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Before Games, Maccabiah Athletes
Find Unconventional Team
Connections F
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
or USA Maccabi athletes, going
to the Maccabiah Games in
Israel is a bit like going on a
blind date, except they’re almost certain
the match will work out.

Th e games, held every four years, will
take place from July 5-26 in Israel. More
than 1,300 delegates from USA Maccabi,
the Philadelphia-based organization for
the athletes representing the U.S., will
attend the Olympic-style event.

Philadelphia will be well-represented
at the games as well, with 85 delegates
from Pennsylvania attending, most of
them athletes. But while USA Maccabi
prides itself on its ability to connect
American Jews to Israel, the U.S. and
each other for the games, few of the
athletes have met each other in person.

As athletes prepare for their respective
events, many of which are team sports,
team-building takes on some unconven-
tional practices.

“Most, but not all, the other countries
we’re competing against — in many of
those countries, the Jewish communi-
ties are concentrated around one or two
metropolitan areas,” USA Maccabi CEO
Marshall Einhorn said. “Some of those
countries are able to train and compete
together throughout the year.”
Th e U.S., however, has athletes from
all over the country participating on one
team, making team training schedules
impossible to coordinate.

For Jarett Wodotinsky, a 15-year-old
Bucks County soccer player competing
for the fi rst time in the U16 Juniors
team, team building means staying
active on a group chat with the other
players. Instead of locker room ban-
ter and friendly scrimmages, the team
bonds with memes and Zoom calls.

As Wodotinsky trains in a more tra-
ditional fashion on his own terms, the
virtual connections he builds still serve
an important purpose.

“Where I live, there’s not many Jewish
kids,” he said. “So just getting to know a
bunch of kids from around the country
The USA Maccabi Masters ice hockey team in
Israel at a previous Maccabiah Games
Courtesy of Kathleen Kenneally
and becoming friends with them, it’s
just something that I’ve always wanted.”
For Lauren Sara, 59, a Wynnewood-
based equestrian competing in the
Masters dressage event, preparing for
the games takes an even more uncon-
ventional turn. Th ough she’s been prac-
ticing for her event with her mare Lola
for the past four years, the steed will not
make the trip. Sara will meet the horse
with whom she will compete only two
weeks before the games.

“Th e fi rst day, we’ll just sort of do a
ride around and see who suits who, and
then that’ll be it,” Sara said. “By day two,
I will have my partner, and that will be
it. And it’s just a matter of forming the
partnership.” Th ere are some exceptions to the
blind-date approach to team building,
however. Th e USA Masters hockey team
holds weekend training camps through-
out the year, giving the players a chance
to get to know each other aft er the team
was formed in September.

Th e team has had training camps
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and South
Bend, Indiana, and team members
hosted Shabbat dinners in their families’
homes to bring the team together off the
rink. In past years, the team has stayed
on a kibbutz.

“I don’t know that any team is doing
Hamotzi and singing a couple of songs,”
Philadelphia-based coach Joshua
Petersohn said. “You didn’t realize
that the defenseman from Los Angeles
knows the Mi Chamocha the same way
you do ... it’s just kind of funny.”
Th e almost immediate sense of com-
munity in chemistry on the team isn’t
by chance, Petersohn said. While shared
love of hockey connects the team, shared
religion forges deeper connections.

“Th ere’s cohorts, there’s sports, but
when you have Jews around you, it’s
just an automatic and immediate con-
nection,” said Matthew Steinberg, a
Jenkintown fi nancial adviser and man-
aging director of Oppenheimer & Co.

Inc, who competed on the USA Masters
ice hockey team and won gold in the
2013 games. “We’re already on the same
team: We’re Jews.” JE
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