Philadelphia, PA, December 13, 2007 – The Magerman Family, three generations of them, will participate as part of the USA Delegation at the 11th Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Games will take place from December 26th, 2007 through January 2, 2008.
Phyllis Magerman, of Carlsbad, CA and Blue Bell, PA, is the General Chair of the USA 11th Pan American Maccabi Games Organizing Committee. In addition to the tremendous job Phyllis has done in assembling volunteers to build the largest USA Team ever to participate in the Pan American Maccabi Games, she also serves on the Executive Committee of Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel, giving generously of her time to help the organization fulfill its mission of building Jewish continuity through sport.
Tonja Magerman, of Blue Bell, PA, is Phyllis’s daughter-in-law and the Chairman for the Open Women’s Field Hockey Team. In addition to her responsibility of building a dynamic USA Field Hockey Team, she will also be at the Games to cheer her children on as they compete as athletes in Field Hockey and Tennis.
Rachel Magerman, of Blue Bell, PA, is an avid Field Hockey Player for her Varsity Team at Germantown Academy in Philadelphia where she plays Mid/Forward. Rachel has won multiple awards at the National level in Field Hockey, most recently at the 2006 Festival U-19 A Pool and at the Philadelphia Area National Indoor Prep Tournament where she won gold medals.? Her spirit of Tzedakah, giving back, is evident with the development of a fund-raiser called “Hockey for the House” to benefit Ronald McDonald House, which she developed in her freshman year and has organized since for Middle School Girls at her school.? When what her expectations for the Games were, Rachel replied, “To experience international competition, to represent Maccabi USA as a Jewish athlete and most importantly, to play for my grandmother.”
Joining Rachel as a member of the USA Team will be?older brother Jacob Magerman, also a student at Germantown Academy in Philadelphia.? Jacob will compete as a member of the USA Youth Tennis Team.? He has been a captain of the Varsity Tennis Team at Germantown Academy and participated in the 10th Pan American Maccabi Games in Santiago, Chile in 2003/04 as part of the Bronze Medal Juniors Tennis Team.
The Magerman family will be part of 50 families with two or more members participating in the Games.? They will experience international athletic competition, cultural and educational experiences as part of Team USA and as a family.
“Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel will send a contingent of close to 500 to the 11th Pan American Maccabi Games, in the Open, Youth, Juniors and Masters categories, joining an estimated 3,000 athletes from more than 20 countries,” said Phyllis Magerman, General Chair of the U.S. 11th Pan American Maccabi Games Organizing Committee.?
Since 1948, Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel has sought to enrich the lives of Jewish youth in the United States, Israel and throughout the Diaspora through athletic, cultural and educational programs.? The organization is the sponsor of the U.S. Team to the World Maccabiah Games in Israel, the world’s third largest international sporting event.? It also sponsors U.S. participation in Maccabi competitions in Pan America, Europe and Australia and supports Jewish youth through the JCC Maccabi Games.