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Israel’s junior men’s group learn from their champion coaches
October 31, 2019News
On Wednesday, the first day of the 2019 Acrobatic Gymnastics European Championships in Holon, the Israeli juniors left with two bronze and two gold medals. The men's group, Adam Nudel, Moshe Gavra, Tomer Offir, and Yorai Kleiman was able to win gold for their balance routine in their home town, in front of their families and friends. For Adam Nudel, competing at home was a dream come true:
It's a big honour, it's been my dream for a long time. We've never had such an experience of competing at a big competition in front of the home crowd, we are always competing abroad. There's nothing like competing at home, in front of your families and people who support you so much
The four gymnasts on the Israeli men's group are still juniors but have big shoes to fill. Their predecessors, Lidar Dana, Yannay Kalfa, Efi Sach, and Daniel Uralevich were extremely successful on the international scene, winning three golds at both the 2015 and 2017 European Championships, gold at the 2018 World Championships and silvers at the 2016 World Championships and the 2017 World Games. The group retired in 2018 and turned to coaching the next generation of Israeli gymnasts at their home club Begin Holon.
Nudel, Gavra, Offir, and Kleiman feel that now they, the next Israeli men's group, are expected to be as successful but that does not faze them. Yorai Kleiman says that learning from the stars of acrobatic gymnastics gives them a unique advantage:
Three of our coaches were part of that men's group that won gold at the European and World Championships. They were champion gymnasts and now they are champion coaches. To repeat their success is what we hope to do. I really believe in each of us and in our team
Moshe Gavra, the youngest gymnast on the team, adds:
We are learning from their journey
While Israeli acrobatic gymnasts shine at international competitions, their sport is still not well known in Israel. Kleiman says most people have no idea what acrobatic gymnastics is and confuse it with other gymnastics disciplines:
When I tell them I'm an acrobatic gymnast, they go: "Ah, that's the one with rings, right?" No. "So, that's the one with the ribbon?" Also no. And when we show people what it actually is, they're really surprised
Nudel elaborates that seeing what acrobatic gymnasts do on the competition floor astonishes people who had never seen the sport before:
They are shocked every time when they see the elements we do, the saltos and the pyramids. These are things they never see in any other sport, it's something unique
Kleiman feels it is not fair that the sport in which Israeli athletes are so successful internationally does not receive even half of the attention as sports like football and basketball have in his country:
It's truly a pity it's not as developed in Israel as it should be. It's not only that this sport is magnificent, but we're also really good at it. I'd say we're, perhaps, achieving more internationally than any other Israeli sport. So, I think it's not right how our sport is treated here. It's so unique and it deserves so much more. The effort we need to invest is much more than at any football or basketball practice. Our whole life is the sport and we do it just because we love it
Tomer Offir, who started out as a tumbler, says kids with a talent for acrobatic gymnastics might not think of signing up for classes because this is not the sport they hear a lot about. He certainly did not know much about the sport but fell in love when he learned more about it:
When you're a kid and just starting out, you might want to do another sport that you see more on TV, something that's popular. Maybe, artistic gymnastics. But slowly you learn about this sport as well. I was a tumbler, I didn't know about acrobatics at first. Somehow, I got exposed to it and stayed in it, and I enjoy it so much
By Liubov Baladzhaeva for UEG
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