By Shulamis Y. Gutfreund
When Eddie Maklin‘s parents sent him to a Chabad day school and Camp Gan Israel in Boston 8 years ago, they hardly expected him to emerge from there with a skill that would enable him to become the U.S. Fencing Saber Champion for Youth last week.
But when Eddie got his first taste of fencing six years ago as a kindergartener in Shaloh House Jewish Day School in Brighton, he was captivated by it, his mother Svetlana Moldavskiy said.
“He fell in love immediately,” Moldavskiy, who is a tax manager at National Grid in Waltham, said. Fencing is one of the several diverse options offered in the after-school division of this preschool-to-6th-grade Jewish day school, and it’s also offered as a one-week-intensive academy in the school’s CGI-Boston camp, which Eddie also attended yearly.
Moldavskiy said she and her husband enrolled Eddie at Shaloh House when he was 2 and a half.
“We looked at several places and we liked that Shaloh House was a very warm place with excellent academics,” Moldavskiy said. “We never dreamed he’d pick up fencing at a Jewish school! If not for Shaloh House, we wouldn’t have even thought about fencing as a sport. Shaloh House definitely expanded our horizons.”
Eddie attended Shaloh House and CGI-Boston for six years. He beat about 100 competitors (all of whom were regional champions or otherwise pre-qualified) in youth-10 age group in the Summer Nationals in Salt Lake City Utah last Monday.
This year’s event – with 4,052 contestants from youth to adult competing – was the biggest fencing event in U.S. history, and the largest youth fencing event in the world, his coach Aleksandr Kushkov, CEO of Dynamo Fencing Center in Newton, said.
“I’m very proud of Eddie,” Kushkov said. “He showed tremendous concentration.”
Kushkov, who trained in fencing with various Olympic coaches and has a doctorate in physical training from the National University of Ukraine, brought 30 youngsters from his club to compete in Salt Lake City this year, many of whom were introduced to fencing either through Shaloh House’s after-school program or through the Fencing Academy in the school’s CGI-Boston camp. Kushkov runs both programs for Shaloh House. Kushkov also coaches Tufts University’s men’s fencing league and teaches fencing at the varsity level in high school.
Kushkov said Shaloh House’s after-school program has spawned an unusually high number of champions. About 20 Shaloh House students have gone on to receive national-level trophies, with one even competing internationally, Kushkov said.
Toma Kobozeva, 13, of Newton Center, who also received her introduction to fencing at Shaloh House/CGI with Kushkov as her coach, competed this past winter on the U.S. team at the Cadet World Cup in Germany, Kushkov said.
“The fencing program at Shaloh House is superbly successful,” Kushkov said. “Eddie is simply the most recent champion. I can’t list all the awards these Shaloh House kids have received.”
Shaloh House Head of School, Rabbi Dan Rodkin said he’s delighted with Eddie’s triumph.
“Having a U.S. fencing champion coming out of a Jewish school breaks stereotypes,” Rabbi Rodkin said. “Jewish parents are sometimes afraid to send their children to a dual-curriculum school because they think their extracurricular activities will suffer.”
Rabbi Rodkin, whose 11-year-old son Mendel was ranked 3rd in New England in fencing in his age category a few years ago, said the school’s many awards in chess, math-club, science, fencing and poetry are proof that children can excel in a dual-curriculum school while enjoying a wide variety of enrichment programs.
CGI-Boston is built on the same model as the school, Rabbi Rodkin said. “We offer activities and several one-week academies in chess, drama, photography, rocketry, fencing and archery so that children can work with terrific professionals and be exposed to activities they might not have tried before,” he said.
CGI-Boston’s one-week Fencing Academy, run by Kushkov, began this Monday.
Fencing is not only training for the body, but training for life, Rabbi Rodkin said.
“Judaism teaches that we all have an internal challenger, the Yetzer Hara, an internal voice of negativity that tries to pull us away from holiness, from achievement, and from anything positive,” Rabbi Rodkin said.
“There are two ways of fighting a challenger – close fighting, like wrestling, and fighting at a distance, like fencing. When dealing with formidable challengers, like the Yetzer Hara, we can take a lesson from fencing. It’s absolutely crucial to stay alert, to keep one step ahead of your enemy and – above all – to keep your enemy at a distance.”
A amazing camp
This is the best thing I ever saw
Go shaloh house!!!
Cherev pipiyos beyodom (a double edged sword is in their hands)
Great job rabbi Mayer’s & rabbi Rodkin
You guys are doing the best job ever!!!
The best camp, community, counselors, and campers!! So happy!!
Looks like great exercise and fun, of course with proper supervision and protective face masks.