Today is the last day of the 2015 Dallas JCC Maccabi Games®.  It’s hard to believe how the week has flown by.  Here is a wrap-up of the day’s competition:

Team Palo Alto on both sides of the net: Sam and Thomas played each other in the bronze medal 16U boys’ tennis match.

Thomas ended up taking home the bronze medal and Sam placed fourth. Most importantly, they didn’t let the match impact their friendship, the very definition of rachmanus.

Daniela defending against LA Westside in the bronze medal game.

Carly in the huddle during a timeout.

Our girls’ basketball team played their hearts out but were denied the bronze by L.A. Westside, a formidable team. It was a close game until the very end—a more competitive game than the gold medal match later that afternoon. The Bay Area girls’ team members were disappointed but they’re already making plans for another gold medal run next year.

In individual sports, Alli, one of our swimmers, finished the JCC Maccabi Games® in Dallas with an array of medals, including gold in the 400 yard medley relay; silver in the 400 yard freestyle relay; bronze in the 200 yard freestyle relay; and bronze in the 50 yard butterfly. Way to go, Alli!

Meanwhile, Seth finished with two gold medals in golf, beating out athletes one or two years older than him. He was humble and gracious about his win. Very classy.

Tradition of the Day: This year, the JCC Maccabi Games® introduced a new slogan, #WeAreMaccabi, to celebrate diversity among participating athletes and their families. The hashtag highlights the fact that, as JCCA has written, “The JCC Maccabi family includes Jews of African-American, Asian and Latin-American descent. It includes athletes and artists, coaches, Delegation Heads and Chaperones with diverse athletic and artistic backgrounds and abilities. It includes participants with special needs, of different sexual orientations, and with much to share in what makes everyone a unique and valuable member of JCC Maccabi.” I’m so proud to see this hashtag catching on. I hope it will become a longstanding JCC Maccabi Games® tradition.

Delegation Head’s Moment of the Day: Tonight I could see the connections our athletes made with other Jewish teens from all over the world. At the evening event, a wrap-up party at a dance club-turned-teen party space (complete with a live Texas Longhorn bull to pose with for pictures…because, Texas!), they were running around for hours trading pins, socks, shirts, jackets, sombreros—anything that had a delegation’s name on it, especially Mexico, Panama, Israel, or Australia—and making plans to see their new friends again and stay in touch. I know I will keep this experience with me for a long time and the athletes from Team Palo Alto will too.

Stay tuned for information about when and where we will be going for next year’s JCC Maccabi Games (y’all!). Thanks for memories, Dallas. See everyone next year!

Scores from all the Dallas JCC Maccabi Games® events can be found on the Games’ official website. Check out the OFJCC Teens Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages for pictures and videos of our delegation’s experience throughout the competition.

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.

Team Palo Alto kept its momentum going on day two of the JCC Maccabi Games® in spite of the Dallas heat (oy!).

Chad scores! (Goalllll!)

Carly and her teammate from the Bay Area girls’ basketball squad.

Daniela subbing in.

Seth putting on the green. He finished the day twenty strokes ahead of the field. (Epic performance!)

Alli getting her silver medal in swimming!

Tradition of the Day:  In addition to winning medals in competition, JCC Maccabi Games® athletes can win the Midot Medal for living the Jewish values cherished at the Games:

• Repairing the world/Tikkun Olam
• Respect/Kavod
• Joy/Rina
• Pride/Ge’avah
• Open Hearted/Lev Tov
• Jewish Peoplehood/Amiut Yehudit

Delegation Head’s Moment of the Day:  I am really enjoying watching our 14U boys’ soccer team, a mixed team with Mexico. The head coach, part of the Mexico delegation, shouts passionately in Spanish while our Palo Alto soccer coach, Shaun, directs the boys in his British accent. The JCC Maccabi Games® is an international movement and it truly feels like an international event at these games. It seems almost like being at the World Cup and I know the three players from our Palo Alto delegation love it.

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.

Team Palo Alto had a strong start (and a really good time!) on day one of the Dallas JCC Maccabi Games®.

Seth tees off in the golf competition. (Good form!)

Ari and his dad between swimming events. Ari shattered his personal best in the 50 yard freestyle by 12 seconds! (Wow!)

