Lorelai Shub loves the game of volleyball. The 14-year-old Foster City native has been playing since sixth grade. Because she stands at 5-foot-4-inches, some might assume she isn’t tall enough to excel in the sport.
Tell that to the bronze medal she took home from this summer’s JCC Maccabi Games in Tucson, Arizona.
Now in its 43rd year, the annual JCC Maccabi Games bring together thousands of teens in what organizers call the “world’s largest Jewish youth sporting event.” In Tucson, more than 1,200 kids from across the United States, Canada and other countries came to compete from July 27 to Aug. 1, as well as enjoy a massive dose of Jewish fellowship.
“I felt so welcome because I knew it was my community that I would connect with,” Lorelai said. “I never felt judged. I saw a lot of people wearing Magen David necklaces, as I was.”
Bay Area JCCs, including the JCC of San Francisco, the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto and the Addison-Penzak JCC in Los Gatos, sent teams to Tucson.
Palo Alto’s Joshua Levin won gold in tennis. In team sports, OFJCC’s teens won bronze in boys basketball, bronze in girls volleyball and bronze in flag football.
Jewish Silicon Valley’s teens did their home region proud too.
“Our eight athletes competed with heart,” said Danielle Patterson, senior director of marketing at Jewish Silicon Valley, which includes the Addison-Penzak JCC. They brought home bronze in boys and girls soccer, silver in flag football and two Midot Medals for individuals embodying Jewish values and the Maccabi spirit.
The 37 teens representing the JCC of San Francisco picked up 11 gold medals and 12 silver medals in swimming, as well as seven bronze medals in boys basketball, girls soccer and girls volleyball.
One of those medalists, 14-year-old Cooper Lee of San Francisco, is an old hand at the Maccabi Games. Cooper, who has been swimming competitively since fifth grade, swam in the Florida games two years ago and Detroit games last year. He has also served on the Maccabi International Leadership Board.
In Tucson, he won silver in the 4×1 relay and bronze in the 50-meter backstroke. In both events, he achieved new personal-best times.
“It was a great experience,” Cooper said of the 2025 games. “I met a lot of swimmers. The swim community was great. The facilities were really nice.”
Like Cooper, 15-year-old Gabe Plitt of San Mateo also competed in his third straight JCC Maccabi Games. A soccer fanatic since the age of 4, Gabe played goalkeeper for the Palo Alto team. Although they didn’t medal, he thoroughly enjoyed the Tucson experience.
“I loved meeting so many new people,” he said. “I met more than a few hundred kids my age from all around the world. We won one game, but that one game was big. We were losing 1-0 in half and then put up five goals in the second half.”
Zachary Meyer, 15, played first base for the JCCSF baseball team in Tucson. He’s been playing ball since toddlerhood and currently pitches for Berkeley High School’s baseball team. Playing at Maccabi on a mixed team that included kids from Boston, St. Louis and Kentucky, he and his teammates made it all the way to the silver medal playoff game. They took home the bronze medal.
“I thought it was absolutely amazing,” he said of the games. “In today’s world, you don’t normally see so many Jews with people cheering for them. That was special. And it was really fun representing where I’m from.”
Not every teen attending the games was an athlete. One of the competition categories is “star reporter.” Ethan Mutchnik, 15, of San Jose joined the APJCC teens as their official star reporter, recording, editing and crafting Instagram posts about the exploits on the fields.
For his efforts, he was awarded a Midot Medal. “Midot” is Hebrew for “values.” Those values, which underlie the Maccabi Games, are “tikkun olam (repairing the world), kavod (respect), rina (joy), ga’ava (pride), lev tov (big hearted) and amiut yehudit (Jewish peoplehood),” according to its website.
“I always liked to report and talk,” Ethan said. “I fell in love with play by play. I do game recaps on Instagram, a short brief on what happened. I interview coaches and players.”
Of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic heritage, Ethan speaks English, Spanish and Hebrew. He is also a member of the Jewish Culture Club at San Jose’s Leigh High School.
One of his chief memories of the Tucson games was the scorching weather, generally in triple digits by midday.
“First thing,” Ethan said, “is it was very, very hot. My phone overheated five times. But the competition is like any other. You want to win, but everyone comes together for the community, even if you just lost.”
The Tucson games weren’t only about winning and losing. The opening ceremony, styled after the Olympics Parade of Nations, meant that every JCC delegation was cheered on as they individually entered the stadium. The off-the-field itinerary included a dance party featuring an Israeli DJ who had performed at the Nova Music Festival, which was attacked by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.
Diana Schnabel-Arevalo, chief operating officer of Jewish Silicon Valley, attended the games, serving as a chaperone. She’s been active with the JCC Maccabi Games for 15 years and attests to the positive impact the program has on Jewish youth.
“It can be a very emotional experience going to opening ceremonies and watching each delegation from across the United States, Israel, Canada, and for the teams to see that ‘I am not alone.’ There are Jewish communities across the world, and we are all connected. The big message of being part of something greater really gives a sense of belonging to these kids when they participate, and they take that home with them.”