Rabinovich competing at Maccabiah Games
7/9/2022 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Senior talks about representing United States and excitement of playing abroad this summer
It will be a lot of summer travel to play soccer for Banana Slug Itay Rabinovich, as well as one awesome Homecoming.
Rabinovich will be on the United States soccer team competing at the 21st Maccabiah Games this month in Israel. Â Held every four years, the Maccabiah Games brings together Jewish athletes from all over the world. The rising senior flew out with the rest of the USA team Independence Day weekend ahead of the opening ceremony in Jerusalem July 12th.
Over 60 countries are sending athletes, with 16 teams playing the men's soccer tournament. Rabinovich is the only Division III player on the 20-man USA Team, which includes players from UCLA and Ivy League schools. Rabinovich is one of two Banana Slug soccer players going to Israel, as former standout Matthew Fondy is playing on the USA Futsal team (indoor Soccer). Rabinovich, who was born in Israel before moving to California a decade ago, is looking forward to returning to his birthplace with the team.
"Most of the guys they have never been to Israel. None of them speak any Hebrew. I will show them around if I get the chance to" he said.
"I have been to the tourist places. I don't go to them frequently, but I have been to most of the stuff and seen most of the things we're going to be seeing I haven't been to the Dead Sea since I was like 11 or 12, so going back there doing it and this stuff with a tour guide will be very interesting. I have only done this with family, so going and actually hearing all of the historical stuff, I think it's going to be very cool."
The total time for Team USA selection took eleven months, starting with the first tryouts of about 50-60 players in Los Angeles in July of 2020.
"Everything was very COVID oriented, so everyone was getting tested on a daily basis and everything was in protocol," Rabinovich explained. "But once everyone got on the field, it was pretty open. We were able to do full scrimmages against semi-pro teams in L.A."
Rabinovich said actually making the team this Spring was a roller coaster of emotions.
"I was beyond excited that I made it. It was actually funny. I was waiting to see if I was on the team or not for a while. I was in Israel at this point and I was refreshing my emails and then one day, I got this email from the Maccabi team. So, I opened the email and I wanted to skip and see if I made the team or not. The only thing it said 'you didn't make the team'. Those words stood out to me. I closed the email and didn't want to look at anything else. The next day, I was like 'give the email the respect of reading it' so I went back and actually read it.
"I read through it and the sentence actually said 'If you didn't make the team, you'll still hear back from us.' Two days later, I got the actual email that said I actually made the team. So, I had a fake heart attack coming back and reading it to having a real heart attack when I made the team. I also want to pursue as much soccer as possible after college. So just to get more visibility like this and play high-level soccer on a more global scale with more eyes, that's what makes me the most excited."
The United States will play group games against Sweden, Belgium and Uruguay.
 "I'm beyond stoked because most of my family, like my parents and my siblings, live in Israel. So most of them, except for like my grandparents a couple times, have not seen me play" he said.  "One of the things I'm most excited about is getting Team USA hats or shirts and stickers, but apparently the Opening Ceremony is the only time that every country is together. So I can get a Uruguay pin if I give them a USA pin, Argentina hat for a USA hat, give Brazil a shirt and get a Brazil shirt. I want to be fully dressed up in everything except for the US gear."
For information on the Maccabiah Games and livestreams of the matches, click here.
Rabinovich will be on the United States soccer team competing at the 21st Maccabiah Games this month in Israel. Â Held every four years, the Maccabiah Games brings together Jewish athletes from all over the world. The rising senior flew out with the rest of the USA team Independence Day weekend ahead of the opening ceremony in Jerusalem July 12th.
Over 60 countries are sending athletes, with 16 teams playing the men's soccer tournament. Rabinovich is the only Division III player on the 20-man USA Team, which includes players from UCLA and Ivy League schools. Rabinovich is one of two Banana Slug soccer players going to Israel, as former standout Matthew Fondy is playing on the USA Futsal team (indoor Soccer). Rabinovich, who was born in Israel before moving to California a decade ago, is looking forward to returning to his birthplace with the team.
"Most of the guys they have never been to Israel. None of them speak any Hebrew. I will show them around if I get the chance to" he said.
"I have been to the tourist places. I don't go to them frequently, but I have been to most of the stuff and seen most of the things we're going to be seeing I haven't been to the Dead Sea since I was like 11 or 12, so going back there doing it and this stuff with a tour guide will be very interesting. I have only done this with family, so going and actually hearing all of the historical stuff, I think it's going to be very cool."
The total time for Team USA selection took eleven months, starting with the first tryouts of about 50-60 players in Los Angeles in July of 2020.
"Everything was very COVID oriented, so everyone was getting tested on a daily basis and everything was in protocol," Rabinovich explained. "But once everyone got on the field, it was pretty open. We were able to do full scrimmages against semi-pro teams in L.A."
Rabinovich said actually making the team this Spring was a roller coaster of emotions.
"I was beyond excited that I made it. It was actually funny. I was waiting to see if I was on the team or not for a while. I was in Israel at this point and I was refreshing my emails and then one day, I got this email from the Maccabi team. So, I opened the email and I wanted to skip and see if I made the team or not. The only thing it said 'you didn't make the team'. Those words stood out to me. I closed the email and didn't want to look at anything else. The next day, I was like 'give the email the respect of reading it' so I went back and actually read it.
"I read through it and the sentence actually said 'If you didn't make the team, you'll still hear back from us.' Two days later, I got the actual email that said I actually made the team. So, I had a fake heart attack coming back and reading it to having a real heart attack when I made the team. I also want to pursue as much soccer as possible after college. So just to get more visibility like this and play high-level soccer on a more global scale with more eyes, that's what makes me the most excited."
The United States will play group games against Sweden, Belgium and Uruguay.
 "I'm beyond stoked because most of my family, like my parents and my siblings, live in Israel. So most of them, except for like my grandparents a couple times, have not seen me play" he said.  "One of the things I'm most excited about is getting Team USA hats or shirts and stickers, but apparently the Opening Ceremony is the only time that every country is together. So I can get a Uruguay pin if I give them a USA pin, Argentina hat for a USA hat, give Brazil a shirt and get a Brazil shirt. I want to be fully dressed up in everything except for the US gear."
For information on the Maccabiah Games and livestreams of the matches, click here.
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