JCC Maccabi to ICJA Aces

This past summer, the Maccabi games took place in St. Louis from July 31-August 5. JCC Maccabi is the largest Jewish organized sports competition where young athletes from all over the world come together to compete against each other. Representation of ICJA at the games included freshmen Mia Perlman and Sammy Moscovitch, juniors Noah Perlman and Ryan Bokor, and senior Josh Goldrich, who all participated in the either Maccabi basketball or baseball games.

ICJA freshmen Mia Perlman, who played basketball on the Hillel Torah team in elementary school, earned herself a spot on the eight person girls’ basketball team traveling from Chicago. Although the Maccabi games are about healthy competition and a chance to show off a teenager’s athletic talents, they also get the opportunity to make friends with other teenagers with the same interests from many different cities and backgrounds.

“Maccabi is not only about the sports or competition,” said Perlman. “Each night that we were in St. Louis there was a different activity, and I got to meet teenagers from LA to Florida to even Israel.” Mia also informed us that teenagers who might not be Jewish themselves, but had a Jewish ancestor are also allowed to participate in the Maccabi games. While at the Games, Mia’s team was strong throughout the competition and were undefeated until the very last game. In the end, they fell short, but still earned second place in the competition. Mia plans to bring her basketball skills that she enhanced over the summer to the ICJA court on the JV Lady Aces basketball team this winter.

This article is by senior Sarah Russman and was written for The Crown Prints.