BHS grad Fischman coaches U.S. women to hoop title at Pan Am Games

By Joe Ragozzino
Sports editor
To Lisa Fischman, the thrill of winning another gold medal never gets too old.
For the second straight year, the 2002 Bloomfield High School graduate coached the United States Maccabi women’s basketball team to a gold medal. After playing five round-robin games that began Dec. 26, the team defeated  Israel in the championship games of the Maccabi Pan Am Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil on New Year’s Day.
Fischman served as an assistant coach and player. In 2011, she served as the head coach for the first time, as well as being a player, in guiding the team to the gold in the International Games in Australia.
For Fischman, it marked her fourth gold medal with the team. She also won in 2005 in Israel and 2006 in Australia. Fischman was on the team that won the silver in 2009 in Israel. The tournaments in Israel are the Maccabiah Games every four years, which feature more than 70 countries, while the others are either the Pan Am Games in South America or the International Games in Australia.
“This is my fourth gold medal, but I think each time it’s a different experience,” Fischman said. “It’s always amazing to have “United States” on the front of your jersey, but it’s a different team and a different place, so it makes it unique. Each time, it gets more exciting.”
It was Fischman’s first time in Brazil. “It’s georgous,” she said. “The people of Brazil were nice and welcoming.”
Fischman, who previously was the freshman girls’ basketball coach at Montclair, is finishing an 18-month Newark/Montclair Urban Teaching residency program at Montclair State University which will allow her to earn three teaching certifications as well as her master’s.