From Mini Maccs to the Maccabiah: A Summer of Sport

From toddlers taking their first kicks to athletes representing Great Britain around the world, discover how Maccabi GB is creating more ways for our community to get active and connected.

It has been quite a summer for Maccabi GB Sport. More than 10,000 people have engaged in our Sports, Health & Wellbeing programmes so far this year, but behind that number is something much more important: people of almost every age finding their own way to be active, make friends and feel part of our community.

At one end of that journey are our youngest participants. Mini Maccs, launched earlier this year, has continued to grow, introducing young children and their parents to sport through football, with tennis now being added to the programme. At the other end, our Walking Footballers continue to meet every week, proving there really should be no age limit to staying active.

In between, there has been plenty happening. Our Parents Football League has grown from the 15 schools involved earlier this year to 18, while Parents Netball continues to develop. Basketball is expanding across the teenage years, Table Tennis is growing into an all-age programme, and we are developing further opportunities in Tennis, Pickleball, Running and racket sports. This builds on a first half of the year which also saw new pre and postnatal activity, funded by Sport England, and an increasing focus on creating opportunities for women and young families.

Our schools remain at the heart of that pathway too. We are preparing for 30 inter-school tournaments during the coming academic year, including three new competitions and changes designed to enable more children to participate, specifically focusing on Secondary school competitions in a variety of sports. Alongside this, our regular PE provision continues to give children opportunities to develop confidence, skills and, importantly, an enjoyment of being active.

And then there was our extraordinary summer of international Jewish sport.

Whilst our usual Maccabiah delegation of 400-500 participants was not possible due to the ongoing conflict in Israel, we were still able to take a delegation of 14. Walking into Teddy Stadium at the Opening Ceremony was an incredibly moving moment and, despite our smaller numbers, Team Maccabi GB was loud and proud. What we lacked in size, we more than made up for in performance. Our athletes delivered a fantastic medal haul across Pickleball, Tennis, Chess and Maccabi Man, helping to make these Games really special.  Of course, we missed having our junior athletes and team sports represented, but despite this , around 150 people engaged in international training programmes and tournaments across three countries.

In Benidorm, 34 young Jewish female footballers competed in the Costa Blanca Cup, with our U19s returning home with a trophy. In Gibraltar, our Open Netball squad won Gold at the inaugural Netfest alongside teams from Gibraltar and Israel. And in Toronto, our JCC Maccabi Games delegation enjoyed an unforgettable week of Jewish sport and connection, returning with 52 medals across Football, Athletics, Swimming and Dance. Two Maccabi GB U15 Boys Football teams even found themselves facing each other in the Gold Medal match.

Perhaps the best demonstration of what community sport can look like, however, came back home at StoneX Stadium in June. The Maccabi GB Community Fun Run brought together thousands of people and 85 charities for a day of moving, giving and celebrating. Among them was 101-year-old D-Day veteran Mervyn Kersh, completing the 1km course for AJEX. From our youngest children to one of our oldest participants, it was quite literally sport for all.

That principle is also driving one of our most important developments for the year ahead. We are working with Norwood and Kisharon Langdon to develop an ambitious new SEND Sport, Health & Wellbeing programme, creating more regular and appropriately adapted opportunities for people for whom mainstream sport has not always been accessible.

And we want to develop our partnerships with Synagogues and Communities, offering new opportunities to compete in a variety of sports, across different regions and with the aim of bringing people together through shared interest.

There is much more still to come. Because whether someone wants to represent Great Britain, play competitive sport, improve their wellbeing, meet new people or simply kick a ball for the first time, we want there to be a place for them within Maccabi GB.