Sports event raises $10k for Meals on Wheels
By Enid Weiss
Feb. 15, 2008

Some people spend Super Bowl Sunday's pre-kickoff hours cooking, shopping for snacks, and preparing for the big game. Not the 20 participants of the fifth annual Pain and Suffering Tournament.

For these guys, the morning hours of Feb. 3 were marked by running, jumping, sweating, and calls for "more ice" as they participated in a mini marathon of volleyball, basketball, and ultimate Frisbee games. Each five-man team played a game against the other three teams in each sport with no more time to rest than it took to reset the gyms at the JCC of Greater Monmouth in Deal Park for the next game.

"We joke that the pain and suffering last the rest of the week," said Aaron Rosenfeld, the JCC's interim director. He was on-hand Sunday morning to watch and lend moral support "It's a bunch of guys getting together to do what they enjoy to help our kosher meals program."

Established five years ago by Richard Krupnick merely as a way for competitive guys to work out and have fun, the tournament has grown into a tradition and a fundraiser. This year the tournament also raised more than $10,000 for the JCC's Kosher Meals on Wheels program that provides meals for homebound and frail elderly. Jewish Family and Children's Services partners with the JCC on the program. Each player contributed $36 while local businesses -- including two law firms and a building contractor -- sponsored teams, game balls, and refreshments.

For their trouble the players get a work out, have fun, and are awarded with a JCC sweatshirt. Each team is presented with a participation trophy and one player is honored with a Most Valuable Player plaque.

"We limit it to four teams or you'd have one team resting and we don't want that," said Shlomo Weiss, the JCC's health and physical education director. He wrote the score of each game on a poster board on display at one end of the gym, timed the games and briefed the guys on the tournament rules for each game. "It's part of the pain and suffering."

Meanwhile Krupnick, of Ocean, caught a rebound, dribbled the ball down the court and passed it to a teammate who scored.

"We're middle-aged guys here who get together for pain and suffering because we understand there are others who can't," Krupnick said as he waited for play to resume. "I'm experiencing tiredness and we're only at four out of nine events. It's fun to get out with friends your own age and act like kids for an afternoon."

Eric Abrams, of Ocean, is a three-year veteran of the tournament. He sat down, briefly, holding a bag of ice on his elbow while his team waited as long as two minutes while the other two teams finished their game.

"I blocked a shot and landed on my elbow," Abrams said. "This is called pain and suffering and that's why I'm going back on the court. This is the best day of the year -- the competition, the camaraderie..." and he ran back into the next basketball game.

Abrams fell again and further injured that arm, taking him out for the remainder of that game and the next. A replacement player was found while Abrams sat and held ice on his elbow.

Until the first ultimate Frisbee game began. Abrams got back in the game.

"It's a different motion," Abrams said as he practiced throwing the Frisbee. His arm was dressed in an ace bandage covered with a brace/elbow pad holding an ice bag in place.