Israel is a democratic country in the Middle East situated on the Mediterranean Sea’s eastern shore. Israel is a relatively small country about the size of Wales.
Although a small state, this country has a great history ranging from the birth of Judaism and Christianity to the mass prosecution of Jews in the time of Hitler. After the series of invasion by powerful countries, Israel gained its independence on May 14, 1948. Israel’s economy depends on the imports of raw materials, grains, military weapons, and especially crude oil but generally, they have an advanced economy.
The parliamentary government of Israel focuses on nourishing and polishing the skills of its citizens. In order to address this, the government has established a training institution geared towards the goal of making the Israelites globally competitive. One of the training institutions focuses in sports like basketball.
Sports in Israel had a great impact in the development of the country. In spite of their small population their national team are showing impressive results.
People in Israel are very passionate about it that’s why this country is the great place for sports lovers. One of the most popular sports in Israel is basketball where they found success abroad, most remarkably the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club which has established itself as one of the best teams in Europe over the last decade. Basketball in Israel is levelled from amateur to international and it is based according to the players’ passion to play.
As said above, there is an association in Israel that is in charge for the enrichment and development of the national team it is the Israel Basketball Association (IBA).
The organization supervises the team and player’s registration, rules of the game and the regulation of the sports; the body also inspires new talents and encourage new players to get exposure another is the Wingate Institute of Physical Education that also contributes in the success of Israeli sports because this institution determines gifted young sports students and well talented athletes which will be given allowance to train full time.
The most important stage is that Israel’s national team had the chance to compete in Europe and regularly reaches the European Basketball Championships quarter finals. Other Popular sports in Israel are tennis and soccer where Shahar Pe’er and Yossi Benayoun become popular.
The start of the turning point of basketball in Israel was initiated when Nat Holman came to Israel to train the Israeli coaches. In 1960’s, Jewish athletes from U.S came to Israel.
The early 1970’s marked another chapter in the development of basketball in Israel when Israel started accepting foreign, non-Jewish players from U.S. which made the country’s basketball team competitive in international competitions.
Although accepting imports made had a great contribution in the victories of the basketball team in international competitions, critics say that these imports hinder the skills development of the local players. On the brighter side, Maccabi Tel Aviv is a local team that dominates the basketball league in the country and won European Championship titles.
Israeli Basketball Players Who Play Abroad