Israel may not be a traditional squash super power, but a tight-knit group of “big-hearted, hard-working and talented” juniors are promising to elevate the nation to unprecedented new levels in the sport.
Siblings Naomi and Tamir Wiegenfeld, Elad Robenshtok and Ofri Maliach are spearheads of a strong junior team that has seen the Israel flag hung above podiums regularly on the European junior circuit for the first time.
Only last week, Naomi (GU15) and Elad (BU19) earned bronze medals at the prestigious Dutch Junior Open. They, along with Tamir (BU19), Maliach (GU17), Noam Dror (BU15) and Rani Bejerano (BU17) are now in Hamburg ready to compete for more bullion at this week’s European Junior Open.
All this has been achieved on the foundations of only a handful of clubs, mainly in Tel Aviv, and only an estimated 50 junior players in the entire country.
“Everything has changed in the last three or four years since we got this group together,” explains Nadav Tannen, who returned to his native Israel a few years ago as National Junior Coach and head coach at ABM Squash Academy in Tel Aviv after previously coaching in the USA, Poland and Germany.
“We’ve created a group of people who all help each other and are totally unselfish. We can see the apples growing on the tree, and these are great apples!
“All of them are wonderful, big-hearted kids who put their heart and soul into squash. How they behave on court is most important. We always encourage them to stay true to themselves. They have earned us a lot of respect on and off the court for the last four years.”
Israel’s Head National Coach, Avihai Bar-Moha, is equally proud of the exciting crop of youngsters representing Israel on the international stage.
“They have such a wonderful sense of togetherness,” he explains.” They take care of each other. We are always the loudest table at breakfast — in a good way! We’re always laughing and the parents’ support plays a big part. There are lots of pieces in the puzzle.”
Naomi Wiegenfeld
Naomi is perhaps the most promising of the group. Currently ranked GU15 no.1 in Europe, she won the U17 titles at Swiss and Czech Junior Opens this season, despite only turning 14 in January. She has Type 1 diabetes and has to closely monitor blood sugar levels before every match and training session.
This year, Naomi joined two of her three elder brothers at the prestigious Millfield School in England (whose alumni include Mohamed and Marwan ElShorbagy and former British no.1 Peter Marshall).
“I love the tournaments where we all hang out together,” she says. “There’s a real team feel. It becomes a really fun experience that not everyone has.”
Tamir Wiegenfeld
Naomi’s older brother Tamir has dual Israeli-US citizenship and won the US junior national U17 title in March. He will join Cornell University a year early in September where he will be coached by the great David Palmer.
“Tamir hasn’t been playing squash for long, so the things he has achieved are crazy,” comments Head National Coach, Bar-Moha.
“I’m extremely proud,” says Naomi and Tamir’s mum Natalie De Munnynck. “Because of the social support and great atmosphere in the team, squash became a large part of their life and they get a lot back from it. I hope that they continue and go on to more great things.”
Elad Robenshtok
At the time of writing, European BU19 no.4 Elad Robenshtok only has a couple of weeks left as a junior. He was part of the Israel senior team that earned promotion to Division 1 of the European Team Championships in Amsterdam in May. He will now start playing on the PSA Tour.
Elad says: “It was great experience [at the European Team Championships]. It’s a different game than playing against juniors; you need to be a bit smarter. I hope we will be able to stay in Division 1 next year and I can build more experience.”
There are even younger prospects coming through the ranks and the future looks bright indeed. “The kids are reaching heights that we only dreamt about a year ago,” says Bar-Moha. “Last year was the greatest year in Israeli squash. We’re confident they can become really great players.”
