The competition got more intense today as our athletes vied for spots in Thursday’s medal rounds.
Thomas advanced to Thursday’s semifinals looking calm and confident.
Sam won a hard-fought second match to advance to the semifinals. His competitor tried to psych him out but couldn’t break his composure.
Jack throws in the ball to resume play. Both of our boys’ soccer teams lost in heartbreakers this morning, but they had the time of their lives playing on mixed teams with athletes from all over North America this week.
Chad scored goals for his mixed team with Mexico.
Not pictured in today’s blog is Matan, who got a hat trick (three goals) for his 16U boys’ soccer team on Tuesday and scored again for them today. He was as clutch as can be down the stretch.
Meanwhile, our girls’ basketball team got a bye today, because they were ranked the #1 seed by the JCC Maccabi Games® staff in Dallas! They play tomorrow against the winners of Wednesday’s games.
This afternoon, all 1,000 of the athletes at the JCC Maccabi Games® took time out from the competition to do community service at one of three JCC Cares sites. Service projects included farming/landscaping and packing food for people in need in Dallas. Taking a break from competition to serve the local community gave all of the athletes perspective heading into the final day.
Tonight we go to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor for the evening event. It’s gonna be fun!
Tradition of the Day: A unique tradition the Dallas organizers have instituted is giving the athletes dog tags every night with a different Jewish saying or thought. The players get their tags on the buses home from the evening event along with a brief explanation of the meanings and origins of the inscriptions. I love these little nuggets of Jewish culture and how seamlessly they are integrated into the week.
Delegation Head’s Moment of the Day: Today, our tennis and soccer players demonstrated poise and wholeheartedness in competition. Win or lose, they played their guts out with rachmanus to spare. Team Palo Alto is truly a class act. I couldn’t be prouder.
Scores from all the Dallas JCC Maccabi Games® events can be found on the Games’ official website. Remember to follow along on the OFJCC Teens Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages for pictures and videos of our delegation’s experience throughout the competition.
Previous post – Next post
Comments are moderated and will not appear immediately.