Orville Thomas does not fit the profile of a typical coach for the local Maccabi Games contingent.
He is not Jewish. He does not live in the Bay Area. And he admits he is not particularly good at the sport he is coaching.
Yet Thomas, who is preparing for his fifth and possibly final games as golf coach with the San Francisco delegation, has found a way to connect with his players that transcends religion (he’s Catholic), distance (he lives in Redding), and yes, even skill level (he regularly shoots in the 90s).
“The spirit of the Games is all-encompassing,” says Thomas, who occasionally consults rabbis when he needs a crash course on Jewish culture. “It doesn’t matter who you are or what your background is. I might not know the Hebrew words, but the tenets of the Games are universal.”
Thomas, who works as a news reporter for KRCR-TV in Redding, views his role on the team not as a coach in the traditional sense. Rather, he sees himself as more of a supervisor and friend whom the athletes can turn to for support. Part of the reason is the gap in talent separating himself from his players.
“They’re all better than me,” he says. “These kids are all San Francisco high school players, and play against some of the best players in the area.”
Perfecting swings and improving short games were never Thomas’ intentions when he signed on to coach, anyway.
“The best part has been developing a relationship with my athletes,” he says. “They feel like you are friends with them and keep up a relationship you have developed over hours of time.”
Those relationships are maintained through daily text messaging and Facebook posts.
“I would get text messages and phone calls from Torrey Pines [the site of the 2008 U.S. Open], and they would be like, ‘I’m watching Tiger right now,’” he says.
Just how close is Thomas with his players? For one thing, he knows them well enough to be envious of them. “I would trade lives with these kids any day,” he admits without a hint of sarcasm.
However, finding time to foster these relationships has been difficult for Thomas, since he works in Redding and endures a three hour–plus drive to San Francisco to practice with the team. He makes the trek one Sunday a month throughout the year.
Luckily for Thomas, his players take the initiative to practice on their own as well. “They golf all the time,” he says. “They live and die to play golf.”
With the Games fast approaching, however, the pace is picking up. Thomas has started to hold practices every other week.
“We’re going to practice on Mondays now, as well, to prepare for the Games,” said Thomas, without a trace of discontent that Monday is his other day off (in addition to Sundays) from work. Thomas will be taking a full week off from work during the Maccabi Games.
However, the commute, coupled with job requirements, might force Thomas to step down as coach after this summer’s games — although he may “stick around” for the 2010 games in Denver.
If this is his final Maccabi Games, though, Thomas said he cannot imagine a better way to finish.
“For five years, it’s been a nice vacation. But every time we go [to other cities], you get jealous and want people to see your own community and how special the JCC is.”
Born in Stockton, Thomas enrolled at San Francisco State in the fall of 2002. While in school, he took a job as a lifeguard at the JCCSF, where he soon became involved in the Maccabi Games.
After a successful but not perfect competition last year, which featured a gold-medal performance by Buddy Wartell of the Branson School in Ross, and a silver-medal performance by Danny Starr of the Urban School of San Francisco, Thomas has some lofty goals for this year’s team.
“I want to win everything,” he says. “These kids have the advantage of playing regularly on these courses. I want to be wearing a lot of medals when this is over.”
His goal for the games overall is just as hopeful.
“It’s going to be the time of people’s lives. I want them to leave saying ‘That was the best Maccabi Games ever!’ ”