#more_like_a_stick: parting with an underappreciated role model
The lack of success at Maccabi Tel Aviv and the wanderings away from the Israeli consciousness turned Gal Mekel into an underprivileged.
But thanks to the class, the one that manifested itself at its peak in that incident with Rami Hadar, and thanks to the impressive achievements, the retiring captain of the Israeli national team is the type of player who needs more like them here
Sasha Vargas
27/10/2022
Thursday, October 27, 2022, 3:00 p.m
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Gal Mekel announces his retirement from basketball (photo: Yotam Ronan, video editing: Assaf Drori)
The first thought that occurred to me, when the basketball association announced last Monday the convening of the press conference where Gal Mekel will announce the end of his career, was that the retiring captain of the Israel national team did not receive the appreciation he deserved in our districts.
You know, "underwritten".
That we are saying goodbye to one of the most significant basketball players here when many do not perceive him as such.
which is strange.
But this is a mild wave, and there are several reasons for this.
For example, his unsuccessful terms at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
After all, all those who are among the greats of the industry in Israel are identified in one way or another with the yellow jersey - M.I.K.I., Jamchi, Ketch, Caspi and so on.
And this is natural, given the fact that Maccabi Tel Aviv, for its many successes in the European arena and its historical dominance in the local arena, has always received more extensive media coverage and as a result also attracts greater interest from local basketball fans.
But Mekel did not participate even for a minute when he returned to it from Wichita State College in 2008, and in the context of Maccabi he is mainly remembered from the season of the five coaches in 2016/17.
Another thing that had an effect is that the 34 and a half year old center hung up his shoes without being identified throughout his career with any Israeli team, which automatically made him a player that is more difficult for one or another group of fans to reinforce the narrative around him as "one of the greats".
Mekel's career was spent in various Italian, Russian and Spanish stations, far from the eyes and consciousness of the average Israeli fan.
A lot to wander, and as evidence - the number of jerseys.
Gal Mekel and the family at the retirement event (Photo: Yotam Ronan)
What is ironic here, is the question of exactly the reasons for cherishing the greatness of Mekel.
Not only did he record his rare achievements in the Premier League mostly outside of Maccabi Tel Aviv - unlike Avishi Gordon and Goni Yazraeli, the only two players other than him who won two championships with two different teams that do not wear yellow, Mekel did it as a key player in both Gilboa/Galil in 2010 and Maccabi Haifa in 2013.
His choice of teams throughout his career did take a toll, and prevented the Ramat-Sharoni guard from finding a real home, but it is one that should be an example for every local player.
Meckle never hesitated to step out of his comfort zone and challenge himself to play at the highest levels.
There are few Israeli athletes in general, and basketball players in particular, who would survive throughout most of their careers outside of the comfortable and supportive family environment here in Israel.
Mackel never took the easy way out.
He carved a path for himself in the strongest teams and leagues in Europe, through a tremendous and uncompromising work ethic - for which, for a change, he did receive credit throughout his career.
This is also the feature that made him the second Israeli in the NBA.
It seems that this also passed us by, if only due to the neglect of his status and the scarcity of the center's minutes in the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans.
We haven't talked enough about how Shamkel, unlike Omari Caspi and Dani Avdia who were marked from the beginning as potential for the best league in the world, got there without even being counted as one who is capable.
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Israeli basketball needs more like him.
Mekel in the national team (Photo: Reuters)
To understand how much this is a man of actions and not of words, it is enough to go back about six years, to the 19-second incident with Rami Hadar at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
How many athletes here do you know, who, after that humiliating exchange and the Twitter trend #yother_memkel that followed, would have refrained from going on a rampage in the media, and turning the whole entourage against the coach, the club, the world and his sister?
The class with which Mekel reacted to the unpleasant situation is what sets him apart in our sporting landscape.
The same class that we also saw when Avdia lashed out at him in money time against Finland in the last European Championship.
In football it would have ended in foreheads sticking together and a Luzon-style slap to Morgan.
At his retirement event, he described himself: "Many times I felt like I was a player of the Israel national team before I was a player of any club."
Because Meckle was always there for the team.
As the first center that Zvika Sharaf threw into the water at the age of 21 in the European Championship, in 2015 as a leading player in our best EuroBasket campaign in the last decade and a half, and also in the last five years, as a captain who led the change of generations and remained "to show the face" after the home defeat in 2017.
It is true that there were mistakes.
Maybe there was also potential there to touch higher peaks.
But because of all these - the achievements, the personality and the role model he provided in more than one aspect - his retirement should be accompanied by a new hashtag: #more_like_a_stick.
Let's hope that more of these will grow in Israeli sports.
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Gal Mekel
