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Bar Mitzvah Project benefits Israel Sport Center for the Disabled

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By David Morris - FJN Editor

Zack Scheck organizes fund raising basketball tournament in North Miami Beach

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When Jeff Scheck thought to take along his son, Zachary, to a tribute dinner of the Maccabi USA sports organization, he probably didn’t imagine it would have such a big impact on him. Well, it did. At the event "Zack" learned about the Israel Sport Center for the Disabled (ISCD) and decided to make it the focus of his Bar Mitzvah mitzvah project. In the beginning of December, he organized the "Z Basketball Tournament" for third through eighth grade students at the Michael-Ann Russell JCC in North Miami Beach. Over 100 kids participated.

"I was hoping to raise $6000 so I could buy four new wheelchairs because without them these kids can’t participate in sports," Zack said. "From the tournament money we got more than half way there and now other people are learning about what the center does and the money keeps coming. It’s very exciting to see this all really happen."

The Israel Sport Center for the Disabled in Ramat Gan is the first sport center for the disabled in the country and a world pioneer in the field. Sport for the disabled was developed in Israel for the I.D.F disabled war veterans who were hospitalized in Tel Hashomer Hospital during the War of Independence, and its development continued for victims of the polio epidemic in the 1950s. These two populations joined forces to raise awareness of the importance of sport in the rehabilitation of the disabled. The center, which specializes in the physical and psychological rehabilitation of Israeli children and youth, opened its gates in the 1960 in order to encourage disabled kids, youth and adults to take part in sports activities. David Weissman is president of the Florida Friends of the ISCD.

"Studies have shown that sports activities contribute more to the confidence and self-image of the disabled than any other form of rehabilitation," Weissman said. "Rehabilitative sports are used as a means of turning the disabled children in Israel from a state of helplessness toward activity and integration into life and it’s also been proven that sports activities significantly prolong the life expectancy of the seriously disabled. Fortunately, there are other sensitive kids like Zack around the country who are choosing ISCD as a mitzvah project. We are thankful to his wonderful family who gave him the support needed to put this tournament together."

Sports for the disabled were developed at the beginning of World War II in Stoke Mandeville, England, where Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, a German-Jewish refugee, revolutionized the treatment of the spinally injured. He decided that sport would play a key role in his patients’ new lives and in 1948 Guttmann founded the Stoke Mandeville Games for the Paralyzed. In 1960 these games were held in Rome, and became known as the first Paralympic Games - a moving moment when hundreds of handicapped sportsmen and women wheeled through Rome’s huge Olympic Stadium, to compete in the same sports, using the same rules, as able-bodied athletes. The disabled Olympics now take place every four years, after the regular Olympiad. In 1968, ISCD hosted, for the first time, the Olympic Games for the Disabled where more than 1000 athletes participated.

Just prior to Zack’s tournament a delegation of young athletes from ISCD was in South Florida to take part in the 2006 Miami World Championships for Disabled Children. The small Israeli team took third place overall, among the 17 participating states, with over 350 competing disabled athletes. David Koren, the center’s executive director, was at the MAR-JCC with athletes Daniel Dromi, age 9, who received four medals in swimming and field events and Caroline Tabib, age 10, who received five medals in swimming, wheelchair racing and light athletics. Tabib was also nominated by the organizing committee and awarded a special trophy at the closing ceremony as the Most Inspired & Talented Young Athlete of the games.

"The determination, and physical and mental strength that our kids develop, as part of their rehabilitation process, have once again brought us impressive results in the international sports arena," Koren said. "These kids came to the center as victims, with very serious disabilities. They have now become real winners in the international rehab community and this is the greatest reward we can offer our friends for their many years of friendship and support."

Koren says that over 2000 kids and adults without discrimination of religion, race or sex, participate in more than 20 different sports at the center. Most activities are done in wheelchairs, to help athletes overcome their movement limitations.

"As medicine continues to develop its technology, more newborns survive birth accidents and then become high risk for birth defects and various complicated needs," Koren said. "Perhaps ironically, hundreds of new children are in need of our center and the expansion of rehabilitation sports for those with devastating injuries is therefore one of our primary goals."


The Israel Sport Center for the Disabled provides rehabilitative sports programs for approximately 80% of Israel’s disabled population and this community is constantly on the increase, absorbing newborns with devastating birth defects, as well as children who are victims of diseases and road accidents. The center has recently also started absorbing disabled children, victims of Palestinian terrorist activity. ISCD Friends Committees exist in New York, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, New Jersey and England. For information, call 954-275-3010 or visit: http://www.iscd.com.


Posted by David Morris - FJN Editor on 12/29 at 01:00 AM • Hits: 706



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