Greetings from Tel Aviv and Maccabiah central!!
From the athletes' perspective - Today was the first day of competition after an amazing Opening Ceremony last night, which was a test of endurance in itself. Athletes left the hotel at 4:30 PM and did not return until 1 AM! It was very well worth every minute as 65 countries and close to 8,000 athletes mingled and then marched into Ramat Gan stadium for the ceremony. Jason Lezak was the final torchbearer and lit the "eternal" flame - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proclaimed the start of the games with a motivating speech. President Shimon Peres also spoke along with many other dignitaries, singers, dancers and performers.
From the bleachers - Buses left hotels at 6pm to brave the pre-Maccabiah traffic and to arrive at our seats an hour early. Bex has made many friends during our trip, and spent time joking and talking w/ adults and kids alike while we awaited the start of the ceremony. We learned how to blow up our bam-bams and Bex revelled in thwacking them together at every opportunity while I plugged my ears. The highlights for us were spotting Rachel and Greg amongst the 800 or so American athletes on the field, and then having them spot us! We hadn't seen Rachel in weeks so it was a very happy moment. More highlights included the singing of Hatikvah in the stadium. Wow. And then seeing all the other countries represented - Sweden, India were amongst my personal surprises as far as who knew there were Jews there?! Another highlight was successfully ordering a coke in Hebrew and then somehow finding our bus amongst the myriad post-ceremonies, not an easy feat with the outpouring of spectators from the stands.
An amazing experience had by all, athletes and spectators alike.
Onto the competition - where the touring halts and spectatorship takes the front seat. Bex and I spent all day with Rachel at Hertzilya, a short cab ride from our Tel Aviv hotel. Rachel had 2 matches, the first she won and second, to the #1 Israeli, she lost. The girls are playing a round robin-like rotation, w/ only 12 participants, 6 from the US, 1 from GB and the rest Israeli, this being the first time for Jr. Girls. The boys have more countries participating, and the vibe at the dedicated squash club is humming with teenage harmones and healthy competition. The Jr. Coach has a hands-off approach, and I missed having Greg available for Rach, although you know me, an opportunity to give TLC and advice is never unwanted!
Bex is amazing - no matter what the day has entailed for her, sleep-deprived she gathers her strength and forges on, be it fun or challenging, boring (like all day at the club when the pool beckoned) or unknown. I am not sure how much more squash we will be watching - may catch Greg's afternoon match today and a few of the medal matches later on. We have one more organized tour to Masada/Dead Sea on Saturday and a sprinkling of organized meals, all of which have been fantastic, right up our alley of enjoyable foods - lamb, cucumber, tomato salad, hummous, olives and pita, other combos of cold salads, smoked fish, and fresh fruit.
We will try to 'spring' Rachel from her group a few nights and maybe a day so that she can see more of us and Tel Aviv outside of the club and her hotel. She misses us terribly, and we her, and there aren't any plans for the Juniors other than competition.
She is playing well. The Israeli coach expressed her appreciation of Rachel's positive attitude on and off court and her smart play on court. I am very proud of Rachel as an athlete and teenager.
Greg's Competition update: USA Masters team beats the "mutt" team of Brazil/Argentina/Poland - 3-0 in the morning. Afternoon match was against Australia and USA wins 3-0!! Greg had the match of the day at the Ranana Squash Center playing number 1 for the team and finishing the #1 Aussie off 3-1, with an 18-16 win in the 4th game. Tomorrow is Great Britain in the morning and Israel's A team in the afternoon......should be a humdinger of a day!!
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