Approximately 7,500 athletes from 77 countries competed in the Maccabiah Games in 2013.
Julia Weiss’ journey to the Israel Games began in California, where she tried out for the USA Junior National soccer team with 100 other girls.
Only 18 players were going to be selected, so Weiss knew making the team wouldn’t be easy. After a two-day tryout and a long wait, Weiss got the good news: She made the squad.
But then another emotion hit her.
“I was pretty intimidated at first,” Weiss said. “I’ve always been an introverted person and when I heard I was going to play in Israel and represent the USA, it was pretty scary.”
Weiss overcame her nerves and headed to Israel in the summer. She trained in 100-degree heat for two weeks but it paid off when the U.S. team went undefeated and beat Israel 1-0 in the championship game.
Winning a gold medal is a memory she’ll cherish for a lifetime, but there is another image she won’t ever forget.
“In Israel, everyone has to go into the army and we went through this graveyard and there was a mother by the grave of her 19-year-old son,” Weiss said. “It was his birthday that day and she had brought balloons. I just broke down and started crying.”
She noticed girls and boys, some not much older than she, walking around in fatigues with large weapons and an even larger job.
“All these teenagers are in the army and even when they’re off-duty, they carry their guns around,” Weiss said. “It’s amazing how they have such big responsibility and such a sense of duty at such a young age. We’re so lost (in America) at this age, just worried about what kind of school we’re going to get into.
“The work ethic and loyalty and selflessness they have throughout Israel, they really just want the best for their country and they have to advocate for their country because if they didn’t, who would?”
Weiss saw much during her month in Israel. She visited the Dead Sea, toured the Wailing Wall and went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial. The experience also helped her to come out her shell.
Now a senior, the three-year varsity midfielder is trying to pick it up in her final year for the Huskies.
“She’s really stepped up as a leader,” senior defender Chloe Boensch said. “I’ve been on the team with her for three years and she’s improved tremendously in so many ways.”
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OPRF (1-3-2) fell 1-0 to Lyons on April 7. Head coach Ignacio Ponce is expecting a lot from Weiss as the team tries to pick up some steam.
“I need whatever she has to be contagious to the team,” Ponce said. “She has to keep getting the team pumped, be motivated and aggressive. She also has to help the team get on the same page as a unit, to keep our team moving forward.”
Weiss has been accepted to Michigan, where she could play club soccer but is waiting to see if she has been admitted to Northwestern and Chicago.
Valentin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.