The crisis that shook his life: "All the money I earned from basketball was swallowed up, I did not work for two years. I was desperate, in existential anxieties" • His relationship with his father: "It was hard for him to get a wild name on the court" • And the team he is connected to: "I want to go to the stands Of Holon and go wild "• Moti Daniel in an intimate interview
Moti Daniel. Managed not to put himself in the center
Photo:
Efrat Eshel
"It was hard for me to share people. People look at me and say, 'This is Motti Daniel, he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv for 10 years and he probably made a lot of money. Externally it does not sound credible, nor did I broadcast this difficulty out. I was never a victim or a poor person, but I was desperate for a job, and for two years I hardly worked. I was on the boards. This other month was a crash in general. I did not know how to pay alimony for my four sons. "
The interview with Moti Daniel took place a day after he went to the grave of his late father Moshe (Musa), who was almost 90, in his late thirties. Musa was one of the basketball players as a player in Holon and Hulata - where he grew up and was buried - and as a coach for women's teams.
What do you take from your father for the future?
"He had a rare ability to understand people and not put himself at the center. It was hard for him to get a wild man name on the field. He also took my divorce very accidentally very hard."
Arie Maliniak, who coached Daniel in Holon and took him to the Israeli national team, says that Mutti was one of the players with the best understanding of the game he coached: "In 1984 we had a pre-Olympic game in Spain. "There was a stage where Mutti Aroasti and a Spanish player were beaten and sent off, and I put Daniel in. We won in overtime 115: 116, and he gave a show."
Daniel on the irons. Soul actor // Photo: Efrat Eshel
In general Lamotti went against the Spaniards. He gave his biggest game against Real Madrid when he was already over 30 years old. "I scored 26. What I don't remember is that the day before the game I told Goodes that tomorrow I was going to do a dunk on Savonis. His height was 2.20m, but I was in a tremendous period and thought I was capable. In the game I got a ball and saw it under the basket in a position I could drown. Swing half a lot and I ran towards him ... ".
And there was a dunk?
"Where ... he waved at me. The ball hit the board."
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In 1985, at the age of 22, Daniel was a partner in the victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv 70:72, Hapoel Holon's first since the 1960s, and scored 14 points. The following season, Daniel flew to the United States, and studied and played at George College. Washington. There he also met Kerry, an American basketball player (1.83 m), with whom he married and they had four sons - Sean (31), Tal (28) Ryan (24) and Liam (20). Kerry converted to Judaism so that everyone's lives would be more comfortable. They lived together for 20 years, until they separated in 2005.
He played for Maccabi Tel Aviv for 10 years (1996-1987), and became an important player in it. In his last seasons, he was rewarded with a seasonal salary of $ 250,000. He won 8 championships and 4 trophies there. When he left, he went to Hapoel Jerusalem, won one trophy there. , Continued Maccabi Rishon LeZion, returned to Holon, and at the age of 39 finished an excellent career at Maccabi Ashdod.
During the closure of the Corona it became a significant Twitter anchor, with social and political insights, and of course personal past stories.
Daniel. 20 years ago, he embarked on a business adventure that shook his life // Photo: Efrat Eshel
You referred to the series about Mae Kal Jordan. Players who played with him and in front of him, talked about him in terms of human shit.
"I heard those who talked about Jordan and said they would not want to be with such a person, and I say it's nonsense. From the age of 15-14 I'm in locker rooms, and I know the atmosphere there. A player can swear or spit on another player, and you say To yourself ‘wow what a junk’, but there are also situations that have seen in training his so-called abnormal behaviors, and I could totally interpret and understand them differently.
"Wallach, people had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be with someone who was really born once in 100 years. I, as my career progressed, had the ability to look systemically and understand that team success is more important. There were many situations on the pitch for the team, not for me. Also against the coach, or the quarrels with David Ankram at Maccabi.
