The U.S. Committee Sports for Israel has announced that the U.S. Maccabiah Basketball Team, which will participate in the upcoming 11th Maccabiad in Israel, July 6-16, will oppose, in an exhibition game, the European Championship Maccabi Tel Aviv quintet at Queens College in Flushing, New York on the night of June 23.
Arrangements have been made for the Maccabi Tel Aviv aggregation to train for a few days at New York Tech, at the same site and place and time that the U.S. Maccabiah Team will be training there, under the guidance of Head Coach Sam Stern, who is the athletic director at New York Tech.
The Maccabi Tel Aviv Team defeated the Sidonye five out of Bologna, Italy, in the European Championship Game held in Strasbourg over a month ago. Since that time several of the American players, including Aulcie Perry and Earl Williams, have returned to the States awaiting the arrival of the rest of the Maccabi Quintet.
Some of the members of this team, currently, are playing the European Championship for national teams. This tournament, unlike the Championship Cup tournament, makes it mandatory for all participants to be citizens and/or nationals of the countries they represent. Aulcie Perry will not become a dual citizen until the Fall, while Earl Williams does not anticipate becoming a dual citizen since it calls for the individual playets to be of the Jewish faith. Perry converted to the faith about three years ago and will be acknowledged as a full fledged Israel citizen come this fall.
The U.S. Maccabiah Team will be the defending champion club in the 11th Maccabiah and several players who participated in those games, four years ago, are back with the current basketball team. Included among the returnees are seven foot Dan
The United States Maccabiah Team will play a second exhibition contest prior to departing for Israel on July 2, at Monmouth College in New Jersey, on the afternoon of Sunday, June 28 when it will meet the United States team which will represent this country in the World University games which are slated to be conducted in Rumania the week after the conclusion of the Maccabiah Games. The United States Women Basketball team will meet the female World University U.S. A. Club in the preliminary game.
It marks the first time in Maccabiah history that female teams will participate in the competition.
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