2022 Maccabiah Games

In July, approximately 1,200 athletes in the U.S. traveled overseas to compete in the 21st Maccabiah Games, a nearly two-week-long international competition that draws roughly 10,000 athletes from 80 countries competing in more than 40 sports.

Several Cheshire Academy alumni showcased their skills and talents as members of Team USA in the quadrennial Jewish Olympics, held in Israel the year following the Olympic Games. There, they went up against teams from around the world, making history and bringing home medals as proud CA alumni and representatives of the United States. Continue reading to learn about some of their experiences.

KAYLA

Attending the Maccabiah Games is so much more than just an athletics competition for many of the athletes and teams, and coming home with a gold medal is certainly a bonus.

What’s even better than one?

Two golds.

Kayla Padroff ’14, who served as assistant coach for the U16 and U18 girls’ volleyball teams at the 2022 games, returned to the United States at the end of July with two gold medals after helping lead the teams to victory in their respective tournaments.

Padroff received the opportunity to coach after speaking with longtime women’s volleyball coach Alex Temkin, who previously worked at the University of Hartford. Temkin connected Padroff with one of the coaches going overseas.

Padroff is no stranger to sports, having served as a strong and talented player on CA’s volleyball and softball programs. Currently, she is at Loomis Chaffee School as the head coach for varsity softball and junior varsity volleyball.

Padroff met with the athletes and coaches via Zoom prior to heading to Israel. The first time they met in person was at the airport but, despite the lack of in-person conversation before heading overseas, strong connections were already being made.

“It just kind of took off after that,” reflected Padroff. “You’re with each other pretty much 24/7 for a month. I knew these girls as well as I did with a lot of my teams in a year because of the amount of time I spent with them. We went on excursions together … to a lot of really cool places and spent entire days together.”

Both the U16 and U18 teams competed against teams from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, and Israel. The U18 team lost against Israel once, but returned to the finals confident, ultimately securing the win in their rematch against Israel.

Both teams competed in the finals on the same day; U16 was the first to win.

“We both played Israel and we both beat Israel to win gold,” Padroff said. “I got one gold medal and thought, ‘That’s awesome,’ but I still had another game. We ended up getting the second gold, too … both games went to five sets, and both were really exciting and good volleyball.”

Padroff said she would return to the Games again if the opportunity arose. She credited the diverse student body at Cheshire Academy for preparing her for international travel and working alongside individuals and teams from around the world. And at the Games, she realized sports are a universal language, reducing the stress that can come with not sharing one dialect.

“The power of a smile or laughing is contagious,” Padroff said. “Even though you can’t speak the same language, you have so much in common that sometimes you don’t need to say words — you get what you’re saying through the sport.”

ALANA

One would be hard pressed to decline becoming part of history. Just ask Alana Safian ’19.

A longtime ice hockey player, Safian was first presented with the opportunity to attend the Maccabiah Games in 2017, but not for the sport one might think. Instead, she was planning to represent Team USA in table tennis.

“One of my best friends from a Jewish day school was trying out for the tennis team,” reflected Safian. “They didn’t have women’s hockey at that point, so I was looking at other sports they had.”

Safian, who played table tennis in Cheshire Academy’s Harwood Student Center, submitted a video to Team USA showcasing her skills. While she was invited to represent the team, her friend vying for tennis was not. “They told me the women’s ice hockey team was going to happen. I would rather go for that, so I decided not to go for table tennis.”

Safian, who has been playing hockey since she was 11 years old, feels unstoppable on the ice. Originally passionate about ice skating, she couldn’t refuse the magic of the sport.

“I just like the strategy of the game,” Safian said. “I was really into the sounds, the stick handling, the shooting — it all drew me in.”

This year marked the third visit to Israel for Safian — she had previously traveled to the country for her brother’s bar mitzvah and on a trip with her Jewish day school — but the first time going with a clear goal in mind: to win.

Team USA competed against teams from Canada and Israel. As a forward, Safian is responsible for assisting and scoring goals which, depending on the team she was playing against, made for a bit of a challenge. The Israeli team is new this year and had younger players with less skill than the team from the Great White North. Team USA played three games against Canada, and two against Israel.

While Israel struggled this year, the team wanted to continue their games against the American and Canadian teams, Safian recalled. “They didn’t want us to stop playing. They wanted us to keep scoring and keep pushing them to be better.”

Safian and some of the other athletes found themselves giving the Israeli team pointers, teaching them to be better at ice hockey.

Team USA ultimately walked away with the silver, which Safian believes is because of their demanding practice schedule and touring Israel.

“I was just happy to get a medal,” Safian said. “There were a lot of athletes who didn’t get medals, so I was appreciative that I had the opportunity to bring one home.”

And when talking with her teammates — all of whom want to go back for the 22nd Maccabiah Games — they realize that their making history might not set in for a while. “We thought that, while we were making history, we wouldn’t really feel it until a few years from now, until it’s being talked about for the next games,” Safian said.

Owen

Sometimes traveling to another country once simply isn’t enough to take in all the beauty and culture. Owen Kempton ’20, for example, had some “unfinished business” in Israel after his first bout in the Maccabiah Games back in 2017.

Kempton had that chance this year, when he was selected as goalkeeper for Team USA’s open men’s soccer team. And with this being his second time competing, Kempton had other goals in mind for his trip.

“It was a really fun trip. Going into it, I actually cared a lot less about the soccer itself and more about the experience,” he said. “...Obviously I still cared and did everything in my power to win, but I also wanted to take in the cultural and spiritual experiences more than I did in 2017, which was one of my biggest regrets.”

This time around, Kempton traveled with his father, mother, brother, and with his girlfriend. As a fellow Jew, Owen was excited to be able to share the sites and experiences with her. He said there’s “nowhere like Israel” when it comes to experiencing Judaism and, together, they were able to take in more deeply the country’s beauty.

“It’s a great experience and it’s definitely one that you’ll want to do, even if you’re not very religious,” Kempton said. “...You can still learn a lot about other people and other cultures by going.”

Kempton credited CA with giving him the confidence he needed to talk with individuals from around the world. He reflected on his 9th grade year at CA and seeing some of his international classmates quickly become part of the school community.

“Meeting kids from other countries definitely made me less nervous about going to a new place and trying to fit in for a bit of time because I saw my peers do it so easily,” he said.

At this year’s Games, Team USA competed against and beat Belgium, Sweden, and Brazil in the quarterfinals, and Argentina in the semifinals. The team tied against Uruguay early in the competition and lost to the team in the finals. “We were down 3-0 at one point and started to come back, but it was too little too late.”

While Kempton typically knows how college teams fare in the United States, going against teams from around the world is different. Team USA coaches scouted a bit but, as Kempton noted, teams could be completely different than they were four years prior.

As goalkeeper, he's under immense pressure. But that’s what he loves about his role.

“When it comes to pressure, it’s not light,” Kempton said. “That’s one of the reasons I enjoy it. You’re never really the hero, but you can often be the villain, and I like that. You’re not in the game as much, so it’s more of a mental game a lot of the time than a physical game.”

“Goalies are always unsung heroes,” Kempton continued. “They make or break a team. If a striker misses a goal, they have the next one, but if the goalie lets a stupid goal in, the game’s kind of done.”