PITTSBURGH (RNS) — Danielle Rose Nurko might be a 2024 JCC Maccabi Games medalist, but for the 16-year-old tennis player, the annual Olympic-style competition for Jewish teens isn’t about winning.
“It makes me feel more attached to my religion,” she told Religion News Service. “It’s not only competing and meeting new people; I know that all these people are like me, and that they have similar experiences as me.”
Attending the games is especially rewarding, she said, as one of only three Jewish students at her high school in Houston.
At the JCC Maccabi Games, taking place in Pittsburgh from Aug. 3-8 this year, Nurko is among nearly 2,000 Jewish teens from around the world competing in events such as ice hockey, swimming, basketball, soccer and dance. According to the event’s organizers, the games are intended as a welcome reprieve from rising antisemitism.
Danielle Rose Nurko, left, serves in a tennis match during the 2025 JCC Maccabi Games, Aug. 5, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post)
“It has become increasingly important for our community to have the opportunity to come together in a safe, fun, warm, joyful environment to celebrate Jewish life,” said Samantha Cohen, senior vice president and director of JCC Maccabi.
Twenty-five years ago, Cohen was herself a tennis player competing in the JCC Maccabi Games. “I got on the plane as a British tennis player and I flew home as a proud Jewish athlete,” she recalled, noting that the games have impacted teens for decades.
Founded in 1982 through the JCC Association of North America, the JCC Maccabi Games have become the largest Jewish youth sporting event in the world. Each year, the organization hosts two weeklong summer competitions for thousands of Jewish teens across the spectrum of religious observance. Last week, a different group of delegations competed in Tucson, Arizona. But across locations, athletics aren’t the main event, Cohen said; rather, sports are a vehicle for fostering Jewish unity and pride.
Groups are introduced during the opening ceremony of the 2025 JCC Maccabi Games at University of Pittsburgh, Aug. 4, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (RNS photo/Kathryn Post …