A trio of Baltimore arealacrosse players – Maisie Burgunder, Molly Millman and Claire Simonds — recentlyenjoyed the chance to represent Israel while playing the sport they love.
The youngsters played in different age groups for Team Israel while attending the World Lacrosse Championship in Peterborough, Ontario.
Molly, 13, is an eighth grade student at Garrison Forest School who played for the under-15 and under-18 teams. Maisie, 14, played with Molly on the under-15 team that won a bronze medal at the 10-day tournament.
Simonds, 18, is a McDonoghSchool senior who was on the under-19 team that did not win a medal. She willplay lacrosse at Denison University in Ohio after graduating from McDonogh in2020.
The experience ofplaying on Team Israel helped the girls gain knowledge on and off the field.They got the chance to play against other teams from all around the world, all whileconnecting with their Judaism in many ways.
“It was an incredibleexperience, just being with the Israelis,” said Simonds. “Meeting teams fromother countries was just incredible.”
Simonds’ path to playingon Team Israel began four years ago when she played in the Jewish CommunityCenter Maccabi Games with Baltimore. An Israeli coach was on hand and asked if Simondswould be interested in going to London a year later and playing for the Israelunder-15 team in a tournament there.
She played on the teamand eventually went to the Jewish state on a service trip last winter, triedout for the 2019 World Lacrosse team and was selected by Team Israel.
Maisie is a ninth gradestudent at the Friends School. She said that the under-15, under-18 andunder-19 teams all had Friday night dinners and went to Shabbat services together in a small synagogue in Ontario.
“The synagogue was alittle bit different than I’m used to, but it was really good,” she said. “Thelacrosse experience was great, but I also really enjoyed making the new friendsfrom all the different places.”
Maisie learned aboutTeam Israel a few years ago when her brother played and had a good experience. Shediscovered on social media that Team Israel might need some help in 2019, soshe contacted them and found a spot on the team.
“The girls on our teamwere very experienced,” she said. “A lot of them were very good players. It wasa lot of fun to play with them and learn from them. It helped my game.”
Molly found her way ontoTeam Israel much like Simonds. She received an email from Team Israel asking ifshe was interested in playing for them at this tournament.
The international gamewas different to Molly, and earning the chance to play with the Israelis addedto her development.
“Just getting to playwith different skill levels and different people, and just learning to playwith other people was great,” she said. “It was a really good experience.”
She said what made itbetter was that she — and Maisie — were able to play on the team that won thebronze medal. Molly said the medal is now hanging in her room at home. She alsowas called up to play a few games for the under-18 team and fared wellthere.
In the end, Molly, Maisieand Simonds said they loved everything about playing for Team Israel, from thelacrosse to the religious moments. “It was really fun,” Maisie said. “I’dsure like to do it again.”
Jeff Seidel is a Baltimore-based freelancewriter.
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