On May 3 at Hagan Arena at Saint Joseph’s University, the Kaiserman JCC will light the opening torch for the Mini and Junior Maccabi Games.
After the opening ceremony, athletes between the ages of 9 and 12 will disperse across Philadelphia and the Main Line to participate in basketball, soccer and swimming, among nine sports in total. The regional event will welcome athletes from the Kaiserman JCC, the Katz JCC in Cherry Hill, the Siegel JCC in Delaware, the JCC of Greater Baltimore, the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh, the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan and the Deal Sephardic Network Community Center in Ocean Township, New Jersey.
More than 1,000 athletes will participate in this year’s games, according to Barrie Mittica, the Kaiserman JCC’s senior director of engagement. That’s an increase of more than 300 athletes from last year’s event at the Katz JCC. The games have been growing every year since returning from COVID cancellations in 2022.
“I think it shows that people are looking for connection within the Jewish community. They’re looking for ways for their children to get involved,” Mittica said.
The Kaiserman JCC last hosted the event in 2018. It stepped up this year because, well, it was the Main Line JCC’s turn. Mid-Atlantic JCC executives, including Kaiserman JCC CEO Alan Scher, meet annually to discuss the games and decide on host institutions and venues.
Team Philadelphia will have 305 athletes in this year’s competition, an increase from 140 last year. Mittica said the JCC and a lay leadership committee of more than 50 people started advertising the team as early as last June. They spread the word in community groups, synagogues and other places.
Recruitment committee representatives focused on their home communities, and they hit nearly every part of Jewish Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania side. Team Philadelphia includes athletes from Upper Dublin/Elkins Park, Wissahickon/Blue Bell/Plymouth Meeting, Bucks County, Center City, the Main Line and Delaware County.
A big reason for the overall increase, however, was the addition of three new JCCs: Pittsburgh, Marlene Meyerson and DSN, none of which participated last year, according to Mittica. DSN joined the JCC Maccabi Games, for athletes ages 13-17, two years ago.
Marlene Meyerson “has a staff member who grew up in Philly and knows about it,” said Mittica. The Pittsburgh JCC was also already part of the bigger JCC Maccabi Games, and its delegation head talked to Mittica and other leaders at that event last summer.
“There’s a large number of us that do both,” Mittica said.
Launched in 1998 with the Kaiserman JCC as the host, the Junior Maccabi Games eventually expanded to the Mini and Junior Maccabi Games before being canceled in 2020 and 2021. The games returned in 2022 with 550 athletes, expanded to 650 by 2024, between 700 and 750 last year, and now more than 1,000.
“This year’s games are the largest Mini and Junior Maccabi Games that have ever happened,” Mittica said.
Regardless of how many athletes participate, their reasons for doing so are often similar, according to Mittica.
“For a lot of kids during their teen years, sports are a big part of their identity; Judaism is a big part of their identity. This marries the two together,” she said. “A lot of kids are one of the only Jewish athletes on the teams they play on.”
The 2026 games will also introduce two new sports: squash and dance. Squash was added because JCC leaders discussed how “a lot of Jewish kids are involved in this,” Mittica said. Squash is also part of the Maccabiah Games in Israel. Dance was introduced because it is already a sport at the JCC Maccabi Games, and it’s a way to get more female athletes involved.
Other changes include two separate tournaments for basketball, one for AAU-style Jewish teams that play in tournaments year-round, and another for teams that just come together for the games. There will be a competitive bracket and a recreational bracket, and teams can self-designate.
Track will also be a pentathlon this year, meaning athletes will compete in a set of five events and tally up their scores.
“We thought it’d be fun to encourage kids to participate in all five activities we’re doing,” Mittica said.