How soccer players Chad and Ori spend downtime with their teammates from Mexico.

Matan (number 12) and his teammates from Kansas City and Boston.

Thomas competes in tennis.

Carly (number 11) and Daniela (number 5) playing on the Bay Area girls’ basketball team with athletes from San Francisco, the Peninsula JCC in Foster City and an honorary Bay Area resident from Boston.

Monday’s post-competition evening event at Top Golf in Dallas.

Tradition of the Day:  The JCC Maccabi Games® have many cultural traditions that contribute to the experience for athletes.  The cornerstone of the JCC Maccabi Games® is rachmanus, which means “compassion” in Hebrew. Athletes, coaches, and spectators take an oath at the Opening Ceremonies to exercise rachmanus at all times while at the Games, on and off the field, in the form of good sportsmanship and being kind to all.

Delegation Head’s Moment of the Day: Today at the pool, I felt the spirit of the JCC Maccabi Games® when everyone cheered as loudly for the swimmers pushing themselves just to finish their events as they did for the winners of the day’s races. That’s how we do it at Maccabi. It’s a great movement to be a part of.

Scores from all the Dallas JCC Maccabi Games® events can be found on the Games’ official website.

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The Dallas JCC Maccabi Games® got underway Sunday evening, August 2nd as a thousand Jewish teen athletes plus coaches, JCC staff, parents, and other staff gathered for the Opening Ceremonies.

Our Palo Alto delegation paraded into the arena at Southern Methodist University to a remix of the Pac-Man theme, our theme for the games.

I’ll be sharing additional updates on the blog all week, and don’t forget to check the OFJCC Teens Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages for pictures and videos of our delegation’s experience throughout the competition!

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Many readers of this blog are familiar with the OFJCC’s mission to “inspire Jewish Journeys.” In the teen program, we take the “journey” piece both literally and figuratively each year when we travel with a group of athletes to the JCC Maccabi Games^®. The JCC Maccabi Games^®, which have run every summer since 1982, are like a Jewish Olympics for teens. More than that, for its athletes, the Games foster healthy living, teamwork and pride in being Jewish.

I am excited to be chaperoning eleven teens on my first journey to the JCC Maccabi Games^® as the Delegation Head, or DH (the JCC Maccabi kind, not the Major League Baseball kind).

The journey began for athletes in our Palo Alto delegation at our official sendoff event on July 27th. The evening started with a short meeting for athletes and parents in the Marcia & John Goldman Teen Center. The teens took part in a quick icebreaker that got them out of their seats, moving and laughing.

Basketball player Daniela, a parent and Rebecca Katz (a.k.a. “Katz”), OFJCC Teen Program Manager and DH for Team Palo Alto

The athletes loved getting duffel bags with all of their Team Palo Alto gear, which this year, has a Pac-Man-esque theme (an homage to early gaming and Atari, which started right in our backyard in Sunnyvale, CA). In addition to their bags and water bottles (Dallas is hella hot in August), the athletes got shirts and jackets with the team logo, plus Team Palo Alto pins and socks to trade. I have heard many former JCC Maccabi Games® athletes say that trading pins and other gear with teens from all over the world is one of the best parts of the experience. It will be fun to see how in-demand our team’s gear turns out to be.

The finale of our sendoff was going to a San Francisco Giants game. The athletes and staff loved watching the Giants win and eating the tasty food at AT&T Park (Gilroy garlic fries anyone?). Best of all, it was Giants Jewish Heritage Night, so everyone got a Giants kiddush cup and an earful of Jewish music between innings.

When I went to get my kiddush cup, I saw a group of Orthodox Jewish men davening in the twilight at one corner of the stadium. The city lights of San Francisco began to turn on behind them as they prayed. It was an idyllic blend of sports and Jewish culture–a little of the Maccabi spirit right here at home. There is much more to come.

I will be live-blogging all this week from Dallas so you can follow us as our Palo Alto delegation takes on the 2015 JCC Maccabi Games®. We have athletes competing in basketball, soccer, golf, tennis, and swimming. Check back for pictures, videos, and stories from our journey. In the meantime, here is a link to the official Dallas JCC Maccabi Games^® website.

Game on, y’all!

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