Name: Tal Sahar Age: 26 Born and Raised: Los Angeles, CA
Sport: Basketball
Experience: Collegiate: 4 years ( UC Santa Barbara - D1 )
Professional: 3 years ( Israel )
A Not-So-Subtle Take on Playing Basketball Overseas:
A Certified Hooper’s Perspective
My journey DOWN UNDUH, and by DOWN UNDUH, I mean ‘overseas’ was not a traditional one. I wasn’t a player whom fiend to continue my basketball career beyond the bounds of college basketball. I no longer had an interest in any form of competitive basketball. To say collegiate basketball burnt me out was an understatement. Though, important to note: I LOVED MY COLLEGE COACHES I LOVED MY COLLEGE TEAMMATES
And I LOVED COLLEGE BASKETBALL.
I was just simply and utterly burnt out. Before I dive into the depths of how I ended up here, “Here” being Year 3 of my professional campaign, it's important I preface with what shifted my overall mindset: PARK BASKETBALL - In Hawaii ;)
Advice #1: Put yourself in an environment that makes you fall in love with the game again.
Covid hit. It was a whirlwind of an experience. WEIRD, TO SAY THE LEAST. I had picked up and moved to Hawaii where I embarked on an [unprecedented] escapade with three of my close friends. It was a time that would foster an experience COMPLETELY unbeknownst to me, as most new experiences do. We spent a lot of our days playing pick-up basketball at the park. It was competitive. But it was a fun competitive. A light-hearted, fun-under-the-sun, No money No PRAHLEMS type o’ competitive. I fell in LOVE with the game again. I felt FREE. I felt CONFIDENT. I felt all the things that basketball had once provided me with. Having been so against the thought of pursuing a career in the sport, my friends urged me to, AT THE LEAST, just try a season overseas. Just one! THEY NAGGED. AND NAGGED.
AND NAGGED.
...and it worked, because here I am, tail between my legs, playing not a first, not a second, but a THIRD year overseas and ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT.
Now, a sprinkle of what playing in Israel is like..
** DISCLAIMER ** The experience is different depending on what country we play in. I am also a citizen of Israel and hold a passport so my experience is a bit different than most US/EU citizens. Nevertheless, THIS is what ISRAEL is like.
The Demand:
Our schedule isn’t grueling and the expectation is fair. There are no double days, and if there are it’s a walk-through and a light practice. The lifting is based upon our own discretion. Personally, I lift falafel pitas and shawarma wraps back to the crib. Others lift dumbbells. But to each his own. Practices consist of a light warm-up, a few shooting drills, some 5 on 0, and then a good 30-45 minutes of scrimmaging. There. That’s the demand, while still having PLENTY of time to do hood rat shit with all of our friends. The coaches are sweet and understanding! Frustration will prevail as it would with most people considering individual differences and disparities in IQ, BUT the coaches are sweet and understanding. The feelings for anxiety are a thing of the past. YOU control your fate. The work you put in will be the result you’ll get out, but all with the understanding that at the end of the day we are ALL still human.
Advice #2: No Matter the Situation; Good, Bad, Or Ugly, appreciate the people who are riding that same wave with you. It’ll open up a door of profound gratitude and appreciation.
The Players:
I’m choosing to write a section on players because NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS did I think I’d be playing with the BIGGEST and BADDEST in the game, but more importantly, NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAMS did I think that it would be some of these people, along with all of the teammates and opponents I've been lucky enough to call my friends, that would impact my overall experience as much as they had. Players I’ve played with and against : Natisha Hiedeman Chelsea Hopkins Liz Cambage Jazmine Jones Alysha Clark Joyner Holmes Kaila Charles Shakira Austin Shatori Kimbrough-Walker Jocelyn Willoughby
Victoria Vivians Kalani Brown Kelsey Bone Bridget Carleton
Jackie Young Courtney Williams
Betnijah Laney Allison Hightower
Tiffany Mitchell Jillian Alleyne
Charli Collier
You get the gist. At first, I couldn’t believe I was sharing the gym with some of these folk but what I came to realize was as follows: Though their accolades speak for themselves, the personalities, the depth, and the soulfulness of these people spoke louder. Much much louder. Movie nights with Bridget. Long deep talks with Tori and Alysha. Unlimited Laughter with Liz. Late-night shenanigans with Kaila. Safety and Comfort in Shakira and Natisha’s space. As cliche as this may or MAY NOT sound the greatest takeaway from my overseas endeavor is that it is NEVER the places you go and it will ALWAYS be the people you meet along the way that fulfill your journey and complete your destination.
Advice #3: Be Where Your Feet Are.
The Culture
In addition to the players aforementioned, I’d also like to shine a light on the beauty that is learning and understanding a culture completely antithetical to the one we are seemingly used to. Israel is a beautiful country for many reasons. The people are warm. They are selfless. They love you unconditionally whether they’ve known you for 12 minutes or 12 years. They live to work but they also work to live. Quality of life, similar to many European countries, is something that is acknowledged, appreciated, and even enforced. Coming from the US it was something I wasn’t necessarily used to. When working an 8-5, we tend to go home, turn on our Netflix or our Disney+, chill, eat dinner, sleep, and revert to that same routine on the days to come. Until the weekend, of course ;). But in a country like Israel, the people don’t wait for the weekend. They take advantage of coffee dates on a Monday, and bar hopping on a Tuesday. It can come across as exhausting but it can also come across as exciting.
PERSPECTIVE!
The Concluding Remark
I’ve made lifelong friends playing in this country. I’ve fostered relationships I couldn’t IMAGINE living this life without. Being accompanied by loyal to the soil type o’ people makes life worth living and I feel forever indebted to this game for blessing my life with them.
Moving to a new country is hard. Moving to a new country and playing professional basketball is HARDER. But as hard as it may seem it is equally as rewarding. I am not the same person I was three years ago when I agreed to embark on this journey of mine. I see the world from a different lens. I have come across people with stories MUCH DIFFERENT from my own but also quite similar. It’s cultivated a level of empathy far beyond anything I could have imagined. I found friends. I found brothers. I found sisters. I found soul ties. I found family. My Advice #4 would be to TAKE THE LEAP OF FAITH and PLAY OVERSEAS if you still have it in you to do so. But PLEASE find it in you to do so. It’s not going to be easy. My experience wasn’t all sunflowers and daisies, not in the slightest bit. I struggled with my own emotional trials and tribulations being halfway across the world but it’s completely shaped the person I am today. I think the best way to end this monologue of sorts is to preach. I preach that nothing good in this life comes easy. I preach to fall in love with being uncomfortable. I preach to run head first into decisions you fear most in the world. I preach these things because only when you relish in such unfamiliarity do you come to appreciate LIFE for what it truly is and do you come to appreciate YOURSELF for what you truly are.
Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions or just want to understand a bit more about a day in the life.
IG: @talsaharrr
Giving a MASSIVE virtual hug to my girl Mai-Loni for giving me the platform to share my story!
Wow she's amazing