"It was one of my best seasons. Jacob Adler coached us, but Ankram was unbearable, anti-team and sociomat. Whoever brought him to the team was to blame, and it is a pre-determined disaster, because before the pre-season we played in Greece against Heracles and he played how he behaved. And we caught the climb. "
Between 2000 and 2009, he embarked on a business adventure that shook his life: "Think then there is no Holmes Place in the country. This whole world of gyms was very small. My partners and I set up a gym chain called 'In Shape'. We went for a concept based on the hi world. Tech, which gained momentum. The companies, in order to recruit workers, pampered the subscribers to the gym, but then the high-tech bubble crashed, and all that interested the bosses in the companies was to survive, and not give benefits. I have to return to play until the age of 39 in the second division in Ashdod ... ".
Daniel in the hall. "I fought on the field for the benefit of my team" // Photo: Moshe Shai
The crash also disrupted Kerry's married life. At the Rehovot gym, Moti met his current wife Shiri, who is 17 years younger than him, and the mother of his young daughters (9) and Or (7). Shiri was a sales manager, and the relationship developed over the years to an intimate connection just a year before his divorce: "I had a good marriage with Kerry, but at some point my heart went somewhere else."
In 2009, Daniel sold the gym: "Another month delay and I would have completely crashed. I was not a financial genius at investing, and I found myself in a very bad situation. All the money I made from basketball was swallowed up in the pit of losses, and for two years I was without a tidy job, financially incapable. Radically.
What did you do?
"I studied, I made occasional income, I rummaged for shekels. I wrote columns on the Internet, worked part-time, maybe part-time as a professional manager at Elitzur Yavne. Existential anxieties."
And yet in all this crisis, you also find the time to marry Shiri.
"We got married in 2010, even though I really lay on the boards. I could not at least say that I sang with me because of my money ... our wedding financed itself. We lived from a minimum.
"It was hard for me to share with people what happened. People must have looked at me and said 'he must have made big money in life'. It does not seem credible externally, what's more I am one of those who does not broadcast distress. I have never been a victim or poor, but I was desperate for work. "I got up in the morning and had nowhere to go. In the evening, less pleasant thoughts would arise and you know that you have to pay alimony and rent."
The creators turned upside down in April 2011. In Daniel's early years at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Itzik Cohen played with him. This was the big team with Mickey Berkowitz, Doron Jamchi, Ken Barlow, Kevin Maggie, Willie Sims and others. In the 1988 European Championship final Against Tresser Milano, Itzik Cohen won his 15 minutes of fame. Maggie came out with 5 fouls, and Itzik, in an unforgettable performance, scored 6 points against the Italian giants, which helped a close battle until the disappointing end. Daniel: "I was desperate, and I just thought Take a loan from my dad.
Daniel. "The breakup was very difficult for me" // Photo: Efrat Eshel
"I went down to Eilat for a veterans' tournament in Eilat with Maccabi and Real Madrid. Itzik came from the United States, where he has been in Silicon Valley for years and is making exits in high-tech. We were sitting in a restaurant and he asked me what was going on. I told him that Walla did not know. We met on Sunday, he made a few phone calls and connected me to Spider Solutions, which specializes in this area of information security. Since then I have been managing a client portfolio at the company. I went into it very deeply and I am really satisfied. "
The accidental divorce and connection to the songs shook your home.
"The breakup was very difficult. On the one hand, the good ended in one place, but there was a feeling that I was causing a great injustice, and that was also the message the boys conveyed to me. I knew it was a factor in a break-up at home, but it was bigger than me. "Fast, compared to Tal, for example, who at first did not talk to me, and even if he did, then he did not refer to Shiri at all. The young boys were still small, but it was difficult for everyone."
You have six children, four big boys and two relatively small girls. 50 years between you and the little daughter. How do you connect all the ends?
"You know what boys are like. When one goes down, he starts to cry and then you tell him to get up. Suddenly girls are born, and it's completely different. She falls and you run straight to stroke and kiss her leg. It's suddenly a lot of softness you have to import, and here I was. "I need the help of Shiri who has taught me a lot. Today there is a fantastic connection between the boys and girls, and between them and Shiri. I must emphasize Kerry's part in all the good family connection we have now. It happens a lot thanks to her."
Daniel in a crowded conversation with Reuven Virobnik. "Crazy about Israeli basketball" // Photo: Moshe Shai
Basketball came back thin after the corona. Quite a few Israelis leave abroad and there are question marks about the number of foreigners in the group. As a team manager, do you feel as connected to the industry as ever?
