Team Ohio had an amazing time in Orange County and Long Beach, Aug. 5-10, for the 2018 JCC Maccabi Games and ArtsFest. Our delegation of 17 athletes, four artists and six staff were spirted, and each day was filled with excitement and new friends.

This year, JCC Maccabi and ArtsFest hosted 2,500 kids and 60 staff and volunteers. On the first day, athletes traded pins with other delegations. The Team Ohio pin was one of the most popular pins for trade. We had the opening ceremonies at the Santa Ana stadium where we sang with The Maccabeats, watched the Chargers Football cheerleaders dance, and watched videos about the games, sang anthems for the USA, Canada and Israel, we remembered the Munich 11 athletes with a tribute candle lighting and finally the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. The rest of the week  was filled with competitions, learning/practice, hang-time, community service, food and highly energetic evening programs with dinner, games and fun. Ruach was non-stop!

Team Ohio Delegation Results:

• Lannie Luper won Gold Medal in Track & Field 100/110M Hurdles (13-14  girls)
• Mixed Team Girls Softball (Emma Zelkind) won Silver Medal 
• 16/under boys basketball. Jack and Josh played hard and picked up two wins (Akron player is Jack Sandel)
• 14/under boys basketball had a great win over Cleveland, and just missed a bronze medal (Akron player is Elan Meltzer)
• 16/under boys baseball had great games and fell just short of a medal
• Daniel Mandel sang three songs in Rock Band. He was fantastic and the audience love him. (Akron artist)
• Haley Zorn sang three songs in Vocal Music with incredible harmonies (Arkon Artist)

In the end, we were all winners. Our kids were respectful, kind, funny and great competitors. We are proud of our Team Ohio participants, and the host families absolutely loved our kids. Thank you to all the Team Ohio staff for the work and dedication to keep our kids safe and involved. Next year, JCC Maccabi and ArtsFest will be held in August 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. We hope all who are eligible will come join us again with new athletes and artists. We will have an open house/information meeting in late December for JCC Maccabi/ArtsFest 2019 for participants ages 12-17. For more information, please contact Scott Zorn at szorn@shawjcc.org.