The Israel Under-18 Women’s National Team opens up their European Championship campaign on Saturday in La Palma, Spain as Head Coach Shira HaElion’s squad will look to look to have a successful run in the annual event. However, it won’t be easy for the young blue-and-white as they will begin the tournament against one of the strongest teams in the competition in France. Following the Tri-Color, Israel will then play Serbia and Montenegro to close out Group A play.

HaElion does have a number of up-and-coming promising players including Lee Teichman, Mika Yanai and Maya Shifrin who has joined the team as a naturalized Israeli from France as the trio spoke to The Sports Rabbi ahead of the competition.

Lee Teichman spoke about her goals for the championship, “First of all, as a team we want to win every game and we want to stay in Division A. We want to play as a team and on a personal level, for the team to succeed – I will do everything I can to reach that goal.”

The Bitan Aharon native spoke about what she gained playing in Israel’s top league last season and what her plans are for the upcoming year, “Last season was one where I learned many lessons. I learned a lot, whether it was for the better or for the worse. Next season, I plan to fly abroad, enjoy the journey, get to know more people – coaches, players, culture, everything at USF (University of South Florida) in Tampa, Florida.”

Back in 2024, Teichman had a chance to take part at the NBA and FIBA’s Basketball Without Borders Camp in Malaga, Spain which was an eye opener for the Israeli guard, “The experience was really fun. Getting to know more players my age and playing against them was great, I also met some of my best friends there. Different cultures, other people, new languages. It was an unforgettable experience, one that was really fun and if I could, I would do it again.”

With the growth of the women’s game gaining steam as the WNBA just added three new franchises, Teichman sees a bright future for roundball, “On a global level, I am really happy to see many players succeed in advertising more and bringing in a much larger audience. I see that the WNBA teams are starting to have full arenas with great crowds and game that are full of action which is fun to watch.”

As for dreams, Teichman’s is very simple, “To have fun. The most important thing is experiences and to experience as much as possible.”

Mika Yanay is excited for the upcoming tournament and can’t wait to get going, “We are aiming to go do as well as possible as we progress from game to game. Obviously, my personal goal is to succeed as much as possible, but we are all looking first and foremost at the success of the team. We want to do as well as we can and win every game.”

This past season, Yanay had her first taste of the country’s top league with Hapoel Rishon Le’Zion, “I think that this last year, I really improved my penetration to the basket and dealing with the physicality of the game. I also suffered an injury and I was able to come back from that. Next season I’ll be playing for Maccabi Haifa and I am very much looking forward to it and excited about it. It’s a very impressive club, but Rishon was also an excellent club and I really enjoyed my time there with Ziv Erez who is an amazing coach. But I also really wanted to go back home and live at home, which is also one of the reasons why I decided to play for Haifa.”

Yanay perhaps will one day go to college which as she describes is something that interests her, she still has plenty of time to get to that point while her goal is to get to the highest level possible whether it’s the WNBA or the Euroleague.

As for the development of the game, Yanay feels that Israel still has plenty to do to in order to get to the top level, “Basketball in Israel is not like playing abroad, where you can see that the game is starting to develop and starting to improve. I hope that the progress that is happening abroad will continue in Israel as well. We need more publicity and for there to be more top Israeli players. We need to promote women’s basketball and that starts at a young age. We need to see the younger girls improve their game and success by the youth national teams contributes to that.”

Maya Shifrin is a naturalized Israeli from France and has been received really well by her teammates on the U18 side, “The team welcomed me really nicely and all of the girls have been great. I am really grateful for that as I’m from France. I am so excited to be here and it’s been a really terrific experience for me and I am so excited to represent the country.”

A native of Lyon who plays for Pays Voironnais, Shifrin feels that Israel can have a good tournament, “We can really do something and we should do the best that we can. I’m not sure yet what will happen but we are going to do the best to represent the team and the country.”

As for the future, Shifrin is still trying to figure that out, “My goal is to become a professional but we will see.as for playing as a pro in Israel, I’m not sure, maybe. I don’t know yet at the moment.”