by teen rambler Ari Weiss
This summer I had the pleasure to
participate in the JCC Maccabi Games in Austin, Texas. The sport that I played in this year was
basketball. My delegation, which was
Team Cleveland, also included sports like girl’s soccer and swimming. There are so many great memories to share in
this passage, such as my team, the host family that I stayed with, and the
events at night.
I
was placed on a team with very skilled basketball players. Some of them were from Beachwood, some were
from Solon, and some were from Shaker Heights.
Even though we were the youngest and smallest team in the 16U
tournament, I thought we played really well.
Our team played teams from Pittsburgh, Orlando, Los Angeles, Phoenix,
and Austin. Even though our team went
0-5, I still thought we played our hearts out on the court.
Every
player that wasn’t participating for Austin was placed with a host family. One of my teammates and I were put together
with the Apfelburgs. They had a son,
Aaron, 12, who played Ping-Pong for Austin, and a 10-year-old daughter, Sammy,
who danced (Sammy couldn’t participate in the games because she was too
young). I feel like that me and my
friend got blessed to be placed with the Apfelburgs. They were a loving and caring family who had
so much respect for us. They treated us
like kings while we were staying with them.
Every
night, there was an event for the athletes.
On Sunday night was the opening ceremonies, which I thought was pretty
cool. On Monday, all the athletes went
to Graham Central Park, which is a huge indoor building. You could dance, sing karaoke, or just have
fun. Tuesday night was host family
night, so my host family took us out to a very nice restuarant. The food there was just simply
perfect! On Wednesday, all the athletes
went to Austin Park and Pizza. Inside
there were video games, laser tag, and food to eat. Outside Austin Parks there was putt-putt,
go-karts, and bumper boats. Thursday
night was the closing ceremonies, which included poker, dancing, massages, and
a gift shop. Then on Friday, the games
were over and we all had to come back home.
The
one thing that I loved about the Maccabi games was that I was competing against
all Jewish athletes. It felt great
knowing that there are Jewish kids like me that also have the same passion for
sports that I do. I could feel a great
connection with my Jewish Community and this Jewish Community. The amount of respect shown on and off the
court was amazing, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to
compete and play with.
Overall, I had the
time of my life participating in the 2013 JCC Maccabi Games in Austin,
Texas. I had fun competing in
basketball, spending time with my host family, and partying at all the events
Austin’s JCC set up for the athletes. It
was a once in a lifetime experience and I can’t wait to participate in it next
year!
