In late December, nine basketball players and two coaches from across the United States left for Brazil. Over the next week, we played hardcore hoops, represented our country and competed against some of the best Jewish athletes in the world.
And to top it off, we won the gold medal.
What a time!
The 12th Pan Am Maccabi Games, held in São Paulo, Brazil from Dec. 26 through Jan. 2, were an amazing life experience. I had the privilege of playing on the U.S. basketball team in the masters division (35-and-older).
It was not easy. There were tryouts, a lot of training and some orthopedic visits — as well as lobbying my family for the time away. (A shout-out to my wife for her support and for taking care of our two young daughters with me away for 10 days.)
Tryouts were held over three intense days in September, on the sprawling Adidas USA campus in Portland, Ore. Our co-captains put together the best team, not necessarily the all-stars, but the players who would mesh together, play together and live together — always putting team first.
The Pam Am Maccabi Games, held every four years in a country in the Americas, are a precursor to the International Maccabi Games in Israel, also held every four years (the next one is in 2013). Pan Am participants came from the United States, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Australia, Panama, Mexico and every country in South America. They competed in 10 sports, with an “open” division and three other age-group divisions.
Not knowing what to expect, I found São Paulo and Brazil to have a vibrant, active Jewish community. This is best represented by the Hebraica, a “mini-city” that houses Jewish culture, education, religion and sport. There are perhaps 20,000 members; its footprint is the size of all Bay Area JCCs put together.
With facilities for every sport and cultural activity, the Hebraica hosted the competition for all sports, our Shabbat events, a New Year’s Eve celebration and many meals. It is an amazing place for Jews from all walks of life to come together.
Celebrating the last Shabbat of 2011, we had the opportunity to meet a group of athletes from Venezuela and Mexico — and shared entertaining Jewish sports experiences and stories.
For the opening ceremonies, there was an energy and excitement in the air. Before entering the stadium, all of the athletes stood in staggered lines, by country. We chatted in Spanish and English (and tried to understand the Brazilians’ Portuguese), and engaged in the international tradition of trading pins and team gear. I swapped a USA T-shirt for an Israeli one. Then we entered the stadium to a rousing cheer and watched an entertaining ceremony highlighted by a Jewish Brazilian dance troupe.
The competition was tremendous. Our team played against a Brazilian squad that included a 6-foot-11 center and a Canadian team that has been together for years. We went 1-2 in the preliminary games, but then beat Brazil 76-66 in the semifinals.
The gold-medal game was a tense battle against Canada, and we found ourselves down by three points with six minutes to go. Then I shut down their best scorer and a couple of our players hit key shots. All of a sudden we were in control, and we won 86-77.
We also had the opportunity to root for our fellow U.S. teams. One highlight was cheering on the U.S. squad in the open men’s basketball semifinals against Israel. In a rough-and-tumble battle, the U.S. prevailed 96-86 — and when it was over, both sides (fans and players) gathered at midcourt for a spontaneous, ruach-filled “Hava Negillah.” Chills. Team USA advanced to the gold-medal game and beat Canada by 17 points.
As for our team, we were nine guys from New York, Portland, Los Angeles, Texas and Detroit — and me, the only player from the Bay Area. We ranged in age from 37 to 46, all of us in great shape.
However, before arriving in São Paulo, we had never played all together as a unit.
But our two coaches really knew what they were doing. One of them was Brad Greenberg, a former general manager of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and director of player personnel for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. He also was a head coach at Radford University, and an assistant coach for two NBA teams and four college teams.
I have been playing competitive basketball since high school, and in 2006 I played on Team USA in the Maccabi Australia Games in Sydney. I continue to play in various leagues, including at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. In fact, playing regularly against guys 10 years younger than me proved to be great training for São Paulo, where I played forward and focused on defense. I did have the challenge of trying to guard Brazil’s 6-foot-11 player for a time, and I even blocked one of his shots — not bad for a 6-foot-2 guy.
Despite not all having played together previously, we all bought into one thing: team.
Our mantra was “play defense and hit the open man.” Together we brought home a gold medal. A gold medal! I will never get tired of saying it.
There is nothing like standing on the podium next to embattled teammates, with Jewish athletes from Brazil and Canada on either side, receiving a gold medal, and then listening to the “Star-Spangled Banner” followed by “Hatikvah.”
And now, for the rest of my life, I have 10 Jewish brothers (my teammates and a trainer) across the country and memories of gold, Jewish unity, bruises, 6-foot-11 Brazilians and inside Yiddish jokes that will last a lifetime.
Time to start training for Israel 2013.
David Aufhauser, 40, lives in Burlingame with his wife and two daughters. The Moraga native is a digital media executive in San Francisco and a former water polo player at Stanford University.