This summer, Evan Flaks truly earned his frequent flyer miles.
In late July and early August, Evan, 15, successfully mixed basketball and global travel over a short period of time. He journeyed to both Israel and California, and came home with a pair of gold medals from two different Olympic-style competitions for young Jewish athletes.
First, Evan, who starts his sophomore year at Pikesville High School next week, played on a team at the International Maccabi Youth Games in Israel, held from July 23 to Aug. 2. Then, just a few days after returning home, he joined the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore delegation that traveled to Orange County, Calif., and played on the 15-16 basketball team at the 36th annual JCC Maccabi Games & ArtsFest.
Both experiences proved quite triumphant and special for Evan. In Israel, the 5-foot-8 point guard helped guide the American team to a stunning 4-0 record. The final victory was a championship-round win over Israel’s team, and the entire experience proved extremely meaningful to Evan, both on and off the court.
“It was really cool to see all the people from different countries, and all playing ball,” he said. “It also was great to see all of the religious [sites].”
Other players from Maryland who participated in the Israel games included Ron Berlin of Potomac; Jessica Brandsdorfer of Gaithersburg, Jacob Kaplan of Fulton; Arielle Klein of Bethesda; and Brian Zagalsky of Annapolis. Beth Hagler and Julie Tucker of Silver Spring and Victoria Simonetti of Baltimore served as trainers.
Evan devoted about six of the days in Israel to practicing and playing basketball, with the other five set aside for sightseeing and hanging out. He said he thoroughly enjoyed being able to spend time in places like Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He also enjoyed meeting peer athletes from such countries as South Africa, Argentina, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, France, Australia, Canada, Israel, Hungary, Brazil and the United States.
“We’ve been there once as a family, but I think he enjoyed this more,” said Evan’s dad, Barry Flaks. “He really, really enjoyed what they did and what they saw.”
This was the inaugural year for the Maccabi Youth Games in Israel, and Evan got involved with the international competition as a result of last summer’s JCC Maccabi Games. Someone came up to him during those games and suggested that he try out for the new competition slated to take place in Israel this year.
Evan sent video footage of himself playing for the Pikesville varsity team last year to the games’ organizers, along with some recommendations. Overall, the folks running the international event picked 24 young athletes that made up three teams in the 16-and-under age group, and Evan made the cut.
He went to New Jersey from July 19-22 for a pre-competition practice before heading off to the Jewish state on July 23.
Then, Evan returned to Baltimore on Aug. 2, just in time to get ready for his trip to California three days later. His body clock needed a few days to adjust to the various time zones, he said, but Evan eventually settled in and was ready to play.
“It was so nice [in California] because I was back with my friends,” Evan said of the California games, played in Irvine and Long Beach from Aug. 5-10 with more than 2,000 teen athletes – including more than 65 local youngsters — from across North America and Israel. “I was really worried about [the time factor], but the games were in the middle of the day so it was just fine.”
The Baltimore 15-16 basketball team won a gold medal in the Blue Bracket, and Evan played a key role in helping Baltimore win the championship. He scored 47 points in a 68-59 victory over Cleveland, which earned the locals a spot in the medal round.
The title game against Denver proved to be a challenging one. Charm City and Denver were deadlocked at 44 before Evan and his friends took command and pulled away for a 59-48 victory — and the gold medal.
Baltimore coach Danny Hoffman, who was assisted by Barry Flaks, said he knew Evan went through a lot traveling from Israel to Baltimore to California during such a condensed and hectic period. But he said the youngster never let it shake him or affect his performance or demeanor.
“It must have been one hell of a challenge for him,” Hoffman said. “To his credit, he was more in leadership mode. Evan had no interest in coming out of games at any point. He was staying on the floor, regardless of how he felt on the inside.”
Other members of that team included Simon Spath, Hayden Paige, Ben Matz, Max Holzman, Simon Gartenhaus, Tyler Hertzberg, Ryan Platt, Joshua Fein and Nick Hall.
For information about the results of the JCC Maccabi Games & ArtsFest in Orange County, Calif., visit jccoc.org/maccabi/scores/.
Jeff Seidel is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.
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