Oceanside grad leads U.S. women’s hoops team to gold

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Jamie Behar, 20, of Oceanside knows the exhilarating thrill of victory, having led the USA women’s basketball team to a gold medal win over home team Israel in the 2022 Maccabiah Games last month.

Behar and the USA avenged a 2017 loss to the Israeli team in the gold medal game.

The Maccabiah is the world’s largest Jewish athletic competition, taking place in Israel every four years, with the mission to facilitate a worldwide gathering of young Jewish athletes, to not only compete at high-level competitions, but to also strengthen their connection to the State of Israel.

During last month’s competition, which was the 21st Maccabiah Games, Behar led her team in scoring with 17 points in an 88-55 victory over Israel. Once the clock ran out and USA had won, the ball was thrown into the air and the winning team ran onto the court to hug one another. During a postgame ceremony, a gold medal was placed around the neck of Behar and her teammates. Behar had met her USA teammates a mere three weeks earlier.

“The experience of playing basketball in another country is amazing,” said Behar, describing her second Maccabiah experience, which lasted from July 1 to July 26. “I don’t know how many times I’ll be able to do that in my life.”

The 21st Maccabiah was also the first to have a U.S. president in attendance, with President Joe Biden making an appearance.

“It was very crazy,” said Behar. “It definitely put it into perspective of how much this really meant to the country of Israel and also how the United States feels about it as well, which was very cool to see that.”

After a handful of practices, the USA open female team, ranging in age from 19 to 34, played four games, twice against the Israel open female team and twice against Australia. Behar and USA won every game, including the gold medal rematch against Israel.

“It’s a gold medal game,” Behar said. “Every team that goes into it wants to win, but I think we went into it knowing how talented we were, and we just wanted to showcase that in that game.”

Behar, who has lived in Oceanside her entire life, has been playing basketball since she was eight years old. She quickly found a passion for the game and made it her goal to play basketball on the college level. As Behar entered the seventh grade, she had obtained a level of skill that was beyond middle school basketball.

Behar once stood in front of the school board to speak about her need for more competition. At the time, middle school students couldn’t compete in varsity sports with the older students, but Behar changed that, opening the door for other students who were skilled above their grade level. In seventh grade, Behar was playing with Oceanside High School seniors. Her mom, Lisa, said she was proud to see her daughter not only speak up for something she was so passionate about, but to also be fearless when it came to playing with the older students.

“The seniors treated her as a little sister,” her mother said. “The joke at the time was, ‘You know, by the time we graduate, you’ll still be playing varsity basketball.’ It was a really great experience for her. She’s played on all different levels. It’s just been nice, watching her mature and grow and see all the different things she can do within the sport.”

In 2017, Behar had sought out try-outs for the Maccabiah Games, thinking that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The 21st Maccabiah was postponed last year due to Covid, and in 2022 the USA team sought out Behar to compete once again.

The first time she participated she was 15 years old, but this year Behar said she felt more of an appreciation for her teammates, who soon became her lifelong friends, the positive affirmations from her coaches and the culture she was able to explore in Israel.

Even though she was on her own in Israel, she felt the endless support from her mom, as well as her college teammates at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. She received text messages from them as they rooted her on. When the USA won the gold medal, her Lehigh teammates and coaches were cheering from their own homes.

“Jamie’s the type of player that finds a way to be effective no matter what role,” said Addie Micir, head coach of the women’s basketball team at Lehigh University.

“We were just so proud that each game she stepped up in a different way for her team. She showed off her versatility and really helped lead up to that gold medal.”

Now, after returning home, Behar is getting ready to go back to school and play with her college team. As a political science major, she is unsure exactly where the next few years will take her, but she is certain that basketball will remain in her life.

“Within the team (in Israel), we were joking about coming back,” she said. “The next Maccabiah would be in 2025, and I would be a year out of college basketball, so it would almost be like coming out of retirement. But I guess you never know.”