By Ethan Kerstine
A gold medal more than 20 years in the making. A brotherhood of Jewish athletes, leaders, and mentors. Doug Homer is coming back to Israel as an assistant coach for Maccabi USA’s Masters 45+ Men’s Soccer Team. And he has unfinished business to attend to.
A Chance Encounter
Homer, a graduate of Davis & Elkins College, had few ties to the Jewish community, having taken a step back from his faith after his bar mitzvah. After a meaningful conversation with Barry Gudelsky in 2005, he decided to take a chance on the Maccabi Australia International Games in Sydney and played for the Masters 35+ Men’s Soccer Team.
“I accepted his invitation,” said Homer. “I joined the team 
and had an incredible experience. We didn’t do that well in competition, unfortunately. But it sort of opened my eyes just to… a tiny bit to this movement, and sort of how it brings people from all around the world, from the Jewish diaspora together.”
The Polish Connection
In Australia, Homer was invited to his very first Shabbat dinner. It was an incredibly eye opening experience for him, made even more special when he found out that he had a personal connection to the host family.
“The grandmother of the family was from a small town in Poland,” he said. “And, I mean, you can’t make this up. She was from the same village as my dad’s dad. And they grew up in this village in the 20s and 30s.”
After he shared his grandfather’s name, she recalled his grandfather was the “small guy with red hair.” Homer was “blown away” by their overlapping family history.
“Having that experience and realizing, wow, we really are connected. We’re all part of this Jewish fabric, right? And that tapestry continues to kind of unreel itself through the people that you meet, and the experiences that you share together,” he explained.
From Player to Mentor
The Virginia native continued to compete and traveled across the world to Argentina, Israel, Brazil, and Chile. At the 13th Pan American Maccabi Games in Chile in 2015, Homer was asked to captain the team. Incredibly, they won a bronze medal, which was something the team had not accomplished since 2000.
Homer relished in his recent success and decided to take a stab at coaching. Unconventionally, Coach Homer created an environment where development and relationships were the priority. By focusing on getting better and building meaningful bonds, he would have the perfect recipe for success and growth.
“Having a community of people that are similar to you and have like-minded goals and aspirations, particularly when it comes to sport, makes it more meaningful,” the 54-year-old coach said. “It really… gives you a sense of pride. It develops bonds that become friends that become brothers in a lot of ways. And we talk about that brotherhood as being central to how we play, and what we believe, and what we want to stand up for for each other and for our cause.”
Homer implemented new technology to help his players better analyze their performance and he also prioritized building trust and meaningful bonds within the group. The results were impressive – the team went on to claim medals at two of their next three tournaments.
His passion for strengthening connections exists in all facets of Homer’s life. As a forward-thinker and leader, he tries to open doors and provide mentorship and support for the people he encounters, similar to the opportunities he was given.
“Sometimes a more meaningful championship is when you make an impact on a person’s life,” the father of two explained. “And they thank you for it. And you keep in contact with them. Those are the types of relationships that I think are more meaningful. Because you feel like whatever it is that you learned, you passed onto them, and now they’re utilizing that and doing it for themselves.”
The Final Goal
Homer has made so many important and impactful changes to the development and brotherhood of his team. But there is still one outstanding goal.
“We’ve all felt like there’s one thing that we still haven’t accomplished, which is being able to plant the flag as the best team in the world,” he explained.
That is what keeps bringing Homer and others like him back to the Maccabiah for at least one more run.
“I would be able to hang up my Maccabiah boots, and coaching sticks and whatnot, and say, yeah, we finally did it,” he expressed. “I would love to see us be able to come out on top like that and know that… we achieved something that took 20 plus years to do.”
Ethan Kerstine is from Plano and recently graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in Psychology and Film, Television, & Interactive Media. Follow Ethan at maccabiusa.com or on X @ebkerstine or connect with him on LinkedIn.