Largest Team Alberta will compete at JCC Maccabi Games this summer

by Maxine Fischbein

(AJNews) – Team Alberta is heading to the JCC Maccabi Games in Detroit, Michigan with 20 young athletes between the ages of 12 and 16. The 2024 contingent, made up of 11 teens from Calgary and nine from Edmonton, is believed to be the largest Alberta team ever to compete in the international event, says Delegation Head Chloe Soibelman, of Edmonton.

Joining Soibelman in Detroit this year are two chaperones, Danielle Braitman, Director of Engagement Programs for the Paperny Family JCC and Calgary Jewish Federation, and Shira Spring, a teacher at the Edmonton Talmud Torah.

The games take place this summer, thanks, in part, to the enormous effort of volunteers including families in Detroit and environs who are stepping up on numerous fronts including the billeting of competitors from communities throughout North America and beyond.

International competitors will include Jewish kids from Israel, Ukraine and Argentina, Soibelman told AJNews, adding that the opportunity to compete is providing much-needed respite for Israelis suffering in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks and Ukrainian athletes similarly traumatized by Russia’s continuing war on Ukraine.

Last year, the JCC Maccabi Games was shared between two locations: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Israel. Teams from communities in 10 countries from four continents participated, including a delegation from Morocco, an Abraham Accord country that competed in Israel. Soibelman lead Team Alberta to Israel while Marit Abrams led a second delegation to Ft. Lauderdale.

Team Alberta is set to arrive in Detroit on a Friday and will spend Shabbat with their Detroit and area host families prior to opening ceremonies.

Seven Team Alberta athletes are competing in ice hockey on a mixed team including peers from several cities in British Columbia as well as Albany-Schenectady, New York; Wisconsin; and San Jose, California, Soibelman said. The team coach is Brad Kahn, of Vancouver.

The opportunity to network and form bonds with Canadians from nearby communities is a gift that can keep on giving, says Chloe Soibelman.

“They get to know each other and perhaps later in life they will end up at BBYO together or at University together. Having regional connections is, in my mind, a really nice thing,” Soibelman said.

Other Team Alberta competitors include two girls and one boy in tennis, two girls in volleyball, two boys in 3 X 3 basketball, two boys in baseball, and one boy in swimming. Cultural competitors include two girls who will compete in Israeli dancing and one star reporter who will attend as many events as possible in order to provide coverage, mainly on social media, of Team Alberta’s journey at the games.

Star Reporter Oscar Magalnick, of Edmonton, will receive media training at the games under the auspices of Lost Tribe, “…an organization that aims to connect Jewish teens by creating safe online spaces centred around social media and community,” Soibelman said.

“It’s great because [star reporters] are mentored by people who are interested in communications and social media coming from a Jewish viewpoint.”

With Jewish youth having experienced the toxicity of social media in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, training for Maccabi Games star reporters has taken on a new significance and extends the opportunity for kids— including some who may not be athletes—to participate meaningfully at the games.

It will be Calgary tennis player Sloane Zenith’s second time as a competitor at the JCC Maccabi Games, having earned a silver medal at the JCC Maccabi Games in Ft. Lauderdale last year. Sloane, one of two Calgary kids continuing a family tradition at the games, walks in the footsteps of her father Zac and aunt Tamar both of whom competed at the JCC Maccabi Games in the early 1980s. Coincidentally, they also competed in Detroit.

Like her father and aunt once were, Sloane is in the top tier of provincial tennis players in her age category. Tennis Alberta currently has her ranked fourth in singles and first in doubles (U14). She earned silver in singles play at the JCC Maccabi Games in Ft. Lauderdale last year and is thrilled to be returning to the Maccabi Games this year in the company of many friends, including Edmonton twin tennis players Amaris and Blake Khotin-Fialkov.

Blake is currently ranked third in the province in U14 singles and doubles while Amaris is ranked second in singles and first in doubles. Amaris and Sloane have competed against each other in Alberta. Notably, they have spent the last two seasons as doubles partners, says Zac Zenith, who walked down memory lane recalling his own Maccabi experience, circa 1983.

Zenith says that during his era there was less emphasis on social aspects of the experience, though he nonetheless had “a great time.”

“We’re obviously in a very different era,” says Tamar, regarding not only the growing diversity and inclusivity of the Maccabi games, but also the opportunities that new friends have to keep in touch online.

“It’s nice that we are represented and it’s nice that we also can place on a North American scale,” said Tamar Zenith who expressed gratitude for local volunteers who help to get Team Alberta to the games.