"I'm crazy about Israeli basketball. If there's a game, I have to see, but tell you I'm having fun? I do not have an unequivocal answer."
What bothers you?
"Lack of identity with the teams, and inability to create identification. The games are back and you do not know which player is playing where. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Jerusalem more or less kept the staff, but the other teams remind me of the summer league of yesteryear. Snooker vs. Feldman Ice Cream ... ".
How do you see Maccabi Tel Aviv?
"From the moment she settled into the coaching position, there is a fingerprint in building and managing the game. If you go 5 years back, the coaches had no power. In David Blatt's time there was stirring and intervention. David already had a resume, which means he also had credit for making mistakes."
Maccabi made a lot of mistakes until they brought Sapropolus.
"It's a tuition product that people have learned for years. The credit is not just to the coach but to the system. Nikola Vujicic also learned from his mistakes. A general manager is a job that is learned many years ahead, probably for someone who was previously a player who looks after himself. "And now look ahead."
Would you like to be a general manager at Maccabi, in Nicola's shoes?
"It was not on the table. I am in my life, in my being, a sportsman and a manager."
Maccabi Tel Aviv does not have a history of embracing its past players too much.
"There are those who say that the players of the past must be saved, and I say that there is no such obligation.
You played for Maccabi Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, in Holon. Emotional Who are you connected to?
"At the base it will always be Holon. I'm not one of those who developed anti to Maccabi. I love Maccabi, probably at the current point in time. Today my friends have coached or coached these teams. My sons also support Holon. They laugh at me for having three different teams, "And I choose at the last minute. The truth is that I want to be a fan in the stands, paint myself in the colors of Holon and go wild."
Daniel fights for every ball. "Not from those who developed anti to Maccabi Tel Aviv" // Photo: Moshe Shai
Your father did not interfere in your career. Analyze the Buzaglo family phenomenon.
"It's a difficult phenomenon for me. I can not say which way is more correct, but between intervention or involvement, I am involved and do not interfere. For a player like Maor it is already difficult with his personal struggles and complex injuries, and when he also has to worry on the pitch what his father says on TV "It's a heavy burden. On the other hand, take the story of Omri Caspi. His parents were both involved and intervened, and he came to the NBA."
Where will Danny Abdia go?
"Abdia is rare. He has a character not only in terms of hard work. He is a clear star quality. If there are no glitches, and I very much hope not - he will have a great future in the US.
Who is the greatest Israeli basketball player you have come across?
"Mickey Berkowitz, without a doubt. I played with him for one year at Maccabi, and in the national team. He is a great basketball player even though they were more talented than him. But he had and he has a charm. I learned from him in my first year at Maccabi, It's also for my job.I work until the last deal every quarter, as long as there is time.I remember 10 years ago there was a veterans tournament in Dubrovnik, and in the evening in the Old Town did a throwing competition for three.
"There was a crazy wind, and Jamchi threw and the wind threw the balls. The great Tony Kokoch threw and nothing. Then came Mickey and suddenly Taurus did not come and the wind stopped, and he threw five threes, and hit four. No one came close to two shots, and only He stood there and smiled at Berkowitz's smile. "
Shimon Mizrahi. "Did not hide the fact that Maccabi is always above everything" // Photo: Alan Shiber
Shimon Mizrahi. For him, Maccabi precedes the interest of Israeli basketball.
"To his credit it should be said that he did not hide the fact that Maccabi is first and foremost. Maccabi is in his blood. There are no such people anymore, and to expect something different from him - it is not to know him."
You did not connect to the training, but take Oded Katash and Guy Goodes. They are a great success as coaches.
"It could be related to the fact that they ended their careers relatively early due to serious injuries. They felt this lack, and built for themselves a winning combination of player and coach. I see Katsch on the team. He is diligent and pays attention to details. A thorough guy."
Did we talk about Mickey Berkowitz? What do you say about Eyal Berkowitz who wanted to coach the team?
"Laughter from work. A coach in general and a national team coach is a kind of ... you don't give the job to one person just because there is no one else. What is this nonsense. It's completely insane and disrespectful to the profession and the team itself."