We are the Champions!

On June 6th, several Israel Outdoors groups participated in Taglit-Birthright Israel’s first ever Sports Mega Event.  Below is an account from Yaniv Havusha, staffer of Israel Outdoors group TL-28-447, the gold winners of the event.

Sports - Team OrenAnyone who has ever gone on a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip with Israel Outdoors will tell you what an amazing experience it is. This turned out to be especially true for the participants of TL-28-447.

During their ten day journey, 447 (AKA Team Oren) became the winners of Taglit-Birthright Israel’s first ever Sports Mega Event. If you ever had color war at camp, this is the same idea, but on a much, much larger scale. No easy feat in itself, but doubly challenging in the heat of an Israeli summer! The event was held at Israel’s Wingate Institute, the premiere training grounds for soldiers and olympic athletes. 

Team Oren was pitted against 50 other Taglit-Birthright Israel groups, totaling more than 2,500 participants in 3 heats, ranging from individual competition to team sports.

Heat 1 consisted of 4 events, starting with a obstacle course race, moving on to “ladders in the sky” on which participants had to climb rope ladders that were suspended from a crane and be the first to hit the buzzer. Groups then moved to the rock climbing wall, where teams had to climb the wall and ring the bell at the top in the allotted time. The heat ended with teams competing to pull a tractor 30 meters!

Heat 2 consisted of team sports such as soccer, dodgeball, volleyball and basketball. The heat ended with tug of war, which ended up being one of only two events that 447 lost during the day.

Heat 3 consisted of more military type training as teams competed to be the first to run through tires, swing from the monkey bars and cross the parallel bars, which took a lot of arm strength. The heat was finished with some Zumba, just for fun 🙂

Sports - Group ShotPoints were awarded all day by judges who were watching not only for the first to cross finish lines, but also for good sportsmanship, cheering and team spirit, (and for dehydration, which would result in a team’s losing points!)

The night was capped off with an awards ceremony where all present were treated to a rousing speech by the newly elected Minister of Finance, Yair Lapid.

And, although the gold medals where nice, the icing on the cake is the free ticket to the States awarded to each of the five Israeli Soldiers in Group 447!!! Its reunion time!!

Team Oren all the way!!