"When I see yellow-blue, it's time to rise" | Israel today

There is nothing that Jason Seagers loves more than defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv: "If you do not look them in the eye, they will crush you" • Tonight (21:00), he will try to do it again, at the age of 35 and with the newcomer Hapoel Haifa • interview

• Cigars.

  "Maybe there will be surprises tonight"

  Photography: 

  Maor Alexelsi

At 35,

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Hapoel Haifa to a great season opener (1: 3 balance) above all expectations with an amazing average of 22 points (43 percent for 3) and 4 assists per game.

"We have a great team and an excellent coaching staff with good chemistry between the players. This is the recipe for a good start," he says in an interview with Israel Today.

There were many who doubted your readiness for the league.

"This is not the first time this has happened to me, and it's okay. If we keep getting better we can face any team in the league and surprise a lot more people."

How do you manage to keep fit so well at such an age?

"God has blessed me with a good body and I keep it. I always learn about my body and do whatever it takes to stay in good shape."

Do you know up to what age you would like to play?

"It all depends on my body. As long as my body is fine I believe I'll be fine. For sure, this is not my last season. You can be calm."

Cigars was born in Dallas, the youngest of a family with three sisters and one brother.

"My sisters always called me 'Golden Boy,'" he recalls, "but my dad made no assumptions for me. He's very competitive, in everything, and he pushed me to be competitive in basketball, too. From the age of two, he pushed a ball near me. My career She owes a lot to him. "

"The neighborhood where I grew up was not the best in the world and sometimes I got involved in all sorts of nonsense like other kids my age, but luckily I was in good schools and all the time out of school I was playing basketball with mature guys so I was fine."

Speaking of trouble, have you ever experienced racism against yourself?

"Absolutely. More than once people called me a 'nigger'. My friends went out with white girls so people confronted them and once cops threatened me with a gun for no reason. They were just in a bad mood.

"I can talk about this whole day. Think, for years I felt different from others. I always knew there was a difference between me and my white friend. It's sad, but it's the reality. It seems normal to you that the teacher treats me differently than the other kids in class just because of skin color My?".

Maccabi probably says: "Watch out for this guy"

And back to basketball.

In the summer of 2016, he signed with Hapoel Gilboa / Galil, which had just returned to the Premier League and became a hit of the league and one of the all-time favorite players on the stands in Gan Ner.

"Everything was special there. Candle Garden is unlike anything I have experienced in my career. It's just like a village where everyone is from the same family. Everyone is very close and everyone knows each other by their names. From the management through all the fans they are very close to the team. "Even after losses."

You probably know what I'll ask you about now.

"Obviously. On the victories against Maccabi."

In that amazing season at Gilboa, Cigars scored two winning baskets at the expense of the Yellows.

"When you see yellow-blue it's time to rise, stand and go out to compete with them and look them in the eye or they will crush you," he says, "I like challenges and I like trying to beat such Euroleague players."

Are they afraid of you now?

"Sure they are not afraid of me, maybe because of age ... I think the fans just know who I am and their team knows so they probably say 'Okay, watch out for this guy'."

Are you preparing a surprise for them for the upcoming game?

"Maybe there will be surprises. We'll wait and see ...".

In retrospect, do you regret that you moved to Maccabi Rishon LeZion and did not stay at Gilboa?

"Hard question. Sometimes I regret it, because not everything worked for me at first, but at the time it was impossible to know. You make decisions for your family and you have to live with them."

After the season in Rishon LeZion, Seagers played for a short time in South Korea until he was injured in his hand in November 2019. Since then he did not play for a whole year until he signed at the beginning of last season at Hapoel Haifa.

"I had a minor hand injury, but it was hard for me to get a contract because of it. I felt I could play, but teams didn't even want to give me a chance. So I told myself I had to be ready for the moment the opportunity came. What's good about Dallas is that Who to play, so even if I did not play professionally all day I was in the hall and played with friends.

"After this year I was very hungry for basketball and when coach Elad called me and asked if I was hungry for basketball, I immediately answered yes and since I have been here."