Jewish teens set for battle

The first Philadelphia delegation to the JCC Maccabi Games, the international sports competition for Jewish teenagers, was put together in a few weeks with a few phone calls.

Phil Kohler, a swim coach at the Kaiserman Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Wynnewood, and his wife, Beth, scrambled to find athletes. They managed to recruit 35 to swim and to play soccer and basketball at the Detroit games in 1984.

Twenty-seven years later, 250 teens representing Philadelphia will march into the Pavilion at Villanova University for the opening ceremony of the 2011 JCC Maccabi Games, which will be held here Aug. 14 to 19. The local delegation will be among more than 1,000 athletes from around the world.

In 1984, "when we marched in we had T-shirts, and the kids wore their own sweat pants," said Beth Kohler, of Havertown. "Now we have these magnificent uniforms. To think what we were then, and what we are now."

The Kohlers are now assistant heads of the Philadelphia delegation and part of a group led by the games' host, the Kaiserman JCC, that is working feverishly to prepare for the Olympic-style games.

This is the first time in 10 years that they are being held in the area, one of two host sites in North America this summer. Springfield, Mass., is the other.

Athletes ages 13 to 16 will compete in nine sports, including soccer, basketball, swimming, lacrosse, dance, tennis, and baseball. The teens will travel here from the United States, Israel, Panama, Mexico, Britain, Venezuela, and Canada. South Jersey will be represented by a team from the Katz JCC in Cherry Hill. The Siegel JCC in Wilmington also is sending a team.

"As important as sports are to the games, they are secondary to the camaraderie of being [with other Jewish teenagers] in an atmosphere that is so open and accepting," said Marti Berk, head of the Philadelphia delegation.

The JCC Maccabi Games are a spin-off of the Maccabiah Games, a competition for Jewish athletes that takes place every four years in Israel. The first Maccabiah Games were held in 1932. The first JCC Macabbi Games were in Memphis in 1982.

To prepare, local organizers have been meeting for a year. They must house, feed, transport, and entertain 1,250 athletes for six days.

The games will be held in 19 venues, mostly in the western suburbs.