The situation in Israeli basketball in the summer of 2015 was bleak. The cadet team was relegated to the second tier, the youth team was fighting for promotion to the senior tier and the reserve team finished tenth at the European Championships.
In those years also not many players advanced to the Premier League and a "pit" was created, which they tried to fill in the players' organization and relevant bodies by various laws, and in teams through a wave of US citizens.
Achievement machine
The basketball association recognized the distress, and at the beginning of that year appointed Pini Gershon as the professional manager of the young teams.
The former European champion took a few months to study, made changes to the coaching staff in the national teams, and in the summer of 2016 the change began with the cadets' return to the first tier.
The real upheaval came a year later - the reserve won a silver medal at the European Championships, and the Cadets finished in 11th place.
In 2018 came the historic victory of the reserve in the gold medal, which was restored a year later, in which the youth team also returned to the first tier after winning losses in the secondary tier championship.
Last year there were no tournaments due to the corona virus, and this summer there were Challenger tournaments of various ages as a replacement.
The union feared a defeat of the youth team in the tournament, which was held in Tel Aviv last week, due to a less talented year, but Oren Aharoni and his players ran over Lithuania, France and Greece on the way to victory. The reserve finished in second place in Crete,
Today, the young teams are permanent members of the first tier, and the focus is upwards, to the higher stages, and not downwards.
It is not by chance that in 2019, FIBA awarded Israel an award for the second best progress in the world of national teams.
Gershon.
The architect, Photo: Alan Schieber
Game name: Professionalism
The dramatic improvement in results and achievements is not accidental, but the result of a significant change in the level of professionalism in the national team.
"Until a few years ago, coaches were not enthusiastic about working for national teams," says a source in Israeli basketball.
"Salaries were not high, the conditions and the envelope they received were not good and also the negative results caused concern among the professionals, lest they also fail."
Under Gershon's supervision, and the policy pursued by the professional committee headed by Amos Frishman, there has been a major change.
The teams have a wide team that has been running for several years, and includes a coach, two assistants, a fitness coach, a physiotherapist and a mental coach.
Also, today coaches want to work in teams, and in recent years senior coaches like Oded Katash, Guy Goodes and others have been appointed to various positions, and the teams have quality teams.
Teams up to the ages of 14, 15 and 17 were formed, in addition to the existing teams, to put more players into action under the umbrella of the union and increase the base of the pyramid.
All teams train at least once a week for most of the year (the intensity increases towards the summer), and travel to tournaments across the continent.
Danny Abdia and Yam Madar.
An Unforgettable Tournament, Alan Schieber
Ariel Beit Halachmi, who has twice won the European Championship with the reserve, also pointed out the stressful and fast style of play that was established in the national team, and the character of the younger generation: "We realized that in the conventional approach we could not succeed. "The difference is half in their favor, and today we defeat them at all ages. Beyond that, today's generation plays without fear and without blinking. It is a generation of positive insolence, and we see it on the field."
Along with working in national teams, great emphasis is placed on improving the training system for coaches and professionals in the youth departments of clubs.
In recent years, the association has been running a course for professional managers in the youth departments, and the number of courses and lectures for young coaches has increased.
Hapoel Tel Aviv's youth department has made great progress, and every summer it brings players to the two senior leagues. Smaller does a good job.
The results are clearly seen at the end of the pyramid.
Note how many players the reserve team of the years 2019-2017 released: Tamir Blatt, Yuval Sussman, Roi Hoover, Netanel Artzi, Gil Benny, Michael Brisker, Yam Madar, Danny Abdia, Amit Ziss, Yotam Hanochi, Yair Kravitz, Raz Adam, Noam Dovrat, Noam Avivi, Gabi Chachashvili, Idan Albert and others.
The goal: to conquer the world
The only challenge the teams have yet to crack is participating in world championships.
Thus, this summer, the union put the cadets' challenger tournament as a top goal, and even tried to host it in Israel to increase the chances of success.
The reason: the first two teams in the tournament will qualify for the World Under-17 Championships to be held in Spain next year.
Coach Barak Demitsian has one of the most talented yearbooks in Israeli basketball in the last decade, but the tournament that will open today in Novi Sad (Monday, 15:30, against Slovenia) will not be easy at all.
The cadet team.
Ready to challenge in Serbia, Oded Karni, Basketball Association
Host Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Belgium and the Czech Republic see themselves as potential candidates to finish in first places.
However, despite the high degree of difficulty, the cadets are expected to meet the high standards set in recent years and conquer a new peak.