YOUR PARENTS!

FOUR HOURS OF
FAMILY FUN!

AN EXTRAORDINARY FAMILY

EVENT TO HELP CHILDREN

Jere-Slam Dunk

WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

A big assist from Detroit Jewry is filling the bucket
for Jerusalem's up-and-coming cagers.

JESSICA STEINBERG
Special to the Jewish News

Jerusalem
IV ith their eyes on the
basket, the boys dribble
down the court two at a
time before taking turns
at a two-handed jump.shot. Next, a
couple of foul shots, then a try at a
three-point shot. Daniel's shot goes
in; Meir's misses.
"Good try, good try," yells Alon
Hasid, the coach. "C'mon guys, give
them a hand."
The Hapoel team of fourth-, fifth-
and sixth-graders good-naturedly clap
their hands, then jump to their feet to
take a turn at dribbling, passing and
shooting basketballs. On this after-
school Sunday afternoon in mid-
March, most of the players are wear-
ing their usual basketball uniform of
red or blue T-shirts and shorts or
sweatpants. With two days to go
before the Purim holiday, a few of the
boys have their hair dyed blue, red or
some combination thereof, and Meir
has a black beard drawn on his cheeks
and chin.
But otherwise, these guys are serious
about their basketball. This school
year was the first time many of them
began practicing and playing basket-
ball on a regular basis, meeting three
times a week with their coach, includ-
ing one game against another team
. each week.
The Youth Club of Hapoel
Jerusalem — which is also the name
of Jerusalem's professional soccer and
basketball teams — has been running
these basketball-training teams for ele-
mentary, middle and high school stu-
dents for many years. But attendance
was usually low for the younger kids,
given the relatively high price of the
club — about $70 each month.

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2003

24

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Err. 418

With Detroit's Help

This year, however, the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
donated $50,000 to the project for
one year, based on a total of 150 kids
in the program. That has allowed
Hapoel to lower the monthly mem-
bership to around $30, making the
program much more affordable for

0

many of Jerusalem s lower income
families.
The donation was part of a larger
$200,000 Detroit Federation grant in
2002 to Israeli after-school sports pro-
grams, including soccer through the
Maccabi Tel Aviv youth program and
basketball with Hapoel Jerusalem.
At present, nine groups benefit
from the Detroit donation, five teams
of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders,
and four teams of first-, second- and
third-graders — around 140-150
players in total for the elementary
school age range.

-

players. Instead, the club rents gym
space from several schools around the
city, adding another expense to an
already long list.
With the Detroit funding, the club
was able to add 100 new players, and
Shashar is hoping to add several more
teams, perhaps penetrating poorer
neighborhoods where families have no
money to spare for extras like basket-
ball. For now, the program operates in
five neighborhoods: Kiryat Hayovel,
Katamonim, East Talpiot, Rechavia
and San Simon.
In the long term, the club would

yc

"We always used to struggle from
year to year," said Daniel Shashar, the
deputy director of the program and a
coach for one of the high school
teams. "We always waited for some
miracle, for this storeowner or that
contractor to donate the final 5,000
shekels that would tide us over. We
could never plan for the future."
Most of the club's budget comes
from the players' fees as well as a
small percentage from the municipali-
ty. But unlike some other Israeli cities
that receive substantial funding from
city hall, or have wealthier popula-
tions, Jerusalem has a primarily low-
income population, and Hapoel does-
n't even have its own gym for the

also like to add a sports psychologist,
have its own workout facility for the
players and add more coaches to the
current staff of 15, most of whom
earn minimal salaries.

Making Mentshen

The aim of the youth club is to play
basketball, perhaps create some out-
standing players and most important-
ly build a tradition of teamwork and
good sportsmanship.
For Hasid, the easygoing, yarmulke-
wearing coach of this particular team,
creating "men" or mentshen, is a cru-
cial part of the process.
Besides teaching them the basics of