More than 9,000 athletes from 72 countries are expected to participate in the 19th Maccabiah Games in Israel July 18-30, including 11 athletes, three coaches and a member of the medical staff from Arizona.
The Maccabiah Games began in 1932 in what was then British-ruled Palestine. Held every four years in Israel, the Maccabiah Games now are the third-largest international sporting event after the Olympics and the World University Games. The Maccabiah Games are intended not only to encourage athletic excellence but also to foster a sense of Jewish belonging and pride among the participants.
The Arizona contingent will include soccer player Dan Indech, whose grandmother attended the first Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv in 1932. Indech describes that fortuitous circumstance: “The British Mandate that was occupying Palestine issued a limited number of ‘extra’ visas/passes for a few more Jewish Poles to attend the Maccabiah along with the country’s delegation of athletes a week prior to the ship sailing. My grandmother Naomi was one of approximately 20 young Poles to take this fortuitous opportunity to make the trip out of Poland to Palestine. The story has it that none of the 20 returned to Poland and as a result, escaped the Holocaust.”
Indech first participated in the Maccabiah games in 1989 as a member of the Maccabi Canada’s Open Futsal team. Since immigrating to the United States, he has played on several Maccabi USA Masters soccer teams including the Masters 35+ soccer team at Maccabiah in Israel in 2009; This year he will play on the masters 45+ soccer team. “Maccabiah is an unbelievably intoxicating spiritual and sporting experience,” says Indech. “Words simply cannot describe it. I have made incredible friends and have wonderful memories that I will cherish for life. I tell everyone that inquires that one must experience it firsthand to appreciate it.”
Indech will be joined on this year’s masters soccer men’s 45+ team, by fellow Arizonan Adam Zweiback. Indech has been the assistant coach to Adam Zweiback for the Phoenix JCC Maccabi boys soccer team for the past five years. Zweiback says, “I’m totally committed to the Maccabi movement. I coached the Phoenix U-16 boys soccer team in the JCC Maccabi games for the last five summers. Took the boys (including my oldest two sons) to San Diego, San Francisco, Omaha, Israel, and Memphis. This summer I’ll be in Israel playing on the over-45 men’s soccer team at the International Maccabi Games, so I won’t be in Austin with the Phoenix delegation. However, my son Noah will be playing on the U-16 basketball team.”
Open women’s basketball coach Jamie Shadian says, “My favorite aspect of the games four years ago was getting to share in the experience of my players who were visiting Israel for the first time, or falling in love with the country for the first time, or discovering their relationship with Judaism. I look forward to sharing similar experiences with my players this summer.” Those experiences are exactly what some of the young Arizona athletes are looking forward to.
Chanele Czopp, who will compete on the girls’ juniors volleyball team, says: “I’m looking forward to getting to know all of the USA team as well as Jewish youth from all across the world! I can’t wait to share this experience of a lifetime in Israel playing the sport I love.”
Tucson high school student Rachel Meyer will compete in taekwondo. “I am very excited to go because I have never been to Israel before, so it will be very culturally enriching,” says Meyer, who has medaled at USA Taekwondo nationals in the past and did well at US Open this year. “I also have always dreamed of being able to represent Team USA on a world stage! While in Israel and at the Games, I look forward to meeting new people from all around the world.”
A junior at Arizona State University, Gabriel Wasserman competes with the ASU triathlon team. “One of the reasons I’m so excited to experience the Maccabiah Games in Israel is because of the nature of the experience,” he says. “There is something very special about being in a fully Jewish environment. I’ve had like experiences being a counselor at Ramah, and those are some of my most precious memories – so I can’t wait to see what this trip to Israel has in store. Also, being an athlete is a core part of me, and some of my most incredible experiences have been of pushing myself to the limit on race day and testing my boundaries physically. To be in an environment where both Judaism and athleticism are not just part of the experience but integral to the experience has me more excited for the Maccabiah Games than I could have imagined. I am positive that this experience will last a lifetime.”
For more information on the games, visit maccabiusa.com.
ARIZONAN MACCABIANS ATHLETES:
Chanele Czopp, Juniors Girls’ Volleyball, Scottsdale
Lee Glickstein, Open Triathlon, Phoenix
Daniel Indech, Masters Men’s 45+ Soccer, Scottsdale
Laurence Kaye, Masters Squash, Tucson
Jacob Lille, Juniors Golf, Paradise Valley
Rabbi John Linder, Masters Ice Hockey, Paradise Valley
Rachel Meyer, Open Taekwondo, Tucson
Joseph Schwartz, Open Men’s Softball, Tucson
Anna Sherman, Juniors Girls’ Soccer, Phoenix
Gabriel Wasserman, Open Triathlon, Scottsdale
Adam Zweiback, Masters Men’s 45+Soccer, Phoenix
COACHES:
Paul Rubin, Masters Men’s Softball, Scottsdale
Daniel Schayes, Masters Men’s Basketball, Paradise Valley
Jamie Shadian, Open Women’s Basketball, Flagstaff
MEDICAL STAFF:
Robert Washington, Masters Men’s 45+ Soccer, Scottsdale
