A multicultural lot in Haifa
Pickleball is a game that is conquering the United States and starting its way here in Israel. It has about 5 million players in the world and it stars as a showcase game of the year in Maccabiah. In 2017, Seymour Rifkind, the chairman of the World Federation of Pickleball, brought the first equipment to Israel to the Israeli tennis center, trained instructors and thus the game began in Israel.
Rabbi Golan Ben-Horin founded a mixed group of Jews and Arabs, who train together at the tennis center in Haifa. In an exciting event held this evening, 19/7/22, at Beit Hafen, Golan told Lahi Fe about his project. The event brought together the team that came from the USA and the group from Haifa. During the evening, the participants watched a special film produced by Golan about the project and the participants enjoyed the singing of a Jewish-Arab choir.
Later in the evening there will be an exhibition match at the Sportek field. The public is invited.
Watch ◄ Interview with Rabbi Golan Ben Horin - Pickleball and popular sports as a unifying factor
Watch ► The head of the US delegation to Maccabiah talks about pickleball
Premiere screening: Tuesday 19/7/22 at 17:30 PM at Beit Hagafen
In November 2021 I founded a multicultural pickleball team at the tennis center in Haifa. Playing together: Muslims, Christians and Jews, women and men, LGBT and straight, religious and secular, adults and less adults.
The group was established in cooperation between the Israeli Tennis Center, Beit Hagafen and an international interfaith project called House Of One.
The documentary I commissioned describes the team's training process combined with the personal stories of four of the players: a secular Muslim extreme athlete - Champion Khader, a high-tech man and choir director of the Maronite Church - Amir Shahla, friends and members of the "Focolare" who live in Haifa, and Rabbi - Golan Ben-Horin . The film also raises the question about the meaning of intercultural leisure activity and the potential inherent in it.
The premiere screening takes place as part of the Maccabiah Pickleball event.
The team story also appeared in the #1 sports newspaper in the world Sports Illustrated. The Gitti Choir, a Haifa choir that combines Jewish and Arab singers, will perform at the event. Pickleball player and canon player Amir Shahla will also play at the concert.
Watch ◄ A choir of Jews and Arabs performed during the event
A RABBI, A MUSLIM AND TWO CHRISTIANS WALK ONTO A PICKLEBALL COURT
They meet on Mondays at 8 a.m.: 13 people, men and women, secular and religious. Jews, Christians, Muslims. They gather at the Haifa branch of the Israel Tennis and Education Center, half a mile from the Mediterranean Sea. They come to play pickleball.
"We have a regulation court," says Rabbi Golan Ben-Chorin, the leader of this tribe. "We use the net that was brought over by Seymour when he first introduced pickleball to Israel."
In 2017, Rifkind, the son of a Holocaust survivor, flew to the Holy Land with 100 paddles, 25 balls and four nets. "You've got Middle East politics and thousands of years of hatred to overcome," he says. "But almost anyone can play pickleball. Suddenly you're laughing, teasing each other over bad shots. And you start thinking: This guy across the net is not such a bad guy. "
And now, in a not-so-little town near Bethlehem, a man of faith and 12 followers are spreading the liturgy of a sport with global ambitions. "I decided to combine two passions," says the rabbi. "The old—interfaith engagement—with the new, pickleball. I call it the 'cross-cultural pickleball initiative.'"
Serving the Lord while serving underhanded. Peace on Earth, and stay out of the kitchen.
All is well and good, but there is currently no active pickleball field in Haifa. So there was a nice showcase of the game but no continuity. Pickleball is a game that has become a hit among seniors in the United States. In Haifa there are quite a few of these ages. It is very worthwhile to initiate the establishment of fields for this new and highly sought-after sport so that the residents of Haifa can play it. You can set up in the tennis center or for example in the lawn bowling club which covers a huge area and has almost no members. Completely empty and wasted. The old residents of Haifa will be very grateful to the municipality for the establishment of a pickleball court.
The political chatter is unnecessary and not important for the adoption of this sport at all.
Pickleball is wonderful, much more fun than tennis and you can make courts even in small playgrounds. It has fewer injuries. The ball moves faster and there is more action. and adapted to body movements better than tennis on a wide court.
It's between tennis and table tennis and it's great for us because we love matkas on the beach here and it's similar only upgraded with a court.
There is no doubt that we will see a growth of thousands of percent in pickleball and its road to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 is almost paved because there are millions of players in North America.
The fact that the lot is small, the size of a home pool (13 x 6 meters) also allows condominiums and private houses to turn part of the back garden into a pickleball court. And even in schools, you can easily convert a lawn or yard between classrooms into a pickleball court.