Team New Orleans heads to Memphis for Maccabi Games
The 2012 Maccabi Games Team organized through the New Orleans JCC is preparing for the start of this year’s games on Sunday, August 5 in Memphis. This is the 30th anniversary of the very first Maccabi Games, Olympic-styled sports events intended solely for Jewish athletes. The New Orleans delegation of 14 athletes is headed back to the city in which the regional games began in 1982.
The logo for the Memphis Maccabi games.
Elsewhere around the country there are two other Maccabi Games venues – Houston, TX and Rockland, NY. However, according to the JCC marketing director J. J. Kornman, Memphis was chosen as the city for Team New Orleans because “the belief was that teens might have been to Houston before, but were less likely to have gone to Memphis and visiting a new city might interest them.” Members of the team will compete for 3 and a 1/2 days in a variety of sports activities. In addition they will volunteer to work on a service project for the additonal 1/2 day called “JCC Cares.”
The charter bus is due to leave early Sunday morning, driving through Louisiana and Mississippi before arriving in Memphis in the afternoon. All of the athletes will be hosted by local families.
The opening ceremonies will take place after check in at the FedEx Forum where all of the competing teams will gather to witness a program that will include a memorial to the Munich 11, the Israeli athletes and coaches slain 40 years ago at the hands of the Black September Palestinian terrorist group.
Round robin tournaments for each team sport will take place on Monday and Tuesday, where each team will play two games per day with lunch in between. Individual competitions will also begin on Monday. Monday night all particpants will tour the Memphis Zoo. Tuesday night host families will treat the athletes to a night out in Memphis. Wednesday night’s special event will take place at Autozone Park, the home of the Memphis Redbirds. The entire park will be open for participants to use including the batting cages and to run the bases on the field. A ballpark dinner will follow.
Participants will work on service projects on Wednesday. The projects will raise money for cancer research in Israel as well as to construct mezuzah holders for Jewish soldiers overseas. Playoffs and medal rounds will be held on Wednesday and Thursday with finals being held on Thursday.
Thursday night’s closing party will take place at the Memphis JCC, where offerings from Corky’s Kosher Barbeque will be on the menu. All of the participants are due to return by the chartered bus on Friday, arriving in time for Shabbat.
