TORONTO — With his shoulder-length hair, baseball cap turned backward and nervous energy, Yishai looks like any other 12-year-old kid. And he is, except that unlike some of the bad boys he grew up with, he’s touring North America, excelling in tennis, and playing the role of ambassador for the Israel Tennis Centers (ITC).
He’s been playing at the Tiberias branch of the ITC for two years now, and if he wasn’t, there’s a good chance he’d be smoking, skipping school and getting into trouble like many of the guys he used to roll with.
Mature for his age, Yishai realizes that the ITC played an important role in getting his life on the straight and narrow. Not only did it provide an outlet for his energy, it’s helped keep him off the street, provided tutors to assist him with school work, gave him access to a psychologist, who helps him keep his anger under control, and taught him self-discipline and independence, which he believes will prove valuable as he grows up.
All that makes him a pretty effective ambassador for the ITC, a role he played along with three other young tennis players and their chaperon, 33-year-old Tal Amsalem, who is an ITC grad himself and now serves as manager and coach at the ITC’s Tiberias branch.
The five of them were in Toronto last week on the last leg of a three-week tour that saw them visit communities in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington and Charleston. While in Toronto, they met supporters at the Maple Downs Golf and Country Club and at York Racquet Club. They also did the tourist bit, visiting the CN Tower – they loved it – the Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, went bowling on Bathurst Street and toured the Rogers Centre.
They also did a little business as well, helping raise money for the ITCs back home – around $100,000 in Canada to go with the $500,000 in the United States. Some of the Canadian-raised funds will go to the ITC’s Children-at-Risk program, and some to its “learning English on court” program, said Toby Rosner, executive director of ITC Foundation in Canada.
The ITC serves 20,000 youngsters a year from different religious backgrounds at its 14 branches. “A wide range of children are served, including youth at risk, immigrants, and children with special needs, from autism and ADHD to Down Syndrome as well as those with developmental and physical disabilities,” the ITC states on its website.
The four young players who visited Toronto represent a cross-section of the kids served by ITC, Rosner said.
In addition to Yishai and Amasalem, the visiting group included Ellie , an 18-year-old ITC alumni who received special permission to leave her army duty for the trip, Shadi, a 15-year-old native of the Bedouin town of Rahat, near Be'er Sheva, and Jennifer, 13, whose mother immigrated to Israel from Nigeria.
Most of the ITC facilities in Israel, outside the flagship centre in Ramat Hasharon, are located on the outskirts of troubled neighbourhoods, said Amsalem, who grew up in Kiryat Shmonah and attended the ITC in that northern town. The one in Tiberias is near a disadvantaged neighbourhood and Almaliach is one of its participants, he said.
Altori spends a lot of time at the ITC in Be’er Sheva, a little to the south of Rahat. He’s been playing at a high level for about three years and is now one of the country’s top players in his age group. This summer, he’ll travel to Greece for his first taste of international tournament action.
“My dream,” Shadi said, “is to be one of the top players in the world and represent Israel at the Olympic Games.”
So far, Shadi is the first Bedouin from his village to reach a national ranking in Israel, said Amsalem. The ITC is attempting to attract more Bedouin to the sport, fulfilling part of its mandate of bringing together youngsters from Israel’s diverse populations.
“He’s really the ambassador for it,” Amsalem said.
Ellie grew up in Ramat Gan and played at the ITC building in Jaffa, which is located between Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods. She’s been playing since she was eight. At 14, she was ranked fifth in the country in her age group.
One of the options available at the Jaffa tennis centre was the “coexistence program,” she said. “I played with Arab children. I think this program is very important. It teaches tolerance, respect and understanding for other children and you learn about other cultures.”
Jennifer is another of the group who has attained a national ranking. Now 13, she started playing at six. “It was my birthday gift from my mom,” she said. Her mother always loved the sport, going back to when she was a ball girl at a tournament in Nigeria.
Jennifer is at the ITC pretty much every day as part of the elite athlete program, which includes high level coaching and support from a sports psychologist.
Her backhand is the strongest part of her game and her tennis idol is Serena Williams.
Three months ago, she made her first trip abroad as an ITC goodwill ambassador, visiting New York and Florida. But it wasn’t the first time she left Israel. Last year, her mother took her to Lagos for a visit.
It was nice she said, but “I love it in Israel.”