
Rachel Peters
Darian Roffe
Emily Rosenfield
Rachel Safferman
Sydney Weiss
Stephen Knable –– Coach
Allyson Stahl –– Coach

@Headline-Community:Detroit (Aug. 17-22)

13/14 Baseball
Bret Kofsky
Kyle Norman
Alex Friner
Ethan Brodsky
Jared Flax
Evan Griffin
Drew Stern
Scott Kaufman
Bradley Kronthal
Eric Manski
Adam Sharp
Daniel Strauss
Jeremy Weinapple
Andy Cohen –– Coach
Mickey Cohen –– Coach
Brett Sanders –– Coach

15/16 Baseball
Jesse Caplan
Justin Cohen
Kevin Cohen
Josh Coonin
Will Dorman
Josh Flax
Samuel Friedman
Alex Lenovitz
Matt Rubin
Evan Sanders
Max Sellman
Brad Muser - Coach
Allan Sanders - Coach

13/14 Boys Basketball
Zachary Marks
Oliver Miller
Austin Rief
Matthew Rosenfeld
Ben Schon
Jason Schon
Jake Shapiro
Jordan Summerfield
Alex Wagman
Ricky Brodsky –– Coach
Marc Komins –– Coach

15/16 Girls Basketball
Marnie Baddock
Jacqueline Lebau
Ilana Obuchowski
Allyson Richmond
Bari Rosesntein
Atara Vogelstein
Allyson Weiner
Stacy Hollander –– Coach

Dance
Rebecca Bormel
Sophia Brocenos
Allison Cohen
Sarah Greenberg
Erin Kuntz
Sasha Leikin
Lisa Redmond
Sarah Flax –– Coach

Golf
Louis Fleischmann
Tyler Frank
Ben Levin
Sam Oshrine
Jay Sapperstein
Eric Weinstein
Mike Oshrine –– Coach
Steve Weinstein –– Coach

Inline Hockey
Evan Klein
Evan Lichtenauer
Josh Mandell
Hunter Nowicki
Matt Paris
Patrick Salkind
Casey Stappler
Griffin Stulman
Brett Swerdlin
Darin Segal –– Coach
Mike Stappler –– Coach

13/14 Boys Soccer
Dylan Bekar
Ryan Berg
Eli Davis
Jordan Germershausen
Harrison Hoffman
Ian Lever
Brandon Sacks
Mark Stein
Joseph Troy
Andrew Walker
Ethan Wolff
David Stahl –– Coach
Larry Stahl –– Coach

Softball
Arielle Bodner
Emily Friedlander
Stephanie Honig
Allison Jaffe
Sarah Karsh
Jordan Monck
Jessica Rubin
Rebecca Scurnick
Taylor Stern
Shannon Stern
Rebecca Zeitlin
Tricia Carroll - Coach

Swimming
Nathan Brocenos
Alex Elias
Lee Friedman
Brooke Kasoff
Lauren Kasoff
Megan Hodes - Coach

Table Tennis
Daniel Hefter
Lyle Siegel
Ryan Youra
Brian Ponczak - Coach

Tennis
Max Cardin
Zach Cardin
Juliet Eisenstein
Ari Goldstein
Joe Jaffe
Jack Kwatinetz
Scott Lessans
Mollye Lipton
Chava Quinn
Jennifer Rottenberg
Herny Sholk
Ethan Steininger
Ben Stoyenko
Ben Rabin - Coach
Jason Schwartz –– Coach

Track & Field
Zachary Berman
Jacob Finglass
Matthew Goldberg
Alex Ullman
Adam Weiner
Shawnise Crawford –– Coach

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