“It was a wonderful experience for me,” recalled Tamar. “My billet family was amazing…and it was nice to be involved with a group of athletes that were all Jewish.”

At the time, Tamar believes that she and her brother were the only Jewish kids playing competitive tennis in Calgary. Each made it to the podium at the Alberta Summer Games held in Fort McMurray the year after they competed in Detroit.

“Sloane is amazing,” said her proud aunt, who described her as “…a top notch tennis player who takes it seriously and works very hard.”

“She is also a very strong Jewish young woman,” Tamar Zenith said.

That part of Sloane’s identity is front and centre for Sloane as she participates in the Maccabi games. Recalling her experience in Ft. Lauderdale last year, she told AJNews:

“Meeting lots of Jewish people my age was really fun…and meeting people from other countries.”

This time Sloane is traveling to the games in the company of quite a few friends and she hopes other Jewish teens in Alberta will consider joining Team Alberta in the future.

“For sure do it! It’s been a great experience. I loved it, and I’ll keep doing it as much as I can because it’s really amazing.”

Other talented Calgarians to watch are Sophie Libin and Leah Bickman, who will be playing volleyball. Libin was this year’s recipient of the Norman Ronald Silver Sports Leadership Award, granted annually by the Jewish Community Foundation of Calgary to a deserving athlete who “…exemplifies the true meaning of team spirit and sportsmanship by serving as a leader and role model for others.”  Leah was this year’s recipient of the Female Athlete of the Year award at The Calgary Jewish Academy.

Calgarian Aviva Horwitz has been an avid volunteer for Team Alberta. As parent champion, she interacts with Calgary parents, providing registration guidance and answering questions about the journey on which their children are about to embark.

This is a way to pay forward the benefit that Horwitz’s sons, Evan and Jordan, experienced as two-time competitors at previous JCC Maccabi Games, Horwitz told AJNews.

“Playing hockey at the level Evan played, he often had to make the choice between the sport he loved and being engaged in Jewish activities.”

“Going to Maccabi from a community of our size gave him the opportunity to find the commonality with other Jewish kids who play hockey,” Horwitz said,” adding, “He still keeps in touch with his billet families and the kids he met.”

According to Aviva Horwitz, the Maccabi experience helped to build confidence in both her sons as they immersed themselves in a Jewish environment while playing the sport they love.

Evan, who played AA, AAA, and Junior Hockey with the Calgary Royals, still reaches out to former Maccabi teammates to see who is interested in playing the sport, sometimes linking them with players he knows at home and elsewhere.

Both Evan and his brother Jordan—who played Division I hockey—continue to play recreational hockey in student leagues and intramurals.

As the eldest Team Alberta athlete at the 2022 JCC Maccabi Games in San Diego, Jordan was a role model and support to younger teammates. He once again lent a hand by supervising this year’s Team Alberta athletes when they volunteered at the annual Calgary B’nai Brith Dinner this past spring. Kids from both Edmonton and Calgary supported the silent auction at the event. Calgary kids volunteered at Good Deeds Day and the JCC Sports Dinner while their Edmonton peers volunteered in the coat check at Festival Hatzafon, an annual Israeli dance festival organized by the Aviv Israeli Folk Dance Association.

Team Alberta athletes raised funds in Edmonton and Calgary by selling ice melt and conducting bottle drives. They look forward to rolling up their sleeves in Detroit as participants in JCC Cares mitzvah projects.

“You don’t just go,” said Aviva Horwitz, adding that the kids are proud to volunteer within their communities as well as representing them at the games.

Horwitz is thrilled that Team Alberta has more than doubled in size since her sons competed. She noted that while many of the kids are immersed in local Jewish life, the games are a very important conduit for young athletes who have not previously interacted much in the organized Jewish community.

“Chloe has done a really amazing job of forming committees and getting the kids involved in the planning,” said Horwitz, an example being the design of Team Alberta apparel.

Chloe Soibelman says that she is particularly thrilled to be leading such a large delegation of Jewish athletes during a year that has been especially challenging.

“These kids have been exposed to more antisemitism and more divisiveness in the world than they’ve ever experienced, probably more than I’ve ever experienced. This is…an opportunity to leave all that behind and just be with teens where they can just let their hair down and be proud to be Jewish.”

We will be cheering you on, Team Alberta!

Registration will begin this fall for the 2025 JCC Maccabi Games. For more information contact Chloe Soibelman (Edmonton) at jccmaccabi@edjfed.org or Danielle Braitman (Calgary) at dbraitman@jewishcalgary.org.

Maxine Fischbein is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.