Game changers
MACCABIAH COMMUNITY Fun Run winner David Stone will spearhead the challenge of the Team Maccabi GB athletics squad competing at the Maccabiah Games next month.
Stone, who won the 5k race at Allianz Park in 17 minutes and seven seconds, is joined by 10 other athletes in the squad participating in Israel.
Murray Ayrton will oversee the group, who will complete in 24 events. He said: “We have assembled an exceptional team with a great mix of experience and youth.
“We have genuine medal contenders in Eden Davis — the current English Schools 100m bronze medallist — and Lucie Wolfenden, who finished eighth at the English National age group championship, so we are excited at the prospects of bringing home medals.”
The Athletics squad will be led by sprint star Ellie Edwards, who won gold in Israel four years ago.
Edwards commented: “I am honoured to have competed successfully at the Games and am looking forward to taking part again and managing a great squad.
“I am very excited for these young athletes to take part in the experiences I had on and off the track.”
The multi-talented Rachel Ayrton won bronze in swimming at the 2013 Games. She said: “I can’t wait to compete again and represent my community.”
Wolfenden, the youngest member of the team, remarked: “I am looking forward to creating lots of memories with the rest of the team and hope we can all be rewarded for training so hard over the past year.
Allana Edwards will be competing at the Games with both her sisters. She said: “This is a really special and a unique opportunity for me.”
Tal Pelmont represented MGB at the JCC Maccabi Games in 2014. He said: “Those Games were my first experience of competitive athletics. The experience gave me the impetus to compete further and was the start of my running journey.
“For me, the Maccabiah in Israel is an exciting new stage for us all to compete at the third biggest sporting event in the world.
“I look forward to representing Team GB.”
SQUAD: Joel Alexander, Rachel Ayrton, Eden Davis, Allana Edwards, Idan Gal-Shohet, William Levy, Ben Oehley, Tal Pelmont, David Stone, Lucie Wolfenden. Chair: Murray Ayrton, Manager: Ellie Edwards
Simon Zamet has unfinished business as he takes the TMGB under-18 Boys Football team on the glory trail. Assisted by Ricky Lawrence and coach Adam Fegan, Zamet will be spurred on by the team’s final heartbreak at the European Maccabi Games in Berlin two years ago.
He said: “We’re very pleased with our team and feel we have a good mix of players who are starting to gel both on and off the pitch.
“We’ve managed to keep a lot of the boys who won gold in Berlin and have also unearthed some gems from elsewhere.” Lawrence insists the squad go to Israel with a winning mentality. “We are going out there to win,” he said. “Adam and I have both won gold at a Maccabiah or European Games before and Simon badly wants to upgrade on the silver medal that he picked up in Berlin.
“The excitement is building and the boys cannot wait.
“It’s going to be an incredible experience for all of us.”
Fegan has enjoyed great success as a coach, working at Wingate & Finchley and in the MGBSFL. He commented: “We have hammered home the point to our squad what an incredible two weeks they are going to have in Israel.
“Even more so, what an honour it is to represent their country and community and to carry themselves with pride.
“The management team are just as excited,” he said, “and we know we have to prepare the squad correctly to make it the best possible Games in every aspect, both on and off the pitch.”
SQUAD: Shaun Levine, Harry Margolis, Daniel Lewis-Green, Nathan Anders, Kieran Beech, Benjamin Case, Jamie Cohen, Daniel Creese, Jordan Green, Jayden Huglin, Callum Lee, Joe Leslie, Jack Mattey, Michael Perkins, Reuben Rabstein, Alexander Randall, Joshua Shack, Tyler Smith. Manager: Simon Zamet, Assistant-manager: Ricky Lawrence, Coach: Adam Fegan
TMGB will send a Junior Lacrosse squad to the Maccabiah for the first time.
Sports chairperson Amy Ansell will be assisted by American lacrosse player Carrie Goldstein and Cambridge University student Jessica Tray in their pursuit of a medal.
Ansell said: “All the girls are incredibly excited to be a part of something so special, a unique experience.”
Ansell has been delighted to see
“the number of Jewish girls playing lacrosse” increase since 2011. She commented: “The squad are a fantastic group, ranging from Year 9 to 11. They are a young group, but we make up for that in enthusiasm and volume on and off the pitch.
“Many of the team have competed at the JCC Maccabi Games but they’ll soon learn that Maccabiah is on a whole different level. I can’t wait for them to walk out with the Great Britain squad at the Opening Ceremony — that’s one of my all-time favourite moments.
“I won’t be joining the group in Israel as I’ve just had my third child. I can’t believe I’ll be missing out on the first Junior Lacrosse competition at the Maccabiah.” Ansell joked: “I think secretly I’m hoping to sneak out onto a flight. Don’t tell my husband!” SQUAD: Jessica Bloom, Chloe Cresswell, Isabella Davis, Daisy Gershon, Lara Hugh, Jenna Jacobs, Georgia Koopman, Natasha Leek, Kezia Levy, Charlotte Morley, Taryn Onnie, Yves Schreiber, Tami Schwarzmann, Libbi Wise. Chair: Amy Ansell, Manager: Jessica Tray, Coach: Carrie Goldstein
Oliver Nathanson has been appointed captain of the TMGB Junior Cricket squad. The wicket-keeper/batsman, whose father Hilton has been selected for the Open Cricket competition, heads a group led by the father-andson team of Philip and Elliott Mayer. Manager Philip said: “We have selected a squad full of experience with several players already achieving district or county honours for their age groups. With that in mind, we are confident in giving it our all and challenging for a medal position.”
SQUAD: Joshua Avigdor, Sam Clarfield, Jack Davis, Alexander Fachler, Joel Freedman, Aron Gale, Matthew Gittleson, Daniel Glicher, Dylan Heller, Samuel Margo, Gregory Mayer, Toby Michaels, Oliver Nathanson. Manager: Phil Mayer, Assistant manager: Elliott Mayer