Byline: Maccabi Canada

Help team get to Israel

BC members of Team Canada U16 Junior Girls Volleyball sell donuts to raise funds to travel to Israel next summer. (photo from Maccabi Canada)

Young volleyball players and their families are calling on the community for assistance to send their team to Israel for the 2025 Maccabiah Games next July.

Team Canada U16 Junior Girls Volleyball includes 10 athletes, including four from Vancouver, five from Toronto and one from Winnipeg. The team is fundraising to cover the expenses, which amount to almost $10,000 per participant.

“These girls are devoting themselves to bringing their best game to the Maccabiah Games next summer,” said Roman Pereyaslavsky, the team manager. “It is not only a powerful goal for them, but the celebration of international athletic competition in Israel next year is also a huge message of solidarity with the people of Israel at this time of unprecedented challenge.”

The girls and their parents do not underestimate the hurdles they face in raising the funds to make the trip to Israel possible.

“Traveling to Israel and competing as Canadian representatives with Jewish girls from around the world is a massive dream,” said Liel Lichtmann, a Richmond Grade 10 student and member of the national volleyball team. “We are fundraising every way we know how and we are confident we can make this happen. We hope our community will make our dream a reality.”

Donations are welcomed and deeply appreciated at secure.maccabicanada.com/p2p/donate/388314/participant/5427623/en-CA. Further information is available by contacting [email protected]. 

– Courtesy Maccabi Canada

Maccabi sports camp

The Maccabi Sports Experience at Ontario’s Camp Northland offers a traditional overnight camp with outdoor activities, blended with multi-sports instruction. (photo from Maccabi Canada)

Maccabi Canada and Camp Northland have partnered to create a unique program for children wanting to stay involved with sports over the summer. A first of its kind, the Maccabi Sports Experience at Ontario’s Camp Northland offers a traditional overnight camp with outdoor activities, blended with multi-sports instruction over a period of three weeks. The program will debut this summer July 27-Aug. 16, during the camp’s second session.

“A lot of kids found that, at camp, they don’t get to the opportunity to really focus in on the sports that they love to play as much as they’d like,” said Simon Wolle, director of Camp Northland. “But they don’t want to give up camp either, despite that strong interest, so they end up coming to camp but kind of missing sport.… Why not try to find a way to marry the two?”

The new offering features two weeks of rotating skill development clinics in four different sports – basketball, beach volleyball, soccer and tennis – followed by a specialty week, where participants can choose one sport to focus on. Parts of each day will be dedicated to the Maccabi sports program, while also giving the group the opportunity to integrate with other campers. The program will be run by a combination of Maccabi coaches and Camp Northland staff.

Tommy Bacher, president of Maccabi Canada, called the new endeavor a natural progression of the organization’s ongoing community sports initiatives. Bacher believes launching a summer camp experience under the Maccabi banner is the perfect way to build on the weekly sports programming offered in basketball and volleyball over the past year. The eight-week programs feature grassroots learning in 90-minute sessions, where the focus is on honing skills and having fun. The camp is the next step in those growing efforts.

“It allows us to touch a lot more kids. For every kid that goes to camp, 500 [others] hear about it,” said Bacher. “For us, it’s an opportunity to bring more kids into a quality program that revolves around sport and them being Jewish. The more things we can do with that, the better. My whole goal is connecting the next generation to their past, to their heritage and to the state of Israel. And we’re using sport as a way of doing that.”

Bacher said the camp will also provide a parallel overnight setting to the Maccabiah Games in Israel, allowing participants to form bonds with each other through a shared three-week experience. Wolle is excited to provide that outlet.

“We want to create a home for every Jewish kid to find their place and make connections and stay connected to the Jewish community,” said Wolle, echoing Bacher’s sentiments. “There are kids using the medium of sport to feel more connected to the Jewish community and we wanted to create that pipeline … between sport and camp, and say you don’t have to give it up. You can have your cake and eat it, too.”

For more information, visit maccabicanada.com.