Me and Maccabiah

Everyone has a story about how they got involved with the Maccabi movement. It may be a relative or a friend who competed in a previous Games, or someone simply asked you to give it a shot. I don't remember exactly how I heard about it, but my story actually goes back to 1996.

I was a freshman in college. Through some grapevine, I had heard about the upcoming Games in July 1997 and that there was a bowling competition as part of the festivities. I figured I had the game -- and wanted to get to Israel -- so I gave it a shot. I flew out to the Detroit area for a tryout and bowled awful. In the course of 16 games over two days, there was nearly nothing to be happy about. I just couldn't do anything right. I think I had a puss on my face the entire plane ride home.

Before I left Jersey, I thought, "how many Jewish male bowlers could there be trying out for this thing?" Though I don't remember the number offhand, there were a good number of bowlers trying out to qualify for the finals that would be used to determine the team going to Israel. I think I was about #21 in the field, not a very good showing.

The next tryout was in New Jersey; actually, it was at Laurel Lanes in February 1997, where weeks earlier I had competed in a collegiate tournament. I said to myself, "this is your home turf, this is the chance to qualify for the finals," and I did.

All the qualifiers then schlepped out to Columbus for the finals, which I think were in March. Another 16 games and for all my effort, I finished 8th. Respectable, yes, but it was out of the top six who qualified for the team. And I think I only missed by a handful of pins ... a spare or two or three over 16 games could have been the difference. While I left Columbus much happier than I left Detroit, I was still a little sad but pleased that I performed relatively well.

Life moved on and I got word of the Games set for July 2001. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to qualify. On the weekend of the tryouts used to select the team, my cousin, Adam, was being called as a Bar Mitzvah in California. I may love bowling and love Israel, but family comes first -- and that weekend in November, California was definitely the place to be.

After that, the Maccabiah Games were a pretty distant thought in my head, until I received a postcard in the mail, saying that the games were set for July 2005 and applications were on the Maccabi USA website. I shrugged, figured I'd throw in my $40 application fee, and gave it a shot. That was May 2004.

Sometime last summer, information starts circulating that our chair, Marvin Cotler, was trying to schedule tryouts for the end of August in the Philadelphia area. Now, I happen to go away every year that last week of August, but was going to do whatever I could to be at that tryout and qualify. After pestering Marvin to find out what was going on (sorry Marvin), it turned out he was unable to set it up for that time of year and would let us know of the rescheduled date.

The Jewish holidays come and go, work stuff and school stuff and USY/Kadima stuff start picking up, and I nearly forgot about the tryouts (or lack thereof). Suddenly, an e-mail arrives right after the New Year (January, that is) that qualifying will be based on league scores from a five-week period in January and February. We were to send a copy of our scores each week to Marvin and a team would be selected from that.

It took a while for this concept to grow on me. But like a good little soldier, I sent in my scores every week. I didn't think too much about it (I don't even know if I told my teammates or anyone for that matter) because I didn't want to get worked up over it. But it was always there, in the back of my head, pushing me on. In those five weeks, I averaged 242+ per game -- that's a 728 series each week. I had been bowling well all season, but that was much higher than even I had been averaging. In five weeks, my sets were: 692, 748, 730, 709, and 762. I figured I had it in the bag, but if not, then there were six other men out there that really earned it. Luckily, I got my letter on Feb. 17 (yes, I still remember the day) that I was one of those six. I can't say the rest is history -- but it has set the stage for what's about to come.

So, perseverance mixed with a little nonchalance and some kick-butt bowling can be a powerful combination. I better remember that when competition begins on July 13.