The JCC Maccabi Games in Toronto wrapped up earlier this month, with Baltimore’s delegation bringing home 12 medals in baseball, ice hockey, track and dance.
Jewish teen athletes from all over the world gathered at the Schwartz/Reisman Centre, a Jewish Community Center in Toronto, including new delegations from Venezuela and Moldova, according to JCC of Greater Baltimore Senior Director of Operations Rebecca Chinsky.
The games also included delegations from all over the United States as well as Alberta, Vancouver and Windsor in Canada, and Israel, Great Britain, Ukraine and Argentina, internationally.
This comes on the heels of the Maccabiah Games hosted in Israel in July, which included 14 Baltimore-area athletes.
“JCC Maccabi happens every single summer, historically held in host communities in North America, and it’s through JCC specifically,” explained Chinsky. “Whereas Maccabiah is through country. So, for Maccabiah, people compete as part of Team USA or Team [Israel, Ukraine, etc.] versus JCC Maccabi, you compete through your local delegation that is an affiliated JCC with the JCC movement.”
In addition, the JCC Maccabi Games are specifically for teens ages 13 to 17.
The Baltimore delegation was made up of 85 athletes, 13 volunteers and coaches and more than 100 spectators, a stark increase from this year’s Maccabiah Games and from last year’s JCC Maccabi Games.
“We grew this year,” said Chinsky. “That’s been something that we’ve been working really hard on: is expanding our reach of participants and growing to offer more support and make this program accessible to all who want to participate.”
Baltimore’s delegation received one bronze medal for baseball, one bronze medal for ice hockey, one gold, four silver and two bronze medals in track, and two gold medals and one bronze for dance.
“Overall, all of our teams competed very well,” she said. “They advanced far into the tournament, many of them making medal games, and ultimately two of the teams winning medals. But what was really nice for the ice hockey team, our 15u boys ice hockey team that got the bronze medal, it was really nice because they actually beat Toronto for the bronze. So that was nice to beat Toronto in ice hockey on their home turf.”
In addition to athletic medals, Baltimore also brought home three Midot medals, given to participants who embody the six core values of the JCC Maccabi Games.
“You’re given [a Midot medal] if you’re seen to be doing something that represents one of the six Jewish values of what JCC Maccabi Games is about,” Chinsky added. “Anybody at the games can nominate you for a Midot medal, and so a sports commissioner can give it to a player, or a coach can give it to a player, or a delegation head can give it to somebody, and it doesn’t have to be [somebody] on your team.”
Chinsky described Maccabi as more than just a sports competition.
“When I like to talk about JCC Maccabi, I like to describe it as an incredible, exhilarating experience that fills teenagers with a profound sense of Jewish joy, connection, and pride, and they’re creating lasting memories for a lifetime,” she said. “It might be one of the most exhausting weeks of your life, but it’s also one of the most fulfilling weeks of your life that really brings Jewish joy and this connection with Jewish peoplehood, which I think is really important for our young adults today.”
She added the most impactful moment of the games that Chinsky witnessed was when the team was playing for the bronze medal in Ice Hockey.
“I think this year it was really exciting when I got to the boys’ ice hockey bronze medal game, and I got there in the third period because I was running around trying to support all of our teams that day. And I look in the stands, and it’s packed,” she said. “It really was just an amazing experience to watch all these kids rooting for these players who, up until this week, didn’t know each other. Up until this week, didn’t know we even had an ice hockey team. This was the first year we’ve sent a full ice hockey team in a really long time to the JCC Maccabi Games, and just the camaraderie of everybody coming together and supporting one another, even though they didn’t necessarily know who each other were … that’s what Maccabi is all about.”
mresnicow@midatlanticmedia.com
