Ted Belman. I received a Press Release informing me of this visit and inviting me to the offices of the Voice of Israel where these young kids from both South Africa and Israel were being interviewed and hosted for lunch. I decided to go and brought along with me Jan Sokolovsky who was also a tennis fan and who had a close connection to South African tennis because her late husband was involved with it before he made aliya.
What a happening place it was. Ruthie Blum was also visiting. I hooked up with some of the stars of VOI like, Dan Diker, Yishai Fleisher, John Hastings and Jeremy Gimpel. I highly recommend that you visit VOI and tune into their broadcasts live or through podcasts.
For the ITC, the New Year began with a historic moment as a team of children and their coach from Soweto, South Africa traveled to Israel for 10 days of training with ITC junior players at our ITC centers throughout Israel. It is part of a unique Children to Children Tennis Diplomacy Exchange Program just launched by the ITC that will create lasting friendships and ambassadors for Israel around the world.
The South African team visit is the outgrowth of a 2013 ITC “outreach” trip by Head Coach Ronen Moralli who spent two weeks at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center in Soweto, South Africa, teaching children and their coaches the unique ITC model for developing both tennis and life skills that have earned the ITC international recognition. The current initiative was made possible through close cooperation between ITC CEO Danny Gelley and ITC board members, with the assistance of Israeli Ambassador to South Africa, Arthur Lenk.
“Sharing our unique tennis programs with young players and coaches outside of Israel is what we’re striving to achieve” said ITC CEO Danny Gelley. “In this case, we hope that the children visiting from South Africa will learn to dream bigger, aspiring to achieve to the best of their abilities. It is what the ITC has been teaching our children in Israel for almost forty years, and that model is what we would like to see emulated in other countries…empowering children beyond tennis and beyond borders.”
Learn more about this incredible exchange program. Watch the interview above with Coach Moralli and the children from the ITC and Soweto that was broadcast around the world by Voice of Israel, the country’s largest English language radio station.
To support the ITC and the programs that enable us to continue empowering Israel’s children… beyond children and beyond borders, click on the donate now button.
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