Israel – Here We Come
Maccabi Australia has appointed the upper management team that will lead Australia to the 19th Maccabiah Games in Israel in July 2013.
Harry Procel
Preparations have already begun in earnest under the leadership of Head of Delegation Harry Procel, who says he has a blend of “experience and new recruits” on his team.
“We will be working very hard to build a great team to make sure that we take the best available Jewish athletes to the Maccabiah,” Harry said.
Lisa Borowick will be the team’s Chef de Mission in her capacity as Maccabi Australia president, while Harry’s Assistant Head of Delegation is the experienced Maccabi administrator Mike Aronson.
As always, the junior, opens and masters divisions will have their own leadership groups. Former Maccabi NSW president and 2010 Maccabi Australia International Games chairman Jeff Houseman will lead the opens; Yvette Shaw, who oversaw the largest Maccabi Junior Carnival in Melbourne in 2008, will take charge of the juniors; and Lauren Ehrlich, Maccabi’s Eastside netball president in Sydney, will head up the masters team.
They’ll be assisted by Archie Platt and Justin Lipson (opens) and Sam Gamsu (juniors).
The executive team is rounded out by the directors of each portfolio: Dr Bob Mundell (medical), Amit Bar Giora (security), Tom York OAM (Strategy and Planning), Sam Parasol OAM (fundraising), David Weiner (media) and Michael Diamond (finance).
Ellana Aarons, who was the Australian Team Manager for MAIGS II, is the team’s executive administrator.
One of Harry’s priorities as preparations develop is to integrate clubs at a local level and to make them feel part of the build up to the Games.
“We will be working more closely with the relevant clubs in Melbourne and Sydney to recruit the best section managers for the particular sports,” Harry said.
“Without the old Senior Carnival structure to keep Maccabi’s local clubs involved in the build-up to Maccabiah, we’ll be addressing the fact that we need to get clubs feeling involved.
“We will go club by club and see about getting them involved.”
Section managers will be appointed by February 2012 and the coaches within a month of that. The athletes nominations process will close by June 30 2012, with selection trials in the second half of 2012.
Meanwhile, as part of a move to integrate Jerusalem more into the Games, the 2013 opening ceremony will take place at the 31,000-seat Teddy Stadium in the Holy City. The 2009 Games kicked-off in Ramat Gan. Harry added that Australia’s team will embrace that move and look to set up pre-camp in Jerusalem.
“They’re trying to make (Jerusalem) the home,” Harry added. “We’re going to move to the Dan in Jerusalem. Jerusalem City Council are more involved this time around. There will be roughly 2,500 beds to accommodate athletes in the city. They’re trying to make it an active sporting and accommodation centre. Part of our focus is if they’re doing that, then we can work with that.”
