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 A glimpse at the USA team from the 10th Annual Pan-American Maccabiah Games in Chile. The 11th tournament is in Buenos Aires later this month. |
Looking Forward to
The Maccabiah Games
By STAN ISAACS
of TheColumnists.com
I recently watched with some fascination as coach Brian (Shifty) Schiff supervised a vigorous workout by a group of boys who will represent the United States at the 11th Pan American Maccabiah Games in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.
Schiff, 54, a lifelong Philadelphian, impressed me with his dedication to the game of basketball, to sportsmanship and to Judaism represented by the Maccabiah (aka Maccabi) movment.
He talked to the some dozen youths about their Jewish heritage. “I am secular,” he said, “but I do the Jewish thing because I think it is real important. There is not a lot of positive exposure to things Jewish and I think this can be a rich experience for you, playing with Jewish kids from around this county, meeting Jewish kids from other countries.“
He told them as well, “You have to remember you represent a multitude of things--yourself, your city, your family, school, the USA. At a time when so many people look down on America, you want to do everything you can to give the best impression.”
The Pan American Maccabiah Games are an outgrowth of the Maccabiah Games held in Israel every four years and in other countries the two years between the Games in Israel. The Maccabi movement was named for Judas (The Hammer) Maccabeus. The Games were initiated in 1895, resumed in 1932, then again in 1950 and have been a quadrenniial event since 1957. Basketball’s Doph Schayes, swimmer Mark Spitz and tennis ace Dick Savitt are among those who competed in the event.
Schiff, who refers to himself as “Shifty,” is a Penn State graduate. He was in the food business as a caterer, restaurant chef and owner; writer for a Jewish weekly; did public relations; and now is a sports producer for the Comcast cable network in Philadelpia.
No more than a street athlete as a softball and basketball player, Schiff, who is five-foot seven and 220 pounds, can be described only as “dumpy.” He got involved with the Maccabiah Games when he wrote a story about them for The Jewish Times. “This looked like fun,” he said and agreed to help out with the coaching. Soon he was an assistant coach, though he said “at first I was little more than an ass patter. I would pat them on the behind and say, ‘good job.’ ”
He immersed himself in the sport, talked to coaches, read books, and went to basketball clinics. By 1999 he was the head coach of the junior division 16 and under. His first team was, “the best ever,” he said. “We had all 6-8 and 6-6 kids and as a lark they all dyed their hair blond. A woman said to me ‘where did you find all those blond-haired Jewish basketball players?’ “
Since Schiff took over, the U.S. Maccabiah Juniors have not lost a game. They are 24 and 0. They are the No. 1 seed this year in a seven-team field. At the orientation he told the squad, “I don’t think we would be expected to have too much trouble with Guatemala; how many Jews are there in Guatemala?” It turns out that there is no Guatemala. The field includes Argentina I and II, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Canada and the U.S. If they advance they will play five games in seven days.
This team includes boys from the Los Angeles and Boston areas, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Miami and Long Island. They came to Schiff’s attention by word of mouth, from his talks with coaches and tapes sent to him. They range in height from 6-5 to 5-8.
I became interested in the Maccabiah Games because our friend’s son, Zach Libresco, is on the team. Zach, who plays for Wheatley High on Long Island, is a selfless player, an excellent passer and rebounder. I love that Shifty calls him “a warrior.”
Schiff had the group for three days of scrimmages in the Philadelphia suburbs last month and will work them out a few more days the week before the tournament. When I watched the roly-poly taskmaster running them, their tongues were dragging.
In a pre-tourney directive he sent the boys last week, he told them that among other things they make sure they bring to the tournament: “Game, Heart, Desire, Passion, Sportsmanship, Will to Win, Blah, Blah, Blah.”
The ex-restaurant man, newspaper writer, TV producer also teaches a course at a local college, Arcardia, entitled: “Writing for TV and Radio.” He said, “I know I did the right thing because I feel better when told I wrote a good story than when I was told I served a good meal.”
My wife and I have long wanted to visit South America. We will be going on Christmas day to Buenos Aires, to take in the town and watch coach Shifty and our guy, Zach, and the U.S.A. boys try to win another Maccabiah Games gold medal.
©2007 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs
caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The photo is courtesy
of the official Maccabiah Games website. This column first posted
Dec. 10, 2007.
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