|
June 28, 2013
Athletes travel to Israel
Team Canada’s 36 locals to attend Maccabiah.
KYLE BERGER
For most athletes, participating in the Maccabiah Games in Israel is about the rare opportunity to combine two loves: a love for their chosen sport and a love for Israel. For local golfer Danny Zack, participating in the 19th Maccabiah Games this July in Israel is also about tradition.
Zack attended his first games in 1973, when he was part of the bronze-medal-winning Canadian men’s golf team. Forty years later, he will be participating in his seventh set of games – this time as a player and captain of Canada’s men’s, women’s, masters and junior teams.
The Vancouver lawyer could be calling this his 11th set of games, but he took a few off as a competitor when, among other roles, he was asked to be a director on the national board of Maccabi Canada, which precluded him from competing. In 1997, he was appointed as an honorary vice-president of Maccabi Canada for life and, in 2009, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the organization. Needless to say, the Maccabiah movement, which includes the Pan-American Games and the JCC Maccabi Games, has been an important part of Zack’s life.
“The games themselves and the Maccabi movement, at their core, struck a cord for me decades ago as I found the combination of sport, Jewish youth and being in and supporting the state of Israel to be compelling,” Zack explained. “This has continued to be and remains one of the central themes of my life.”
Today, even with everything he has accomplished already, Zack looks forward to getting back to the games as a competitor and enjoying playing golf with Jews from all over the world.
“It is different playing in Israel,” he explained. “There is a kinship in the Jewish world and it’s fascinating to meet people from around the globe whose lives in many ways are very similar to yours.
“The competition is important at the time,” he continued, “but the friendships and bonding that occur through these games and afterwards, together with helping others get to these games, are by far the most satisfying and enduring rewards for participating in this movement.”
As a longtime participant in the games, Zack has many stories to tell. However, some of his fondest memories come from the earlier years.
The games in 1973 were held just 10 months after the tragedy at the Munich Olympics when 11 Israeli team members were kidnapped and murdered. With more than 50,000 attending the opening ceremonies of those Maccabiah Games, a special tribute to the Munich 11 took place with only the lights of 11 torches illuminating the stadium.
“Next to very personal family events, I have never experienced a more emotional moment than that,” Zack attested.
Tributes to the Munich 11 are still a regular and important part of the opening ceremonies of all events in the Maccabi movement.
Another particularly fond memory came in the 1989 games, before the Berlin Wall had been taken down.
“Through the efforts of key executives in the United States, Belgium and Canada, a team from Lithuania participated in these games,” he said. “The ovation from the crowd was truly incredible, as this was an historic milestone.”
Zack said that, aside from the experience of competing in the game he loves, one of his pure joys of the journey is engaging with Israeli children he meets around the country.
“Whether at the opening ceremonies, the closing ceremonies, on the street or in a public pool, I have seen the joy in their faces in meeting a Canadian who has come to their country to participate in the Maccabiah Games,” he said. “I have made it a point of engaging them at each of my games and making sure that I have pins and other Canadian paraphernalia to give them.”
While Zack is now a veteran of the Maccabiah Games, others will be participating for the first time. Some will even have the opportunity to help introduce a new sport to the games.
Richmond’s Matthew Boroditsky will be representing Team Canada at the junior level of the ice hockey tournament – the first time that sport will be played at the games.
Boroditsky, who participated in the JCC Maccabi Games in Israel in 2011 as a basketball player, said he is most excited that he gets to play hockey in Israel.
“It is definitely going to be a unique experience that I will remember for the rest of my life,” he said. “I’m also really excited to meet some of the Israeli hockey players that I will get to play against in the games. Sport is a really good way to connect with people, as you all have a common love for the game. So, hopefully I can make many new friends that share the love for hockey that I have.”
Being part of this team has already paid dividends for Boroditsky, as he met Mike Keenan, the NHL coach and general manager who is the head coach for Team Canada’s hockey program at the Maccabiah Games.
“It was quite an experience seeing Mike close up and being able to shake his hand,” Boroditsky said. “It really reinforced the importance of the Canadian Maccabiah hockey team. I feel the coaching will be very good and I’ll get the chance to learn many new things about the game.”
In all, there are 36 athletes, coaches and chaperones from British Columbia representing Team Canada at the Maccabiah Games. The opening ceremonies will take place July 18 at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem, with 32,000 people expected to be in attendance. With approximately 9,000 competitors from around the globe, the Maccabiah Games is the third largest athletic competition in the world.
Kyle Berger is a freelance writer in Richmond and the sports coordinator at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.
^TOP
|
