As I sit at my home, thinking about the experience we all just completed in Israel, in particular in Jerusalem, at the 20th World Maccabiah Games, I can't help but pinch myself to make sure this journey is now complete. In writing this final blog ending forever my coaching career, I must say once again how incredibly proud I am about our entire team. They all came together on June 25th at the airport in Newark, NJ, as we prepared to leave for our journey into forever and became a team of legendary status on July 16. During those three and a half weeks we were together, they became dedicated to fulfilling our run into "Forever"! Each day we trained, which was 7 days and only one scrimmage game, we knew we had a lot to do in order to develop our rhythm as a team. It became apparent that we would have to find that rhythm during our group stage games, as we didn't have enough days or scrimmage games in order to develop it. That rhythm followed the same course as our 2013 team, in that we both lost a game during the group stage and had our backs against the wall for the rest of the tournament. Every game was a must win in order to continue to the knock out stage. Just like 2013, when Ryan Jones scored the increfible goal against Mexico in order for us to advance to the quarter finals, Lance Dotzman did the same thing with his incredible goal against Israel in the semi finals to help us advance to the finals and our chance at becoming a "Forever Team"! So the similarities between our two teams is very eerie, in that the same path and pressure was exactly the same for both teams. This team, as did our 2013 team, played with great heart and tremendous dedication to our goal, which distinguished us from every other team in the tournament. I must list all our players and thank them one last time in print for believing in me and trusting my philosophy and tactics and buying in to the journey we created during our time together. Here is our 2017 20th Workd Maccabiah Gold Medal Team: Max Kurtzman, Ryan Jones, Kovi Konowiecki, Evin Nadaner, Daniel Kohen (our 5 players from our 2013 team, who wanted another chance at history), Josh Haberman, Sam Raben, Jonny Dolezal, Danny Rubenstein, Elijah Lichtenberg, Benjamin Issroff, Will Cohen, Jake Rozhansky, Stephen Elias, Alec Weiss, Lance Dotzman, Aaron Franco, Oliver Eisen, Sam Friedman, Brett Walsdorf, our Assistant Coach, David Goldstein, our tremendous trainer, Kyle Southall, along with another trainer, Daniel Big D Lindsey and Hayley Edenzon, Dr. Mike April, Dr. Dave Rubenstein, our management team of Steve Graber and Maccabi USA administrators, Lou Moyerman and Dan Kurtz. Now, none of this would have ever been possible without our guiding Chairman, who made everything so special for me and our players, Mark Knue. He is without question the reason and all the reasons we are where we are. Thank you Mark from the bottom of my heart and please know you and your family are loved greatly! My heart is full with love and great pride to each of you for allowing me the incredible honor of coaching such outstanding young men! You have made my final game a memory that will remain in my heart forever! Like the great Sir Winston Churchill said, " Never has one person owed so much to so many"! "Forever is Forever"! Coach G signing off from home! The following photos were courtesy of Eyal Warshvsky.

Well the end of my career has finally come! But what a way to end, by winning another World Maccabiah Championship and Gold Medal in the 20th World Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem, Israel. This was a history making performance, in that we have done something no other team has done and that is to win Back to Back Championships in consecutive Maccabiah Games! In 2013, we were the "Impossible Dream Team" and in 2017, we became the "Forever Team"! To win this again, was even more special than in 2013, because no one gave us a chance to repeat. We were the only ones who believed in what we could do and we did it with our backs against the wall in every game, not unlike we did in 2013. It takes a special group of young men to be able to come together, without ever playing as a team with each other in 7 short practices and make the kind of run we did to win it all. We beat a very good Great Britain team, who had beaten us in group play and we did it soundly for 90 minutes with a 3:0 score. We decided to change up our tactics for this game due to their overall height and direct over the top kind of play they employ. We took our attacking midfield player and decided to isolate him in the left wing, so he could go one on one with their right back and he rewarded that move with all 3 goals and he also won the Golden Boot award for most goals in the tournament, with 6. His name is Jake Rozhansky! However, our defense changed from our usual 3 back to 4 back and they all plsyed magnificently. Sam Raben our center back was outstanding throughout the tournament, as were Jonny Dolezal on the left side and Danny Rubenstein on the right. We moved to start the game with Daniel Kohen as our other center back then moved him to defensive mid to swap with Benji Issroff, as he was taller to help combat their superior height up front. It worked to perfection. Our goalkeeper, Max Kurtzman was outstanding once again in goal and only allowed 1 goal during the tournament. Our other keeper, Josh Haberman, did an outstanding job as well. I could go on and on about our entire team, but time is getting really late, as it is 2:30 am now. The scoring by Jake started at 1:45 into the first half off an assist from Stephen Elias. He scored his 2nd goal at the 51:10 minute mark in the 2nd half unassisted and his final goal came at the 77:15 mark, off another assist from Stephen Elias, making the final score 3:0! The following photo is of the 5 returning players from our 2013 Gold Medal winning team and they are left to right, Max Kurtzman, Kovi Konowiecki, me, Daniel Kohen, Ryan Jones and Evin Nadaner. Without their incredible leadership, this would never have happened! They not only led on the field, but showed the rest of the team what it was like to win off the field. I cannot begin to thank them enough for riding this journey with me one more time into history.

Everyone on this team contributed so much to our success. Before we took the field for the start of the game, I talked to them again, not about winning, but about being the first...no not the first to win Gold for the USA, but to be the first to win it in back to back successive Maccabiah Tournaments. Just like when Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon, his pilot, Buzz Aldrin was the second, but in actuality, he too, was the first even though he stepped on the lunar surface second! That's what we talked about and that they could become the Legendary Forever Team, which they did! life is full of journeys, but to have taken this journey with these outstanding young men, was my proudest moment in my coaching career! I have had two incredible teams to take this journey with, and both have made my coaching life complete. In closing I have so many people to thank and I must start with my family. The only thing that would have been better, was if my wife Marie, son Sean, daughter Aly and my sons wife Sammy had been here to share this with me. I love them all so very much. Our trainer, Kyle Southall, the miracle worker, who got all our injured players ready to play each game, was more responsible for our success than anyone. Our team Docs, Michael April and Dave Rubenstein were wonderful with all our players and their many injuries. I also want to thank our Assistant coach, David Goldstein for his devotion and loyalty to our team and to me. We couldn't have done it with out you. Steve Graber our manager was so helpful throughout our tournament, as well as Dan Kurtz and Lou Moyerman from our Maccabi USA team and they are in one of the photos below with me. I can't thank then enough. Last and certainly not least, I owe so much to Mark Knue, our overall Soccer Chair, for his constant belief in me and talking me into doing this one last time and I mean last time. Here are a few more photos from the game.

A few more photos:

In closing this final chapter in my long coaching career, I will leave you with my favorite quote from Sir Winston Churchill. "Never has one person owed so much to so many"! Thank you for following along on this incredible journey into Maccabiah and Maccabi USA history, Coach G from Jerusalem