they pressure their kids to marry
Jews. One of their daughters mar-
ried someone who isn’t Jewish,
but the couple is raising their kids
Jewish. Groverman said he’s fi ne
with that, and that he would also
accept whatever religious path his
children choose.

“They knew that Judaism was
important,” he said of his kids.

Groverman has devoted much of
his adult life to helping young peo-
ple fi nd their Jewish identities, and
he wants to continue to do that.

The coach and his fellow Peace
Tournament organizers, co-chair-
men Jake Kornblatt and Aviram
Shmuely, are already planning the
next tournament. Groverman said it
may be annual or semi-annual. He
also wants to bring in more Arab
countries. Shmuely, a national wrestling
champion in Israel and the chairman
of New York Athletic Club Wrestling,
came up with the idea for the tourna-
ment by reminding Groverman of the
50th anniversary of Munich that was
approaching. But Shmuely said it
was Groverman who drove the eff ort
to organize the competition. The
Philadelphian was “involved in every
little detail from accommodation to
venue to politics to safety,” he said.

“He’s a very intense guy,” Shmuely
added. Groverman was especially keen
on making sure Morocco partici-
pated. He pushed to take care of
whatever the team couldn’t aff ord.

The organizer felt that hosting an
Arab country would be a great way
to remember the victims of the mas-
sacre and to show that “we move on
with peace,” Shmuely said.

When the Moroccan athletes
arrived at the Israeli airport,
they were nervous, according to
Shmuely. The Israeli said he could
see it on their faces. But then peo-
ple approached them, talked to
them and took pictures with them.

Shmuely credited Groverman.

“It was a tremendous success,” he
said. “The next peace tournament
is already in the works because of
him.” JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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