Maccabi USA Organizational Meeting a Huge Success

As I walked into the New York City building where our meeting would be taking place, I noticed several of my co-workers waiting with another man who was noticeably large in stature. It was only 7:45 a.m. and our scheduled start was still over an hour away. After a train ride Saturday afternoon and a night in the Big Apple, it's safe to say I still wasn't exactly "awake".

I had no idea who else would be there that early besides the office employees. Ami Monson, our Program Director, introduced me. "Jameson, I'd like you to meet Dolph Schayes." Needless to say, I woke up. With the 12-time NBA All-Star in attendance, followed a half-hour later by Tennessee Volunteers Head Men's Basketball Coach, Bruce Pearl, I knew the meeting would go well.

General Chairman, Ron Carner and Maccabi USA President, Toni Wortman each gave phenomenal speeches to get us started. A video of the Maccabiah Games in Israel was also shown as the meeting had officially gotten underway. One of the best moments of the meeting was when our Team USA Rabbi, Irwin Kula spoke. His speech was truly a passionate and provocative one. Many people who attended the meeting continued to mention it in the following days.

Bruce Pearl soon followed the Rabbi. Coach Pearl explained to everybody how honored and excited he was for this opportunity to represent the United States at the 18th World Maccabiah Games as well as travel to Israel for the first time.

In other Maccabi USA news, tryouts continue to be scheduled. You can refer to my last post, http://maccabiusajameson.blogspot.com/2008/04/updates-on-tryouts-and-events.html for the dates and locations of sports that have already been finalized. Tennis tryouts are close to being set. We expect those to be established and put onto our website, http://www.maccabiusa.com/ in the next week or so.

Soccer and Futsal are the most recent sports that have scheduled tryouts:
Men's and Women's Soccer(Juniors, Youth, Open)
Plantation, FL- December 19-21, 2008

Men's Futsal(Open)
Plantation, FL- December 19-21, 2008

Masters Soccer in both age groups(Men's 35+, Men's 45+), have yet to be determined. For any specific questions regarding Soccer and Futsal, please feel free to contact the Overall Soccer Chairman, Mark Knue(markk@vwg.com).

Log on to our website, http://www.maccabiusa.com/ as well as my blog for all the latest information. Everyone here at Maccabi USA would like to wish you a good Pesach.

Jameson Singer, Outreach Coordinator
Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel
1926 Arch St., Suite #4R
Philadelphia, PA 19103
JSinger@maccabiusa.com
(215) 561-6900 ext. 114
http://maccabiusajameson.blogspot.com/
http://www.maccabiusa.com/