Mamaroneck mom and daughter honor country, Jewish faith, basketball at Maccabi Games

They'd faced each other before, of course.

If the driveway counts.

But now it was a full-size court, more than 5,000 miles away from the family hoop.

And, more than ever, 15-year-old Mamaroneck sophomore Addison Dorfman didn't want to lose.

Not the opening tip, anyway. Not to a woman who hadn't played a real game of basketball in more than 25 years.

Not, for heaven's sake, to her 48-year-old mom.

Some families spent their holiday break at home, relaxing. Others traveled to see relatives or to a ski slope or a sun-soaked beach.

The Dorfman clan − mom, Carolyn; daughter, Addison (aka Addie); dad Jed; sons Cole, 13, and Walker, 11; Jed's dad, Bill and his friend, Lynn − headed to Argentina so Carolyn and Addie could play basketball and make, as Carolyn explained, a "so-much-deeper Jewish connection."

Their basketball games were part of the 23-nation, multi-sport Maccabi Pan Am Games, which ran Dec. 27-Jan. 4 at multiple venues in and around Buenos Aires.

Maccabi Games are held in various countries, although the best known and biggest (spelled Maccabiah) are every four years in Israel, with the next there in the summer of 2025.

During the Argentinian games, Addison played in the 18U division and her mother in the open division. But the teams faced each other (twice actually) because teams from two countries stayed home amid security concerns stemming from the Israel-Hamas conflict. Addison, a 6-foot forward, won the opening tip both times.

The hope is the 2025 main games go on as planned. If so, Addison will play, having already been invited to be on the American 16U team. At that point, Carolyn will only be a fan at the Israel-held games, which have youth divisions and attract elite athletes on the adult level, often Olympians and professionals.

Carolyn's trip to play in Argentina was not long planned, nor really planned at all.

Addison, who gained All-Section 1 honors as a freshman at Mamaroneck High last year, was recruited last summer to play for the U.S. 16U team in Israel at the junior Maccabi Games. But she opted to stay home to play for her area AAU squad, Northeast Elite.

But after learning about the Maccabi Pan Am Games, she wanted to play.

Her mom, who was born and raised Calgary and played basketball for Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, where she gained Second Team All-Canadian honors, was only joking when she suggested to Addison that she might put her name in to play for the U.S. if there were an open division.

When Addison responded enthusiastically and it turned out there was an open female squad, there was no time to back out. And, truth be told, the "opportunity to be there together and to play for our country" held appeal, Carolyn said.

But her being picked seemed like a long shot.

"I played college basketball 27 years ago. That was my last competitive game," she said, explaining the idea of playing again and on an international stage was "never in my wildest imagination."

Still, she sent in her application and got a call. Carolyn, whose long resume includes working in sports psychology and marketing and then finally as an assistant women's athletic director at the University of Tennessee during the Pat Summit years, has most recently been a director, along with Jed, of the Dorfman family's 75-year-old sleep-away camp in New Hampshire. The coach reviewing her application was a local day-camp director, who, in the relatively small world of summer camps, knew who Carolyn was.

And he liked her playing resume, no matter the years affixed to it. She was in.

Carolyn figured her main role would be spot-relief from the bench − that she'd see little action. But she was wrong, averaging about 30 minutes a game.

"I went down with a different mindset than I should have had," Carolyn said. " I play tennis, hike and do Peloton. I went down in shape but there's being in basketball shape and being in shape. I learned very quickly they were two different things."

But, between help from an athletic trainer and her basketball skill and drive, she hold her own as the second-oldest player on her team.

"All my competitve, college juices flowered again," she said. "I was playing against (and with) girls who were not even born when I played (in college)."

It's about basketball but also much more

Carolyn's coach was more focused on practicing with the goal of winning gold than Addison's coach was, which meant Addison and her teammates spent more time seeing Argentina and mingling with each other and Jewish athletes from other countries and from other sports than Carolyn could.

Part of the younger team's group adventures were designed, Addison said, with the idea that to click on the court, players (who came from multiple states and had never practiced together as a team before arriving in Argentina) had to develop chemistry off it. So, things like a boat tour ("We had the time of our lives." ) were scheduled.

"Her coach wanted (them) to make a strong Jewish connection,. ... It's an incredible opportunity for Jewish athletes," Carolyn explained., characterizing those participating as a "mix of people of strong and not-as-strong Jewish faith" and her own family as not on the "high end of religious."

But no one seemed to even blink at the differences.

"There wasn't a heavy religious component at all. It's, 'Be who you are and learn from each other.' That's so powerful right now," Carolyn said. "Everyone got to be who they are. It was a really powerful experience, especially for young kids."

Addison's team beat Australia for bronze. Carolyn's team, which had lost in the round robin by 20 points to Argentina (a team made up of semi-pro players), was leading Argentina in the second half before ultimately falling by four.

Despite the outcome, that game is now a cherished, forever-memory, joining several from the trip.

The highlight of the entire experience for Carolyn was facing her daughter on the court and she noted she didn't hesitate to grab her and elbow her a bit.

"I was operating on full adrenaline," she said.

The second of their two games was televised and her dad watched from Canada, viewing it over and over.

He'd seen his daughter blossom into a star in high school and college and had watched streaming coverage of Addison's high school games. But this was the first time he'd seen mom and daughter play at the same time , something he'd never envisioned.

Carolyn's team, which easily took the first game against Addison's team, won the second by double-digits, but Addison and her teammates pushed their older foes, pulling to within seven points in the third quarter.

Addison would later give her mom the teenage equivalent of a 21-gun salute, telling her, "You're better than I thought you'd be."

And Addison wanted to make her better still.

At the half of the U.S. open team's championship game vs. Argentina, Addison approached her mom with tips on what she needed to do to help her team win.

"It was a pretty awesome moment. .... It all came full circle. It's something I'll never, ever, ever forget," said Carolyn, who coached Addison on the youth level when she was younger.

At the end of the game, which the 18U team watched with Australia (both teams cheering for the U.S.), Addison's coach approached and told her, "No one was cheering louder than your daughter was cheering for you."

That was heart-filling. So was the 18U coach calling timeout during their bronze medal game so that his players, whose game started earlier, could join the American women in singing the Star Spangled Banner before the championship with Argentina started.

Carolyn lists that, as she does her daughter coaching her, as highlight moments from their time in Argentina.

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Addison has bragging rights about winning both opening tips. Her mom has bragging rights about her team's two wins over Addison's squad.

And both won't hesitate to brag about the other.

Carolyn says she's retired. But that doesn't mean she won't be up for some occasional driveway one-on-ones with her daughter.

Well, unless they involve an opening tip. She knows better than to agree to that.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mamaroneck NY mom, daughter embrace faith, basketball at Maccabi Games