Great day to be from Phoenix!!!
The 1,500 Maccabi athletes arrived at Hebrew University in Jerusalem from far-flung corners of Israel. Our boys and girls had spent two nights with host families in Ashkelon, about an hour from the capital. After unloading the buses, the kids put their belongings in a baggage area and headed toward the stadium with one soccer field inside a big track and field track.
In our bronze medal game against Columbus, Ohio, we started well by playing great defense and controlling the ball. About 12 minutes in, Brett saw an opportunity to push up into the attack: he took possession at mid-field, passed ahead to Gino, kept running toward goal, received a perfect pass back, and curled a clinical finish around a diving keeper. 1-0.
In the game's last 15 minutes, Gino added two terrific goals to make it 3-0. Final goal tallies: Gino 6, JZ 2, Brett 2. Aaron played 5.5 quarters in goal and only let in 6 goals, which is phenomenal for his first games ever as a keeper! He has definitely found his calling.
After our game we cheered on Scotty Levine in tennis (lost in a tie-breaker but still won the silver medal) and the 15-and-under boys basketball team, which won a truly epic rematch with Boca Raton. With our soccer boys cheering and chanting non-stop for an hour and a half, Phoenix won the overtime thriller by ONE POINT to remain undefeated and take the gold.
THEN, enjoyed a fantastic closing ceremonies, replete with montages of highlights from the week and live performances from the Arts Fest participants. Excellent singing and dancing, with a special appearance from the hot new a capella singing group "The Maccabeats." Crowd sang along with many of the hits.
Finally, drove in buses to our youth hostel/hotel in Jerusalem, where we'll stay the next four nights.
Great tournament, Phoenix! Now let's enjoy sight-seeing in the Holy Land....
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