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Afik Nissim: "I know I can be a good coach, but that's not what interests me"

"When I was relegated from the Premier League, I got a ringing slap."

"I had a dream to play for Hapoel Jerusalem."

"Oded Katash taught me basketball at the age of 31."

"The real thing is not in the whipped cream, but in the youth."

The veteran guard is celebrating 40 today and is still unable to say goodbye to the parquet

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• Afiq Nissim

Walla!

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Sunday, January 31, 2021, 2:00 p.m.

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Old friends.

Nissim with his partner from the days in Beverly, Kyle Haynes (Photo: screenshot, Afik Nissim's Instagram)

Less than four years ago, when he scored 9.8 points per game in the Premier League and marched Hapoel Eilat to the Final Four at the age of 36, Afik Nissim declared that "my ambition is to play one more season than Meir Tapiro."

But in the season that followed he lost his place in the rotation of the Blues and suddenly found himself outside the loop of the senior league.

Just today (Sunday) Nissim is celebrating his 40th birthday, playing for Maccabi Rehovot from the national league.

"I felt I could play for many more years in the Premier League, but in my last season in Eilat there was a mess in the team," recalled the happy groom in an interview with Walla!

sport.

"Although I made a career record against Gilboa, and for all sorts of reasons, a coach and all sorts of other things that were irrelevant, I started playing less. Then, after six years at the club, I got a ringing slap. One day I was told I was not in the team and would vacate the apartment. I do a lot Things were exciting, and I suddenly found myself in the air, with no offer. I did not want to go on a distant adventure, but to stay in the center. I wanted to play until a late age, and it just did not work out. I preferred to keep playing and not stop or wait, so I went down to the National League. "But I'm whole with myself and I'm glad it happened the way it did."

Nissim arrived on the streets after two years at Elitzur Yavne, and he is already building the day after - from a coaching course, through completing a bachelor's degree to a new Instagram project of short interviews with figures from the world of sports.

"I've experienced basketball in every way. Everyone sees only the whipped cream in the Premier League, but the real basketball is the youth departments, associations in the north and south, parents and athletes, department heads, coaches. They breathe the basketball on a daily basis, and I want to help people."

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Nissim (lying on the floor) in the historic victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2015 (Photo: Berni Ardov)

Nissim, despite the steps in preparation for retirement, has not yet decided what he will do when he finally hangs up his shoes.

"When I decided to make a transition and change, I did not know which way to go. I could keep playing and wait for something to come, and I could jump in the pool and start swimming. Rowing, chest, back, no matter what, the main thing is swimming. When you are in basketball you are not aware of what you are doing. Backwards people opened my eyes, and I realized that there was a story here.

"I came from below, without height, to abroad and to the Israeli team. I started digging at the intersections I had in life, and I realized that I took with me a large toolbox, excellence, healthy longevity, and I also know Lots of people. Today I lecture to young athletes on the road and the struggles I went through. As soon as I started having a conversation with another player and another player, and there was interest, I said I would do the interviews as well.

"I do not know where this will lead.

My decision is to jump into the water, and I enjoy the process.

The difference between being an actor and being myself is to get out of this world and this great aura, and you suddenly have to give elbows and that's a pretty big change.

I'm sure a lot of athletes go through it.

I'm in the process of coping. "

- You took a coaching course. Are you preparing the ground for a coaching career?

" I know I can be a good coach, but it's not something that interests me.

I am more interested in embarking on a path of place management, from a group of alumni to the bottom, to give some way.

When you coach, you can change in your circle, when you manage and give way to something broader, you can make more impact.

I want to be in a place where I can chart some way. "

- Do you already know if your current season will be the last?

" After what happened to me with Eilat, the decline to national and now national, and the Corona period, I learned not to plan too far ahead.

I play, and I have a goal to go up a league with streets.

This is the city I live in, and I want to develop the place and the basketball.

There is great potential here, good people, and I preferred to come here over to continue nationally.

I want to do something special with them, and I may be with them in the national league as well. "

"Takes with me the degrees, and also the friends and memories I gathered."

In the Israeli national team uniform (Photo: AP)

Nissim's career in Europe lasted nine years.

At the age of 22 he left for Strasbourg, and also moved to Cuban, Kiev, Prima and Roly, Nimburk, Yenisei and Novo Mesto, and returned to Israel only when he was 31, after winning French championships, double in the Czech Republic, championships in Slovenia and winning the MVP title of the final series , League promotion in Italy (along with Kyle Haynes) and also four seasons with 11 points per game in the EuroCup.

- What was the highlight of your career?

