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Local athletes compete in Maccabiah Games
(by Steve Novak - August 13, 2009)
Local athletes compete in Maccabiah Games
By STEVE NOVAK
In the very early days of international sport games, the athletes were given a heroes welcome when they returned home. Then they told their countrymen about their success at the games.
Some traditions survive the centuries. In the case of some local athletes who just returned from the 18th Maccabiah Games in Israel, they were welcomed back home by their families, and then they talked about the two-week long festival of games.
Bainbridge Township's Brian Greene had lots to talk about when he returned home. He was a midfielder on the U.S. soccer team. In five contests, the U.S. defeated Canada, 2-1, and South Africa, 2-0 and lost Mexico, 3-0, Brazil, 4-3, and England, 1-0 in overtime.
The 42-year-old Greene has been playing competitive soccer since graduating from the Ohio State University. He has played on two Cleveland-area soccer teams, while also being the varsity soccer coach at Beachwood High School.
Greene said he qualified for the U.S. team going to the Maccabiah games during tryouts last year at Williamsburg, Va. He was one of about 60 players chosen.
He joined Greg Abrams, 39, of Orange, as midfielders on the team.
Greene said he played in all five of the contests. Midfielders usually are positioned farther from the goal than most of the other positions, which cuts down the opportunity for scoring. However, in one of the games, Greene intercepted a pass and sent the ball back upfield, leading to a goal.
Although this was the first time Greene had been in the Maccabiah games, he also competed internationally in 2007 in the Pan-American Games in Buenos Aries, Argentina.
Greene said that playing in international competition is a much needed change of pace for anyone who has been coaching the same sport for a number of years.
"The most positive thing is, you become a player again," he said. "I started looking at things from a player's perspective. It adds a fresh perspective, because you weren't thinking of things from a player's point of view."
Both Greene and Abrams had enough time away from the games to do some sightseeing. Greene said he experienced the reality that almost any first-time visitor to a foreign country has.
"It's not like you see on the news," he said. "I never feared for my safety. We got to see things such as Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. It was like being a kid and going to summer camp in Israel for two weeks."
Abrams saw a lot of playing time. He had an assist on one of the goals.
Another local athlete who took part in the Maccabiah Games is still a high school student.
Andrew Margolis, 17, will be a senior this fall at Solon High School, but he already has the distinction of participating in international gymnastics competition.
Margolis said he enrolled in a qualifying tournament for the games last winter. He originally was chosen as a second alternate, but because some of the original qualifiers dropped out, he was named as a member of the starting squad.
Margolis was the youngest member of the six-man United States team. The oldest of the group was 23 years old. He is the son of Jeff and Robyn Margolis.
Margolis competed in four different exercises -- the floor, the vault, the bars and rings. He said he received his best score in the rings, with a judge's rating of 13.5.
The U.S. gymnastics team competed against Israel, Holland and Brazil. Margolis said because both Brazil and Holland didn't have enough team members, the four-country competition wasn't recognized as an official international competition. However, the United States team finished with a higher point total than Brazil and Holland, while falling second behind Israel in team score.
Margolis said he felt nervous at the beginning of his events, mainly because of the level of competition he would be facing.
"At first, it was a little bit intimidating, but my older teammates just helped to calm me down after that," he said.
Now that he's back home, Margolis is preparing for this winter's local gymnastics competition. He is a member of a local suburban team called Gymnastics World. The team competes in Ohio and other neighboring states. He has competed four times in the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympics National Championships.
"I've been doing gymnastics for about 13 years now, ever since I was 4 years old," he said. "My sister used to do gymnastics, and I started to copy her. My mother thought it would be a good idea for me to have lessons."
The start of those lessons already has led to international competition for the teenager. Margolis said he has practice nearly every day throughout the year.
"It's four hours a day and five days a week. It's a lot," he said.
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