Sport clubs and volunteers recognised
Impressive membership growth at Maccabi NSW Basketball Club – led by Sydney Kings 2023 Ring of Honour inductee Brad Rosen as president – earned it Maccabi NSW Club of the Year.
This month’s 2022 Maccabi National Sports Awards not only recognised Australia’s best Jewish athletes, but also the highest achieving Maccabi sports clubs of the year, and the vital contribution of volunteers.
Impressive membership growth at Maccabi NSW Basketball Club – led by Sydney Kings 2023 Ring of Honour inductee Brad Rosen as president – earned it Maccabi NSW Club of the Year.
In 2018 the club had only 110 members, but in 2022 that rose to more than 400, and is tipped to reach 500 later this year.
Remarkably, the club’s girls’ teams rose in number from just one in 2019 to 12 now.
The club also introduced a social basketball competition for young adults, increased the number of coaches to 16, and built closer relationships with the Jewish schools.
Rosen said the growth is “very exciting and it’s all about the kids [participating]”.
“It’s been fantastic to be able to give back to the sport that has given so much to me – and my committee [members] have been absolutely fantastic.”
The Maccabi Victoria Club of the Year is Maccabi-AJAX Swimming Club.
After several decades out of action, it was revived as a registered club with Swimming Victoria and Masters Swimming Victoria in November 2021, with the establishment of Maccabi Aquatics at Bialik College’s pool. Under head coach Guy Eylon and his assistants, the club has a promising base of 154 members, and was able to enter junior swimmers in nine Swimming Victoria meets last year, and the Maccabiah Games.
Club president Roelof Vogel said the award “is a tribute to the great work of the club’s committee and many other stakeholders [including Maccabi Victoria and Bialik College council]”.
“The vision started after the 2017 Maccabiah Games and the rest his history … we’ve now got a junior squad of 66, and 30-odd senior swimmers.”
The Maccabi Western Australia Club of the Year is Maccabi WA Junior Soccer Club, which under new club president Stacey Keyser and her committee, guided the club through that state’s only COVID lockdown in early 2022, and raised funds to purchase new equipment.
Photo: Shane Desiatnik
Maccabi National Volunteer of the Year award winners are former Maccabi Victoria president Brian Swersky, Maccabi WA president Justine Sharbanee, and 2022 Maccabiah Games Australian team assistant regional manager and Maccabi Australia board member Susannah Swiatlo.
State-based Maccabi Volunteer of the Year award recipients are (NSW) Daniel Zaidel, president of Maccabi-Hakoah Junior Football Club; (Victoria) Kim Scher, from Maccabi Victoria Basketball Club; and (WA) Jonny Ross, a youth and holiday camp leader.
And Maccabi Life National Well-being Award recipients are Nicole Katz from Maccabi Life NSW, for her contribution to community, and Sam Strunin, for his contribution to the creation and development of Maccabi Life.
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