{"id":28406,"date":"2018-04-13T03:57:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T10:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=28406"},"modified":"2018-04-11T14:47:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T21:47:17","slug":"olympians-north-shore-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/04\/13\/olympians-north-shore-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympian\u2019s North Shore ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

When A.J. Edelman was training in Whistler, he was the guest cantor for Chabad of the North Shore\u2019s Yom Kippur services. (photo from A.J. Edelman)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Chabad of the North Shore community members had a more personal reason to cheer on A.J. Edelman at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Israel\u2019s only skeleton athlete to have made it to the Games, Edelman was training in Whistler around the High Holidays last year. While there, he participated in community life, stepping in as guest cantor on Yom Kippur.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough he [Edelman] could have attended services at a larger synagogue in Vancouver, he was committed to spending Yom Kippur where he could be useful and have an impact,\u201d said Rabbi Mendy Mochkin, spiritual leader of Chabad of the North Shore. \u201cWe had a cantor during Rosh Hashanah, but not for Yom Kippur.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt worked out great. Our community was very excited to learn that a skeleton athlete representing Israel was training locally and was very touched that he chose to join us. They were very moved by his \u2026 melodies and heartfelt prayers. We all prayed together with him that he should attain his dream to be an ambassador for Am Yisrael. Our prayers were answered!\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman was born and raised in Boston, in a Modern Orthodox, Zionist family, and he attended an Orthodox Jewish day school. When he was 2, his parents strapped a pair of skates onto his feet. By 22, he was a good hockey player, but not good enough to become a professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided that, if I wanted to continue doing sports, it had to be on a high, elite level that could really give a platform to whatever I would choose to do afterward,\u201d Edelman told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cSo, I decided to represent Israel, because it was going to be the only way I was going to do it. As it happened, as I was thinking about this, skeleton appeared on the TV for the team trials for the United States for Sochi. And I thought it looked like a terrific sport \u2013 eye-catching.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some athletes, they become good at a sport and then look for a country that will let them compete under its flag. In Edelman\u2019s case, he was mainly spurred by the idea of representing Israel. Then, he began searching for a sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could certainly help me achieve my goal of inspiriting people,\u201d said Edelman. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how difficult it was or how painful it was. I didn\u2019t know how bad, at first, I would be at it. But, I did dive full on into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman had to go from zero to 100, so to speak, in less than four years. While many along the way tried to tell him his goal was unattainable, the naysayers only fueled his resolve to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like swimming or other sports where you have to hit a time relative to previous Olympics times, you have to hit an absolute performance standard of world ranking in that specific year. It\u2019s a quota system,\u201d explained Edelman of skeleton.<\/p>\n

Edelman had to become one of the top 30 skeleton athletes in the world in about 48 months. His last year of training was focused \u2013 with help from the other athletes on the Israeli skeleton team \u2013 on maximizing his point collection at competitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPositioning Israel to be the beneficiary of one of 10 single-sled nations through points I accumulated through specifics results and races was important \u2013 and it involved a lot of mathematical calculation,\u201d said Edelman.<\/p>\n

Edelman finished 28 out of 30 at the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
A.J. Edelman was Israel\u2019s only skeleton athlete to make it to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. (photo by Joern Rohde)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMaking the Games was an insane accomplishment in that we were the only ones who did it without any coaching,\u201d said Edelman. \u201cWe had absolute zero coaching for the first two years of my journey\u2026. It took a huge physical toll and mental toll, and a massive financial toll. So, yes, 28 out of 30, I was very pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman learned the sport from YouTube videos, and fundraised the money he needed to participate in competitions, buy equipment, and cover hotel stays and training facility fees. As far as trying to compete at the next Olympics, Edelman said, while he\u2019d like to do that, it\u2019s just not feasible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe financial strain is insane \u2013 $40,000 a year,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd only about 40% of it was covered from over the last four years by sponsors, family, friends \u2013 and complete random strangers. Doing it for another cycle would be too much of a financial strain. And I think I\u2019ve accomplished what I was looking to accomplish, and am able to remain involved in Israel\u2019s sports and help the next generation achieve their goals. I now have that platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Edelman was at the Games \u2013 or maybe because he was at the Games \u2013 he said he felt disconnected from the Olympics as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only saw my own thing,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise, the experience at the end, or during the competition, of representing Israel, it was an honour unparalleled to anything in my life. There were a few moments I felt like I could cherish forever \u2013 the thoughts and feeling that this is what it\u2019s like to represent a country and how it feels to be that individual. It was absolutely terrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman said he is not sure about what might come next for him, but that he is aiming big. For now, he is focused on transitioning from being a full-time athlete back into normal life. But life will never be the same for him, now that he has proven his potential to himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you apply yourself so completely and fully, and you just dedicate yourself the most you can, a lot can be accomplished,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, not everything … I am never going to be able to make the NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t usually tell people anything is possible. I tell them what I learned in the streets \u2013 that no one can tell you what you can\u2019t do, and that you shouldn\u2019t let others\u2019 opinions dictate what you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as his experience with the Jewish community while training in Whistler, Edelman said, \u201cMy Jewish heritage is everything to me. It\u2019s the entire reason why I did this. This journey was terribly difficult \u2013 it was the Jewish heritage aspect of it that kept me going.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot tell you how many times I wanted to give up, quit or just take days off,\u201d he admitted. \u201cBut, then I\u2019d remember I was representing the entire Jewish and Israeli community. Every night before I went to bed, I\u2019d thank God for allowing me to be what\u2019s called a Kiddush Hashem<\/em> [sanctifying God\u2019s name by living by example, in a holy way]. This means being a positive role model for my community and that means everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edelman connects with Jewish communities wherever he goes, seeing himself as an ambassador of the Jewish state. So, for him, joining the North Shore Jewish community when he was training in Whistler was a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n

The 2019 World Championship will be held in Whistler and, although Edelman has retired from athletic life, he wants to attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I tried out,\u201d recalled Edelman of his first skeleton trial, \u201cthe Israel scouting report said that if I could just get down the track, that would be it … that I wouldn\u2019t make it to the Games no matter how hard I tried. I think everybody can have that kind of moment \u2026 when they think they can\u2019t do something or are told they can\u2019t do something \u2013 but they should absolutely try and expect success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When A.J. Edelman was training in Whistler, he was the guest cantor for Chabad of the North Shore\u2019s Yom Kippur services. (photo from A.J. Edelman) Chabad of the North Shore community members had a more personal reason to cheer on A.J. Edelman at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Israel\u2019s only skeleton athlete […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8033,430,4330,218,6795,4980,6915,4508],"class_list":["post-28406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-a-j-edelman","tag-chabad","tag-israel","tag-judaism","tag-north-shore","tag-olympics","tag-skeleton","tag-sports"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}