None of them actually mention winning a medal, but for three volleyball-playing brothers, at the end of the day, the upcoming Maccabiah Games promise to be an experience to cherish.
Elie, Joshua and Daniel Shermer, left to right, will play together at the Maccabiah Games.
Elie, Daniel and Joshua Shermer will all suit up for the Canadian team in a competition that is usually dominated by the host Israelis, along with the United States and Brazil.
But as the Shermers describe it, just being in Israel, at the Maccabiah Games, walking into a stadium filled with 40,000 fans, meeting Jewish athletes from more than 50 countries, and doing that with your brothers at your side promises to be a great experience.
Elie, at 29 the oldest brother and the senior player on the Canadian team, believes they are the first brother trio to participate in the same games on the same team. Even if not, he’s happy he was able to stick around until his youngest brother, Joshua, 19, got old enough and good enough to make the team.
“It’s pretty amazing,” he said last week. “It’s probably the biggest motivating factor for going again.”
For Elie, the upcoming 18th Maccabiah Games, which run from July 12 to 23, will be his third “Jewish Olympics.” Both he and middle brother, Daniel, 26, competed at the 2005 and 2001 Games.
“I told [Joshua] to be prepared for the experience of a lifetime,” Elie said. “We’re a sports family that watched the Olympics. I say, ‘Imagine walking in front of 40,000 people, representing your country. That experience will be amazing and we’ll be doing it together.’”
What happens on the court seems almost secondary, but coach Brenda Willis is hoping to keep the players on a medal track. She’ll be looking to the two older Shermer brothers to add stability and experience to the mostly young roster, since it’s easy for a young team to be overwhelmed by the international experience.
The Shermers have been through it, she said, adding that “I don’t expect anything at the Games will fase them.”
A few months ago, “I had very high expectations, before the elite [Canadian] programs invaded our roster,” Willis said.
She was referring to four players who made the Maccabiah team, but who will be unavailable because of other commitments.
Josh Binstock, who played at the last Maccabiah Games, is now on the Canadian national beach team and will be playing internationally this summer. Sam Schacter, who was an all-Canadian rookie playing for Wilfred Laurier, has been named to the Canadian national junior beach team and is committed to participating in the national development program.
Daniel Rosenbaum, a native of Hamilton, is trying out for the Ontario team that will play at the Canada Games this summer.
Jesse Mighton, who played for Queen’s and Dalhousie, is out due to a back injury.
A fifth potential player, Josh Boruck, from Revelstoke, B.C., is attending a tryout for the national junior team and his availability won’t be known until late June.
The Maccabiah team is holding a roster spot open for him, but even if he comes, Canada will have a smaller roster than other competitors, both in numbers and in stature.
Willis, a Toronto native who is the head coach of the men’s volleyball team at Queen’s University, said because the Maccabiah team is small, “we need to be good at ball control.”
In addition to the Shermers, she’s relying on Daniel Levy, who played at York University, and Ron Appel, a former University of Toronto player, for stability. Kyle Done, who will play for British Columbia in the upcoming Canada Games, is going to be the team’s libero, a defensive specialist.
Willis said Jewish volleyball talent in Canada is pretty deep. As to the absence of top players, “One person’s struggle is another’s opportunity,” she said.
For Daniel Shermer, his passion for the game got him at age 18 to a provincial title playing with Loyalist College in 2001-02 and a third-place finish nationally. Three years later, at Humber College, he won another provincial title but settled for fourth place nationally.
His position is “setter, like the quarterback or point guard, the guy who runs the offense and controls what happens on the court,” he said.
It’s something his volleyball-playing dad, George, taught him and his brothers. George, who played for Maccabi Canada as a young man and who coached the 1997 team, said all three of his sons can play as setters or liberos.
Most important, though, is how “proud I am that they’re looking forward to enjoying their Jewish experience. They’re talking about how important it is for the three brothers to be playing in Israel and how proud as Jews they are to be experiencing the Games.”
Joshua said that “from the pictures I’ve seen and the stories I’ve heard, I’m more excited about the Maccabiah experience than the competition itself.”
The Games will mark the first time the three brothers play together in a tournament. They do play and practise together at Beach Blast, the volleyball facility operated by their dad, but to play on the same team, “that’s very exciting,” said Joshua. “That’s the whole appeal of it.”
