Star Reporter Features

Lack of practice causes early trouble for mixed teams

By Lia Backfien & Lauren Kessel

August 6, 2018

In one of the first girl’s volleyball games of the 2018 JCC Maccabi Games, North Miami Beach took on a mixed team of girls from Austin, Texas, Albany, New York and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Throughout the first half of the game viewers observed that the girls from the mixed team were having more trouble working as a team and keeping up with the rising score of the North Miami Beach team.

The North Miami Beach team has been practicing together for months, while the mixed team only practiced for the first time all together this morning. In an interview with Bob Quinn, the host parent of three girls from the mixed team, he shared his concerned thoughts for all of the mixed teams in Maccabi.

“It's not surprising we have a mixed team here,” Quinn said. “They are struggling to communicate with each other.”

Their struggle to communicate and work together as a team cost the mixed team the game, as the final score was 24 to 7, with North Beach Miami scoring the most points.

Could this mean mixed teams are at a disadvantage to those who have been practicing for a while? Or was it just a bad day for the mixed team? Check back here soon for more coverage of all the Maccabi sports to find out.