1) The Israel National Basketball Team held their final practice before heading to St. Petersburg for a pair of exhibition games against Russia featuring star Alexey Shvedand Poland in preparation for World Cup Qualifiers the following week at home versus Georgia and on the road in Germany. Tomer Ginat looked ahead to the challenge at hand when he spoke to the Sport 5 Open Court TV Show, “I worked hard over the summer to make sure I get into a good rhythm, I feel great and can’t wait for the action to begin. As long as we still have a chance to advance we will do our utmost to stay alive in qualifying. The upcoming exhibition tournament will help us continue to bond together. We have a clear game plan and we know what we need to do. When you play for the National Team you have to do your best and remember that you have an important responsibility. We have a young team and we have a pair of super important games. There’s nothing more exciting than to be part of the Israel National Team. As a child, one of my dreams was to wear the Blue & White uniform.”

Veteran forward Guy Pnini added, “I feel like I always do when I play for my country; I’m very excited and it’s great to see the younger players here who want to prove something. There’s good atmosphere and we all understand that this window off games are critical. I can see the future of Israeli basketball here in the court and there’s something to count on and what to go to war with. There’s nothing to worry about. Everyone needs patience because you won’t be able to see it form the first moment. It’s a process and I believe that at the end of the day there will be some great things.”

2) The Israel National Football Team will be heading to Albania on Wednesday and ahead of the flight veteran midfielder Dan Einbinder spoke about the upcoming contests, “We know all about the two national teams that we will be facing in order to advance. We will prepare match by match and we have a very tough mission ahead of us. We will be ready to go and prepared for this. I have some good memories from playing Albania as I scored my first National Team goal against them. Hopefully I can repeat the feat.”

Dan Glazer, who is with the Senior National Team for the first time also looked ahead to the games at hand, “There’s a new feeling in the air and the new staff which was brought in has plenty of experience at the National Team level. They gave us clear instructions as to what they want us to do and I hire that we will be able to execute them on Friday. They explained to us how the Nations League works and that we have a very good chance to advance to the Euro through it. I hope that this will be the case.”

3) Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club held a toast for the New Year where Head Coach Neven Spahija spoke about the upcoming season, “I hope our good mood will continue to the end of the season. We have great attitude, hard workers and good people. I like it. We have a core of players and some good young Israeli players that we want to promote along with good newcomers, I’m really excited.”

Deandre Kane also looked ahead to the new campaign, “We’ve had a lot of good practices together and the new guys are fitting into the Maccabi style so far. Our goal is to try to get better and use the preseason games to improve and jell. Our goal is to win championships.” Veteran center Alex Tyus added, “We’re just trying to focus on being on the same page. We are trying to figure out who we are and our goal is to continue to get better. A big step will be to make the Euroleague playoffs.”