15 East 26Th Street New York, Ny 10010 Phone (212) 532-4949 Fax (212) 481-4174

15 east 26th street • New York, NY 10010 • phone (212) 532-4949 • fax (212) 481-4174

Israeli Sports

The goal of the activity is to enjoy athletic activities while gaining general knowledge of Israel. Length of the activity: up to One and a half hours. For ages: 12 -16, for a group up to 20 participants. Type of Activity: Athletics.

Materials Balls and athletic equipment. Advance Preparation Spread out map in center of a sports court.

How to Proceed The following are some ideas of how to integrate the gigantic map in sports:

Jumping Far

Have everyone stand in a straight line facing Eilat. They then have to jump "North" as far as they can. This can be done from any other place in Israel, in any direction, and the madrich can talk about the place while they are lining up to jump.

Relay Race

Divide participants into two teams. Each team forms a line, on either side of the map. On each team, the first in line gets a walking stick. The madrich announces the name of a place on the map, the two participants with walking sticks run to the spot on the map where the place is located, run back to their teams, give the walking stick to the next participant in line, and run to the back of the line. Points are awarded to the team of the participant that arrives at the place on the map first. With younger participants the boundaries of the rounds can be narrowed to a certain region of the country, such as the north, the south, the Galilee, etc.

JCC Maccabi Games® Kfar Maccabi – Hang Time Activities 15 east 26th street • New York, NY 10010 • phone (212) 532-4949 • fax (212) 481-4174

Flying over Israel

Two teams line up on opposite sides of the map, east and west. A ball is passed zigzag from east to west, down the line, until it reaches the other end of the line. If the ball drops, the last person to touch the ball has to say on which part of the country it fell. To make the game harder, line the teams up on the northern and southern ends and throw the ball diagonally.

Rolling Across Israel

Tow teams sit in lines, along the southern and northern ends of the map. The ball is rolled in similar zigzag fashion between the two teams. One team rolls the ball, and the other has to identify at least one place in Israel that the balled rolled across. With the identification, the team gets a point. The game gets faster and harder as you go. Without identification, the first team gets the point and the ball.

Sea and land.

When the madrich says SEA, all participants run to the sea on the map. When the madrich says LAND, all participants run to the land on the map. You might add SHEMESH (meaning sun), and all run to the desert, or SHELEG, (meaning snow) and all run to the north.

Wheelbarrow Relay Race

Participants are arranged in couples. One is on the floor, resting on his hands. The other stands with his back to his partner, holding his legs under his arms, together forming a wheelbarrow. The race is from the southern end of the map at Eilat to the northern end of the map at the Rosh HaNikra.

From City to City

JCC Maccabi Games® Kfar Maccabi – Hang Time Activities 15 east 26th street • New York, NY 10010 • phone (212) 532-4949 • fax (212) 481-4174

Arrange participants in a circle around the map. Give each one a number. The madrich reads the name of a city on the map and two numbers. The first of the tow participants with those numbers to arrive at that city gets a point. If he also knows something about the city, he gets another point. You can also use names of kibbutzim, regions, sites, etc, and also to use Hebrew letters or numbers instead of English letters for the participants.

JCC Maccabi Games® Kfar Maccabi – Hang Time Activities