Serving Support
From her friends in Israel, Sivan Amrani heard about the physical, recreational, competitive, social, and empowering phenomenon for women known as catchball. Catchball is similar to volleyball but requires players to catch the ball with both hands before passing it. Excited to try the sport, she approached the Marcus JCC of Atlanta. With receptive staff and welcoming facilities, Sivan went on to found Atlanta’s first Catchball team in 2016 at the Marcus JCC.
“We joined the USA Catchball Association and organized clinics with top coaches from Israel to train us,” she shares. Since then, Sivan has worked with team leaders to expand the sport locally, developing a metro-area league that now includes approximately 90 members. The Marcus JCC is no stranger to bringing new, member-driven sports to the community (pickleball!) and the sports staff continues to be amazed by the growth of catchball.
There are now 18 women on the Marcus JCC’s team, most of whom have played since its local inception. They spend ample time together during ongoing two-hour practices, weekly games, quarterly mini-tournaments, nationwide annual tournaments, and they have even traveled to Israel twice to complete in the Maccabiah Games. Sivan is not surprised that, despite different backgrounds, interests, and religions, the team has established a deep bond as they have celebrated special occasions together, strengthened each other during difficult times, and more. “We created not only a sports team, but also a support system,” she beams.
As an Israeli, Sivan expresses the significance of her catchball community as she has struggled in the wake of the horrific October 7 attack on Israel. The war has had a deeply personal impact on her, and she fears for the lives of her friends’ and relatives’ children in the IDF, admitting, “It’s especially hard to be far away and not there to help.”
The Marcus JCC catchball team decided to postpone an October tournament because they were all so distressed by the war. Several weeks later, they realized that they could convert their collective anguish into action at the next competition. “We decided to support Israel by donating to the kibbutzim next to the Gaza border and wearing ‘Our Heart is with Israel’ t-shirts during our tournament,” Sivan shares.
Sivan believes participation in an Israeli sport and training and competing with Israelis built a unique connection with her non-Jewish teammates. “I got personal messages and phone calls from them, and it was even their idea to support Israel; it was very heartwarming,” she reveals. Sivan feels that reuniting with the women and playing again in the tournament was “therapeutic magic” that improved everyone’s mental state. “The Marcus JCC is a support circle for us as Jewish people—culturally, educationally, socially, and even emotionally,” she says, adding that the Marcus JCC plays a crucial role in fostering strong connections between the Jewish community and those from other faiths in the broader-Atlanta community to promote tolerance, understanding, and appreciation.
The Marcus JCC is a support circle for us as Jewish people—culturally, educationally, socially, and even emotionally.