Many people dream of attending the Olympics. Athletes from all over the world aspire to attend the games for their sport and for their country. Most everyone has heard of the Olympics — they are an iconic part of the world of sports, but the Olympics we know and love aren’t the only Olympics out there.

Sophomore Jeffrey Greenfield attended the Maccabi Games, also known as the Jewish Olympics.

“It’s a really fun experience,” Greenfield said, “I loved getting to travel with my friends and meet other Jewish people that love sports as much as I do.”

Greenfield is a basketball player and has been most of his life. He plays for the school and took his love for the game to Dallas to play against other Jewish teens.  Preparation began months prior to the event.

“Training is pretty serious, it’s a big event and lots of people attend. Everyone want to do well, but our team was not very good compared to the other teams there,” Greenifeld said.

He also went on to say their practicing did not show through against the other teams, and that they had very little chance against them and they ended up losing my a lot of points.

Greenfield attended the games for the first time during the summer of 2015 and then went to the Maccabi games again in 2016. His team consisted of other Jews from Blue Valley and his temple, The Temple Congregation of B’nai Jehudah, one of which was sophomore Jack Litwin.

“We found out about the games last year and attended them attended the 2015 games,” Litwin said. “Everyone had a lot of fun, so we all wanted to go again.”

When Greenfield and Litwin’s team arrived in Dallas, they received a rewarding experience on and off the court.

“[The Maccabi Games] were really fun. Traveling with my friends and playing my favorite sport was a great experience. It’s also cool saying I went to the Jewish Olympics” Greenfield said.

Aside from the actual sporting event, the Maccabi Games helped deepen Greenfield’s  connection to his religion.

“It [Maccabi Games] made it [connection to Judaism] stronger being around a lot of other Jewish people that had the same beliefs as I do,” Greenfield said.

The event gathered hundreds of Jewish athletes together to not only compete in the various activities, but also celebrate the Jewish religion.

“Nothing is quite like the Maccabi Games. It’s so rewarding meeting new people and being with friends while celebrating sports and my religion,” Litwin said.