The U.S. Maccabi program has been in place since 1982 and is popularly known as the “Jewish Olympics”.  It borrows from the Olympic format and features many Olympic sports, but it also has evolved into including sports not on the Olympic calendar.  In addition, non-sports competitions are included, such as competitions for Artists and Dancers.  The idea is to promote Jewish Youth Activities throughout the U.S. In 2012 Lacrosse made it’s debut in the Maccabi rotation.  Featuring a 7-on-7 format the sport was included at the behest of the Jewish Community Centers (“JCC’s”) of Long Island and Philadelphia, as they pushed for the expansion of the Games to include participants from those hot bed areas due to the growth of the game among Jewish athletes.  There are not a lot of famous Jewish lacrosse players yet but the list does include one Tewaraaton Trophy winner – Max Seibald of Cornell and a few others in the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, including Israeli National Team Coach Bill Beroza, a goaltender for Roanoke College who still holds the NCAA record for most saves in a tournament game (30 against Hobart College in 1977 in the Division III semifinals – a game I witnessed from the stands in my freshmen year in upstate NY). So the spread of the sport has continued and the 2013 Maccabi Games continued that trend. Head Coach Neil McAdorey, assisted by Howard Wyner, led a squad of 12 players (7 on 7 format requires less squad size than the normal field squads) with mostly local roots and the roster was as follows: 00 – Jason Wyner – Goalie – Rising Sophomore – Stoneman Douglas HS 22 – Connor McAdorey – Attack – Rising Sophomore – American Heritage 10 – Noah Reimer – Attack – Rising Sophomore – St. Thomas Aquinas 6 – David Tescher – Midfield – Rising Sophomore – Pinecrest 13 – Daniel Eisdorfer – Midfield – Rising Junior – University School 2 – Eddie Hurrowitz – Midfield – Rising Junior – University School 9 – Josh Bernstein – Midfield – Rising Junior – The Saint Andrews School 15 – Daniel Young – Midfield – Rising Junior – The Saint Andrews School 4 – Sam Baker – Midfield – Rising Junior – The Saint Andrews School 17 – Cole Bianco – Defense – Rising Junior – University School 7 – Eric Savotinsky – Defense – Rising Sophomore – Western Davie HS 16 – Alexander Lieberman – Specialist – Rising Junior – Kazakstan HS Coach McAdorey reported the following results for the team: Wins: – Orange County 21 -8 in game one – Long Island 9-8 in game two – Detroit 10-7 in game five Losses: – Philadelphia by 1 in game three – Baltimore by 1 in game four – Baltimore by 1 in game six Baltimore with an undefeated record came in first – we had lost to them 8-7 in the play-in round and 10-9 in the semifinals – last game was awesome and our boys showed well. In the other bracket Orange County the dark horse who had lost to us 21-8 in the play-in round beat Philadelphia by three and then went on to beat NY 8-7 to advance to the finals – we had beat NY in the play-in round 9-8 after squandering an 8-2 lead at halftime. Final Standings – Baltimore (GOLD) Orange County (Silver) FLL and NY (BRONZE) NY and FLL did something unusual…  rather than play for the BRONZE we mixed the teams up to show good sportsmanship – the goalies were the captains and they selected teams and the coaches went with the Goalies – My team with Jason Wyner as goalie beat the mixed team led by the NY goalie and coached by the NY coaches. Apparently what we had done in mixing two competitive teams (NY Gold 2012)  (FLL Silver 2012) was so moving to the delegation heads and overall JCC program that we all took home a bronze – officially we listed the score at 18 to 18 – Double Chai for the Tie… The 2013 Maccabi team displayed “Rachmanus” or outstanding sportsmanship throughout the entire tournament. Each of our players scored a goal, we refused to run our score up against weaker teams and finally combining with the Long Island Team in a draft format to play for the bronze… even the OC goalie got a quarter in goal! I’m very proud of the efforts of all of our players who represented schools from across Broward and Palm Beach Counties; the fact that all of these players from various schools combined to play in this tournament putting faith and sportsmanship before school rivalries is a testament to the power of the Maccabi Program. Thanks to Coach McAdorey for his write-up and to Assistant Coach Howard Wyner and Scott Ehrlich for the photos!  Great job!