Sleepless nights in the army and logistical nightmares: Hapoel Holon story during a war / News - Basketnews.com

Hapoel Holon had to go through a wide set of obstacles to play their home games in Riga, Latvia. At the same time, the team's coach had to balance his duties in the army and leading a basketball team in a time of crisis.

Credit: IMAGO/Jürgen Schwarz,Beautiful Sports,Christoph Worsch - Scanpix, FIBA | BasketNews illustration/M.Bertys Credit IMAGO/Jürgen Schwarz,Beautiful Sports,Christoph Worsch - Scanpix, FIBA | BasketNews illustration/M.Bertys

October 7 was the day many Israeli citizens will remember for decades to come. For many, it was an event that changed their lives for multiple months to come. In the basketball world, this meant chaos.

Hapoel Holon / Schedule

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Ever since Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, basketball has been stopped in the country. The Israeli Winner League has been postponed, while the nation's basketball teams that compete internationally had to move out of the country.

"It was a continuous shock. We had a game on Sunday, I think, and I woke up for practice on Saturday morning. I woke up, read the news, and was like, 'Ok, let's go to practice, we might have a game tomorrow.' I felt no energy inside, no clarity, no drive. I just left the gym because I felt it was something bigger,"Hapoel Holon'sYotam HanochitoldBasketNews.

"Personally, I checked that nobody of my friends [had died] because I have a couple of friends on the first line of the war. The first call was to them. It was a shock. It was something that Israel had never seen or felt," he said. "Things like these have happened before, but not like this. It was a big shock. A lot of emotions - fear, anger, the unknown of what was going to happen."

Hapoel Holon is one of the Israeli teams that participates in international competitions. Together withHapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, they compete in the Basketball Champions League (BCL). Like all other clubs from the country, Holon faced a decision to continue playing at a rough time for their countrymen or withdraw from the competition.

Hapoel Holon thought about the possibility of withdrawing from the BCL for a brief moment, but it was quickly dismissed, as the purpose of playing to give people hope reigned higher. With the decision made, there came a time for specific actions.

At first, the club wanted to wait for the Israeli Basketball Federation to help the country's clubs in a difficult situation. However, Holon made the decision that preserving the team and its character, as well as maintaining a somewhat regular practice schedule, was more important.

As such, Holon's foreign players were flown out to Cyprus several days after the Hamas attack on Saturday, October 7. Meanwhile, Israeli players stayed in the country at a time of distress.

With foreigners out of the country, the remaining players held practices in Israel. However, there was a unique circumstance surrounding the practices. Head coachAmit Sherfhad to serve in the Israeli army while leading a basketball team.

During the night, Sherf worked shifts in the army during the first weeks of the war. During the day, he held practices for the remainder of the team.

"In Israel,

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