Coming together for sportsmanship

When the LJCC first hired Executive Director Betzy Lynch, Mountain Brook resident Layne Held said he remembers two things that stuck out on her resume: She played college tennis and basketball at Goucher College in Baltimore (“She’s 5-foot-1-inches, maybe, in heels,” Held said), and she helped organize the Maccabi Games in Memphis. 

Having both competed and coached in past games, Held said it was one of his dreams to have Birmingham host the Games.

“I said [to Lynch], ‘Look, one day I want Birmingham to host the Maccabi Games. When that time comes, and you think we’re ready, I want you to call me,’” he said.

Held and fellow Mountain Brook local and Co-Chairman Bruce Sokol got that call in December 2015, and Birmingham was the confirmed host city for the 2017 Maccabi Games by January 2016.

Sokol said the Maccabi Games originated from the Maccabiah Games, which began in the 1930s as an Olympic-style even for Jewish athletes in Isreal.

“So then, someone came up with the idea to further that cause with Jewish teens,” he said.

The Maccabi Games were founded in 1982, making this installation the 35th year for the games and the first year Birmingham is the host.

“It hadn’t happened in 35 years, and it probably won’t happen again in at least 35 years,” Held said. “It’s such a rare opportunity for the Jewish community.”

As an athletic competition for Jewish teens, or what Sokol described as a “junior Olympics,” 900 athletes will compete in Birmingham from July 30 through Aug. 4 for their area’s team, such as Team Birmingham. If athletes come from a smaller city that does not have enough participants to form a team, they are welcomed onto another team, like Team Birmingham is doing with its sister cities, Vinnytsia, Ukraine, and Rosh Haayin, Israel.

The athletes also will stay with about 1,500 Jewish host families in lieu of hotels or dorms.

“Each visiting athlete stays in a local Jewish home to get the true Birmingham experience,” said Levite JCC Marketing Director Stephanie Salvago. “It helps them develop a connection with the city versus being done with the Games and going back to a dorm and not really being able to make any kind of connection.”

The week will kick off with opening ceremonies, reminiscent of the Olympics, where each city is recognized during a parade of athletes. 

Former SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and former president of Birmingham-Southern College and 31st Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Charles Krulak will speak as the honorary co-chairmen.

“My involvement in the JCC Maccabi Games is important to me because it brings together two very important parts of my life:  Judaism and athletic competition,” Slive told Sokol regarding the games.

“As a Christian, I agreed to be an honorary chairperson of the JCC Maccabi Games because I saw such great value in bringing together young men and women in a spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie,” Krulak said to Sokol. “Having spent a career in the military, we need events like these games to bring our country together.”

Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl will also be an honorary speaker at the opening ceremonies, after which the athletes will compete in a range of sports, including baseball, basketball, soccer, swimming, table tennis and track and field. 

While Sokol said many athletes come for the sports, they stay and enjoy the games for the social aspects. 

“It’s using sports as a catalyst to bring Jewish kids together in the spirit of brotherhood and to share the Jewish identity with kids from around the country,” he said. 

During their down time, the athletes may spend time with fellow competitors and take part in a host-family night or evening events the Games have planned.

And, for a day, the competitions will be postponed to allow for a community service project and for athletes to experience the city.

This year, Salvago said the athletes will be collecting and packing school supplies to give to city and county schools in need.

“You do something that is meaningful in that community, so the kids give back but the community also gives back to the kids,” she said.

The athletes also will learn about the history of Birmingham and visit the Civil Rights Institute and the 16th Street Baptist Church.

“Culturally, what this does, is it brings around kids from around the country and around the world to a city that they’ve never been to before,” Sokol said.

Teams from about 30 cities nationwide and internationally will be competing while they experiencing Southern Jewish life.

“These kids otherwise wouldn’t come to Birmingham. I mean, it’s not exactly a destination,” Sokol said.

Held said, too, that Birmingham is one of the smallest cities in the history of the Games to host the event, but they are predicting a great economic benefit to the city and surrounding areas as approximately 2,500 people visit.

“It’s a commitment, but I think that’s what makes this experience for our community so unique,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether you belong to the JCC [or] what temple you belong to; everybody comes together to put this on.”