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"Upper Galilee? When you are not given the feeling that it is wholehearted, it is unfortunate"

The conversations with his youth club ("It was the first option, but when you let the businessmen ..."), the decline to the national ("I was looking for a place to enjoy it") and the desire to prove ("to myself, not charged towards anyone").

After opening a season with Nahariya, Yogev Ohayon speaks

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• Yogev Ohayon

• Urban Nahariya

Sasha Vargas

Tuesday, October 12, 2021, 11:15 p.m.

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"It's a great excitement to return to doing what I love - no matter what league" (Photo: Kobi Eliyahu)

Last Sunday, at the age of 34 and after 17 seasons in the Premier League, Yogev Ohayon opened his first season of his career in the national league and the second in the Nahariya uniform, to which he returned this summer with the goal of returning to the senior echelon of Israeli basketball. It is difficult to understand how a player of his caliber, a former Euroleague champion and one who appeared in four European Championships with the Israeli team, remains out of the first league at a stage when he still has a lot to contribute, but the veteran coordinator does not see a decline in status.

"For me, basketball is basketball. After a year of not playing so much and getting injured and a few other unpleasant things along the way, I realized that things are not taken for granted and it's really great excitement to go back to doing what I love - no matter what league. It really does not interest me." Ohayon told Walla! Sports, a day after scoring 15 points and handing out 9 assists in Nahariya's 73: 102 victory over Migdal Haemek. "Once I get on the field, I respect the opponent, my team, the crowd and myself."

More on Walla!

Yogev Ohayon signed with Nahariya.

Will get a managerial role at the end of his career

To the full article

Ohayon, it will be recalled, finished his career at Hapoel Holon last April, after a season in which he was not included in coach Stefanos Dadas' plans, mainly because the Greek formulated a certain rotation while the center sat out due to injury.

Ohayon's new-old team also had a difficult year, when beyond the relegation, Nahariya also parted ways with the late chairman Nissim Alfasi. In the summer, the parties joined forces in hopes of paving their way back to the top.

"The fact that there is only one rising, even more difficult. This league is very unexpected, there are many variables and it is a different basketball than I was used to," Ohayon shared his first impressions from the national league.

A new sponsorship agreement and registration for the Balkan League are some of the moves that the new decision makers at the club have made in order to upgrade professionally.

This coming Thursday (18:00) the Purples will host the Bulgarian Broa in the opening game in the Balkans, and the experienced coordinator hopes that next season will also bring the Nahariya crowd back to the stands in Ein Sara: "I can say there is excitement around the team and one of our goals is to .

At Dadas he did not fit in.

Ohayon (Photo: Berni Ardov)

How did the match with the city of Nahariya come about in the summer?

"I met with Shai Saglovitch in the June area, when it was less realistic for me to go down to the second division. I wanted to explore options around, which fell for various reasons. In Nahariya and they gave me the feeling that they really wanted me wholeheartedly. "And to enjoy it. It does not mean that I did not enjoy Holon, but I was less expressed for several reasons. First of all, I wanted to regain the feeling that I could play."

One of the options Ohayon faced, one that even seemed most natural, was a return to the club where he grew up - Hapoel Galil Elyon, which had just qualified back for the Premier League.

In the end, the comeback did not materialize.

"There were several reasons, not necessarily professional or financial, that it also fell there. For me, this was the first option on the agenda, but when you let businessmen engage in things that do not come to their hearts ...", the coordinator explained.

"That's what the one who makes the decisions there chooses. Once in the house where you grew up you are not given the feeling that it is wholehearted, it is unfortunate."

"Every athlete strives to re-prove all the time. I'm not charged towards anyone and really do not come from this place. I do want to prove to myself, especially after last year, that I'm still there."

Hapoel Galil Elyon fans were probably happy to have Yogev Ohayon back (Photo: Lilach Weiss)

How many more years do you see yourself playing?

"Good question, you can not tell right now. I would love to continue as much as I can, but it depends on a lot of things."

"There is, but I always liken it to a soldier who goes out of combat service and knows how to do one thing, so he's poisoned about it. That's how I feel. Call it a postponement of the end, but I do not want to know anything else right now. Yes there are actions I do towards The day after".

"It came up in conversations between us, but only there, because I do not want to talk about it when it is not yet time. As long as I can play basketball - that's what I want to focus on."

"He will continue in what he has done so far. Yiftach has proven himself very well, he came thanks and showed amazing abilities, character, he is growing from year to year and his basketball level is rising. We trained a lot together in the past, I got to talk to him in the summer and I trust him. Great, with good coaches and everything he needs to develop as a player. "

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