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Date: 8/27/2015
SPRINGFIELD – This August, the Springfield Jewish Community Center organized a group of 60-plus individuals to represent Team Springfield at the JCC Maccabi Games and Artsfest in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Participants came from all over New England to be a part of Team Springfield, including six from Rhode Island.
“This has been our largest Delegation aside from when we hosted in 2002 and 2011,” said Betsy Bertuzzi, Team Springfield’s assistant delegation head who has been involved for more than 13 years.
Not only was Team Springfield large in numbers, but large in success as well as it took home 55 medals including 17 gold.
The JCC Maccabi Games are the largest organized sport competition for Jewish teenagers around the world. Fort Lauderdale hosted teens from the United States as well as countries such as Mexico, Great Britain, Israel, Canada, Australia, and Poland.
“Maccabi is one of the only experiences around the country that you can go to that has great competition, teens from all around the globe, and that you have something in common with every single person,” soccer player Max Robbins said. Robbins led Team Springfield’s boy’s soccer team to the gold medal with 19 goals, a new Team Springfield record.
“JCC Maccabi is the best experience a Jewish teen can have,” Ben Schneider of Longmeadow said.
Team Springfield graduates 13 seniors this year who could not say enough about JCC Maccabi.
“Every year was fun, but this year being my last made me understand how valuable this experience is,” basketball player Jesse Goldberg said. “It’s amazing how some of the strongest friendships can be made in only one week.”
Goldberg and many of his teammates have played together for the past four years and plan to stay close. Basketball player Hannah Sternburg came all the way from Mansfield to play for Team Springfield and did not know anyone else in the Delegation.
“It was amazing,” Sternburg said of her Maccabi experience. “All of a sudden I connected with so many people and became good friends with everyone so quickly and easily.” Sternburg played on a mixed team with some teammates from New York and Pennsylvania. Although the girls just met at the Games in Florida, they quickly built team chemistry and went on to win the bronze medal.
Teens were also awarded “Midot” (values) medals for representing any of the six values of JCC Maccabi. Schneider was awarded a medal for “Lev Tov” (big hearted) by the tennis commissioner at the Games.
“No matter how tired he was, Ben never took a break from helping others. He always made sure everyone was hydrated, and even volunteered his time between matches to help the volunteers,” Team Springfield Delegation Head Raychel Setless said.
Like his teammates, Schneider has taken more away from his JCC Maccabi experience than just a medal.
“Maccabi is the best experience a Jewish teen can possibly have. Between friendly but tough competition, fun camaraderie, and meeting people from all over the world; Maccabi is an event I look forward to every year,” Schneider said.
Team Springfield’s 16U boys soccer team returned all but one player from their team in 2014, and was comprised of athletes who play for schools such as Longmeadow, Hebrew High School of New England, and Loomis Chaffee.
“It can be tough to go up against competition that plays together all year round,” coach Tony Sendra said. “Great Britain always has a very strong team, but our team’s chemistry this year was unmatched.”
The only thing missing from Sendra’s perfect team was a goalie. Noah Skole of Longmeadow, who has zero experience playing goalie, offered to try out the role after the first few games of rotating others at the position. As a first time goalie, Skole had four shutouts, and allowed only three goals the entire week of competition.
Skole was recognized as the freshman star of Longmeadow’s varsity lacrosse team this past year, but could find himself in the spotlight again if he decides to permanently switch positions in soccer.
“After Maccabi I’m thinking about it ... Everyone is saying I should,” Skole said. “It was an honor playing with Team Springfield this year. Everyone worked hard to contribute and I was happy to do my part.”
Whether it was the newfound star goalie, the chemistry, the water, or sheer determination; the boys from Team Springfield certainly found success going completely undefeated into the medal rounds.
“Last year our soccer team took home the silver medal after a tough game that went into overtime. With most of our team returning this year, we had our hearts set on gold,” five-year participant Sam Freedman said.
Still, Team Springfield was the underdog with Fort Lauderdale being favored to win.
“Our closest game was the semifinals,” Robbins said. “We needed to score in the last moments which was real exciting."
Score he did. Robbins clinched the win for Springfield adding to his total of 19 goals scored which is a new record for Team Springfield Maccabi. Robbins broke his own record of 18 that he set in 2014, after breaking the record of 17 set by Matan Shmerling of Amherst who went on to play for Team USA at Maccabiah subsequently following his Maccabi experience with Team Springfield. Three of Robbin’s goals were in the gold medal game against Fort Lauderdale where Springfield came out on top with a final score of 7-0.
“I’m glad we were able to take home the big hardware this year for my last year of Maccabi,” Robbins said. “I’m sad it is over, but looking forward to cheering on my brother Spencer and the rest of team at the Games in Stamford (CT) next year.”