University of Tennessee Athletics
Life Changing Experience
January 06, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2010
By Megan Stinnett, UT Media Relations
Before Steven Pearl began his junior season playing the forward position for the Vols, he embarked on a new adventure, an adventure that would become a life-changing experience and one that he would remember for the rest of his life.
The Knoxville native and his father, Tennessee head basketball coach Bruce Pearl, went to Israel this past summer to be part of the 18th World Maccabiah Games. Steven Pearl was one of seven current NCAA student-athletes who made the Maccabi USA's Open Men's Basketball Team, and coach Pearl was appointed the head coach for the team.
The World Maccabiah Games is a quadrennial event that takes place in Israel. The 18th World Maccabiah Games was the world's third-largest international athletic competition where more than 9,000 of the world's best Jewish athletes from more than 54 countries competed.
"It's called the Jewish Olympics, just like the regular Olympics but for Jewish athletes," Steven Pearl said. "They have all kinds of sports, any sport you could imagine. I was lucky enough to be selected for the basketball team and went over there to Israel and had a great time."
Three tryouts took place: One in New York, where the northeastern athletes went to try out; one in California, where athletes from the west went; and tryouts for the final cut took place in Knoxville. More than 30 athletes were invited, and only 12 made the team.
Steven played a key part on the U.S. Maccabi Team in Israel. He scored 15 points during a game against Canada and ultimately helped his team take home a gold medal.
If winning the gold medal was not enough, the Vols' forward went to Israel also searching for something much more meaningful--he wanted to learn more about his Jewish heritage.
"I learned a lot of things that I had no idea about before I went to Israel," Steven said. "It just gave me another appreciation for my religion because there are so many people that had to sacrifice to give me what I have today. Because of them, there is no more religious persecution. It is great that people can practice their religion freely. And going over there made me realize that being Jewish is a really special thing... even though there may not be that many people who are Jewish in Tennessee."
Maccabi USA's "Sports for Israel" creates a one-of-a-kind experience by incorporating sports with learning and teaching about the Jewish tradition.
"The first week (in Israel) was training camp and sightseeing," Pearl said. "You would train for two and a half hours in the morning, then the rest of the day was just touring. Israel is a pretty small country, so it would only take about two hours to get to the farthest spot. You would just tour all day, and it was a week long, so we went to about seven different places and we basically learned Israel's history in a week so it was a lot of fun."
Learning about his Jewish heritage and playing basketball for his country were two of the main reasons Steven Pearl wanted to go to Israel, but being able to share the experience with his father topped them both.
"Being there with my family was definitely special," Pearl said. "And the basketball thing was just unbelievable because my dad and I went to the championship and won the gold medal. That was a lot of fun, to experience that with him. I got to play a ton and had a huge part in it. That was definitely special, me and him being player-coach."
Not only was this experience special to Steven Pearl, but for his father, Bruce, it was much more than that. It was "emotional."
"It was an experience of a lifetime to coach him in that setting, where he played a huge role and we both got to represent our country--wearing the red, white and blue--and visit our Jewish homeland. We were able to do that together for the first time, so it was very meaningful."
