The Israeli Under-19 Women’s National Team began its journey at the FIBA World Cup, splitting its opening two games with a win over South Korea and a loss to Hungary, as the United States loomed large as the blue-and-white’s third group stage opponent.
Coach Tal Natan’s squad features a mix of players, but without a doubt, the headliner is Gal Raviv, who will be playing at the University of Miami this coming season.
Raviv, who scored 35 points against Hungary and 30 points versus South Korea, has been the talk of the tournament to date, while Maya Sharvit and Maayan Cohen have also been important factors for the young blue-and-white, as The Jerusalem Post spoke to them all ahead of their trip to Brno and the European Championship.
“The goals of the tournament are to succeed, play well, have fun, and use this as a learning experience,” Natan began.
“The players will also learn and see the best young women in the world playing against them and will be there to compete, bringing their Israeli temperament and joy to the court. We all want to constantly learn from game to game, and we will do our utmost to finish in competition with the best possible results.”
Raviv echoed the coach and succinctly said that the goal is “to win as many games as possible and give our best.”
Cohen spoke about the structure of the tournament.
“First of all, to get into the top 8 teams and to finish the group stage as best as possible in order to get a favorable draw in the round-of-16.”
Sharvit also chimed in on what she views as the most important goal, which is “to go as far as possible and bring honor to the country.”
Of course, these days basketball is not the other thing on the team’s mind.
“We need to think about our soldiers,” Natan said.
“We need to think about the families. We need to think about those who have died in our country, and this all needs to unite us, as there are still hostages being held in Gaza. These things need to strengthen us and make us understand what it means to be Israeli, and that there are people the same age as these young women who are fighting for our country’s survival. The proportions should always be clear to everyone; it’s not life and death in basketball. Basketball is a great pleasure, joy, and love. War is something totally different.”
Raviv added on the topic of representing the country during a war that “there is a lot of pride, and really there aren’t enough words to describe this – it’s really just something special. It’s impossible to describe it in words.”
“There’s nothing like representing the country. There’s no greater honor, and there are such emotions. There’s nothing more important,” Sharvit said.
U19 team will face the United States
The U19 team will face the United States, arguably the best team at the World Cup, and it will be a huge challenge for the blue-and-white.
“First of all, this is the first game of any Israeli team against the United States, so we’re also making history,” said Cohen.
“It will be really cool to play against them. There will be great exposure both because it’s the World Championship and because it’s against Team USA. We will come into that game just like any other, prepared and with the desire to win.”
Sharvit took a more conservative approach.
“When we get to the USA, we’ll do the best that we can. We’re not focusing on the exposure we may get and outside noise, but on ourselves – playing together and playing well.”
“We want to win and we will do our best. From there, we will see how it goes,” Raviv added.
The Under-19 Men’s team finished in seventh place at the World Championship just a couple of weeks ago, and Natan hopes that this momentum will help his team as well – but he also understands that his squad has limitations.
“We are a little different because there is the Under-18 team that is currently playing in the European Championship, and we are also missing some very key players. We go from game to game in this tournament, and we are not thinking about anything other than the first game against Hungary right now. We will do everything to succeed, and we will do our best.”
Finally, Natan had a message for everyone who will be following the team at the upcoming World Cup.
“At times like these, we need to strengthen everyone who needs support in Israel, especially all those who are working so hard for our country. I want to thank the Israel Basketball Association for giving us the opportunity to be able to compete in such a tournament – I personally really appreciate it. But everything has to be taken into proportion, especially compared to what is happening in the country today.”