"It's hard for me to choose one moment. I want to say that winning the French championship. At the age of 24 I had a great playoff, we went all the way and it was amazing. But today, looking back, the performance with the Israeli team in four European Championships and the other titles I won, these are things I take "I did beautiful things in Eilat too: we started from scratch, and we were at the top for six years, including a victory in a series of the best of five over Maccabi Tel Aviv. So it's hard for me to point to one point. In the end, the titles you win and the memories and friends you collect along the way always remain."

- Did you go to Europe knowing that you would stay for so many years?

"At the age of 22 I had a situation with private supervision. I was approached by an agent who knew Guy Harel and Luca CapiCioni, who saw me in cadets and knew I had French citizenship. My first dream was to be in the Premier League, and I got there, then I wanted to do things others did not. I was transferred to another year in Rishon Lezion or Nahariya. I did not know how many years it was going to be. I was in good places, with good coaches and had a good career, but along the way you go through a lot of obstacles and struggles, ups and downs.

"I came to Strasbourg as a young player, I was really good and suddenly we lost In ten games in a row, and I started getting calls from people in Israel who told me to return to Israel.

Apart from basketball, I have experienced a lot of different things, different languages ​​and cultures, and I recommend every player to try his luck abroad.

"They wanted me when I was in Eilat, but Amsalem did not release me."

Opposite Lior Eliyahu and Jerusalem (Photo: Berni Ardov)

- What led you to return in the end?

"I do not regret anything I have done in my career. There was a certain point in my career where I said I would stay abroad anyway, and I even started seasons without a team.

It happened once or twice, when I played in Russia and the Czech Republic, and I was determined and said I would not come back, I tried and in the end I continued for a few more years.

I received an offer from Maccabi Haifa, a three-year contract, and everything was closed, I was told to come to a training game, I went to bed and got up in the morning and they went a step back.

I say they prepared me for Eilat.

I hesitated before whether to return to Israel, but then the late Motti Amsalem jumped on me and told me I was in the group no matter what.

"I talk to people who have been abroad and not just in basketball. The family matter is influential, but my wife always said she was with me, but I felt it was time to return to Israel. I wanted to experience Israel again, to be with my parents, to return to the sources and I am glad it happened."

- You have never played for Maccabi Tel Aviv or Hapoel Jerusalem.

"I will start with a message to the Israeli player: My goal has always been to influence every team I play. No matter how much I play, the team will win and have a part in it. Even if I play 15 minutes, I will not be the player standing on the sidelines waiting for the ball to reach him. He came in great, and if not then it's the end of the world. I always wanted to be better and play more, I was not satisfied with anything

.

Today players with a body, guards, complementary, prefer key players.

I had a situation to get to Jerusalem.

In the second year in Eilat, they wanted me to move in with them, and I wanted to too.

I had a kind of big dream to play there, but Amsalem did not agree to release me.

I thought that in the summer things would work out, and then coaches changed and I'm glad I stayed in Eilat. "

Won championships in France, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

Miracles in the Strasbourg uniform (Photo: Euroleague website)

Nissim has been working with personal trainer Ilan Sela since the age of 15, and already at the age of 20 he made his Eurobasket debut.

Four years later, in 2005, he returned to the tournament, but for many years was absent from the team.

Nissim's most impressive performance at the European Championships was at the age of 32, when he recorded two great performances, including a record of 23 points in the victory over Belgium.

He completed his international career with 75 appearances, a number that few came to without playing for Maccabi or Jerusalem.

"In Lithuania in 2011 and in Slovenia in 2013 I was a key player in the team. You come to the team, and there are players from Maccabi and Jerusalem, but none of them are almost central there. Me and Raviv Lemond, A.S. We led teams, we knew what pressure and coping, defenses, "Not being a complementary player. It's not the same game when you complement and when you are a leading and initiating player, you feel it in terms of style of play, your goals, it's completely different."

- You starred in France, and even played against Tapiro in the playoff final.

Now, with Rafi Manko, Tomer Ginat and Itai Segev, is Israeli basketball back to flourishing there?

"Rafi asked me before that, and I also talked to Tomer and me. To this day I am in touch with them, it is important for me to talk to them and try to help them. We are on WhatsApp every few days, I am interested to hear what happens, how they deal with the cold and postponement of the games. "The flights. Tomer is injured, Itai is returning from injury. It seems that they are on their way to pay homage to Israeli basketball, but everything has stopped. I hope they get a good thing out of it."

- During most of your years in Eilat, you played for Oded Katash.

What do you think of his move to Panathinaikos?

"I am very happy about it. I had such good experiences with him, in and out of basketball. At the age of 31 I came to Eilat and Oded taught me basketball. He has a difficult challenge, but I am sure he will succeed. Panathinaikos believes in him and now he gets the stage to prove himself ".

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