Selected to participate in the 2017 Maccabiah Games was Frisch rising sophomore and Tenafly resident Noah Petak.
Petak played ice hockey on the newly formed Cougars Ice Hockey team during his freshman year. Notified while at Camp Morasha by his counselors via their private walkie talkie channel, Noah was elated to hear that he will be joining 20 Jewish athletes from across the U.S. who will be competing in the junior division of the Maccabi Games. Noah will be one of the youngest to qualify for the division, which includes 16-18 year olds.
The 20th Maccabiah competition will be held in Israel July 4-18, 2017. Projected to be the largest and most successful of all, it will coincide with the festivities surrounding the celebration of 50 years of Jerusalem’s unification. The expectation is that 10,000 athletes and 22,000 fans from more than 80 countries will be in attendance at this festival of sports, Jewish continuity and connection to the homeland of the Jewish people. The opening ceremony is slated to be held at Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium. The Maccabiah Games are sponsored by the Maccabi World Union, which is the longest-running Jewish sports organization spanning over five continents, representing more than 60 countries, 450 clubs and 400,000 members. Among the past participants in the Maccabiah games held every four years are many well-known Olympic gold medalists.
Who is Noah Petak and how has he arrived at this awesome milestone at the tender age of 15?
His father, Jonathan, is an avid sportsman with a specialty in basketball. Noah, who has been playing ice hockey virtually non-stop since the age of the 3, pays tribute to his deceased grandfather and uncle by “keeping it up.” At first, it was simply a “fun game,” according to Petak, but by sixth grade at Moriah he saw the challenge in playing competitively.
Coach of the Frisch Cougars Ice Hockey team Ralph Abecassis has a lot to say in praise of Petak, of whom he could not be prouder. “Noah is an ‘elite’ player as attested to by the fact that he was selected among so many excellent players out there. He possesses incredible skills and he has an innate ‘hockey sense’ that makes him aware of exactly what is going on throughout the game, which moves so fast and requires instantaneous decisions. This is why he plays at the ‘highest level’ for his age.”
“On a personal level, Noah is an incredible kid. Despite his outstanding athletic talents, he is very modest and caring toward others. When I see him interacting with the youngsters from Friendship Circle, I am always impressed by his care and sensitivity. We couldn’t hope for a better representative to the Maccabi games than Noah.”
Despite a rigorous academic program at Frisch where he is performing very well at his studies, Petak maintains a rigorous schedule of weekly practice sessions. Between his Frisch in-house practices and his three weekly evening practices for the North Jersey Avalanches with whom he has played for the past 10 years, Petak is a busy boy. “He still makes time to coach his younger brother Aiden on the ice,” says his father, Jonathan. “He also loves his Gemara studies and made an excellent transition from Moriah.
“Noah is a true mensch,” continues the elder Petak. “Until recently, he visited a young cancer patient in our neighborhood on Shabbat to lift his spirits. We are also truly proud of Noah’s determination to keep up with all of his religious obligations despite his busy schedule, as when he puts on his tefillin in front of his non-Jewish teammates when on travel games with the Avalanches.”
The Frisch Cougars have had a brief but impressive history. The ice hockey team began as a club at the request of the Frisch parents three years ago, and the following year it joined the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. In March, the Cougars made it to the State Finals Tournament on the strength of its season’s 6-4-2 record.
Looking toward summer of 2017 at the Maccabiah games, the entire Petak family is ecstatic. Noah will be accompanied by his father, who will take time off from his hedge-fund practice, his mother, Susie, a psychologist, and siblings Lily, Max and Aiden, all students at Moriah. They will be joined by members of the extended family including Susie’s brother and family who reside in Efrat, and three very proud grandparents.
For Noah, the excitement mounts. “This will be my first trip to Israel. Not only am I proud to be representing American athletes at this exciting event in Jewish athletic history, but I hope to extend my stay by participating in the Sulam summer program.”
