Hapoel Tel Aviv takes on Trefl Sopot in EuroCup action on Tuesday night (8pm Israel) time as the Reds will look to get back onto the winning track in Poland. Head Coach Stefanos Dedas’s squad has a 4-3 record and are striving to get to the top of the standings while Zan Tabak’s team is still winless at 0-7.

For Trefl this is their first season in the EuroCup after having been founded just 15 years ago in the north of the country. The team which plays in the city of Sopot is a break off of Prokom Asseco Sopot and when they left the city to move to the close by city of Gdynia Trefl was created to fill the void.

Just ahead of the game, former Bnei Herzliya forward Andy Van Vliet who is in his second season with Trefl spoke to The Sports Rabbi about his time since having played in the Holy Land, his thoughts about October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel along with his general feelings about the local league that he now plays in and how he’s doing this year.

 
“I’m doing well,” Van Vliet began. “I’m in my second season here in Trefl and obviously coming back to the same team a lot things are comfortable as I know what is where and who is who and that eliminates a lot of stress. Winning the domestic league championship was amazing and it was a great experience.”
 
The Belgian hoopster attended college in the United States and played his first professional season in Lithuania before arriving in Israel for the 2021-22 campaign in which he was a crucial pice to helping Bnei Herzliya win the Israel State Cup. Van Vliet continued with the club for a second year but things didn’t work out the way it had been planned as he struggled to find his rhythm in year two. With that, he needed to take a step back and moved to Poland and Trefl in 2023-24.

“After my second season in Herzliya, which was a disappointing one and where my performance wasn’t there, the summer comes and there are less offers and ones that are at a lower level than what you want and what you expect. I started looking around and this opportunity came up and Coach Zan Tabak was here. I was assessing what I needed to improve on and learn and play under someone who was a great player in the same position as myself.

“At Herzliya when I was in in the low post it was a lot of pick and pop and I wasn’t able to punish the opposition as much as I would have wanted to. But now I’ve become more of a complete player and things opened up with Coach Tabak being the main driver. This summer I had better offers and I had to choose if I wanted to play in the EuroCup or move on.”

Van Vliet has played in European competition with Bnei Herzliya when they were part of the Basketball Champions League but now at Trefl he is in the EuroCup which is the second best league in the continent, however, that experience does come with a bit of a cost.

“The competition is amazing and while we are not winning at the moment, for the most part the games have been close ones and we are playing at the same level. However, in the 4th quarter stuff starts to happen and we can’t close it out. There are top teams in the league including Hapoel Tel Aviv and playing them is something I am looking forward to.

“The one challenge with playing in Poland and in Europe is that the travel is brutal because you have to fly, practice and play in Europe and then back in Poland you have to drive across to the other side of Poland stay over and drive back and then there is another EuroCup game. In Israel you usually just drive and play the same day so this does take a lot out of you at times.”

Last year saw Trefl win its first championship as Van Vliet explained how the club has been moving up the ladder which is due to just some good old elbow grease in players like Aaron Best and newcomer Tarik Phillip.

“The main characteristics of the team is that we have guys that work so hard. Two guys like Best and Phillip are both very good defensive players and they will give us what they give us on offense. Aaron was here last year and we get along really well and that includes by girlfriend and his wife as they hand out. This is great for continuity from last season. Tarik brings us so much of that hard worker and brings things off the floor as well. Despite the losses, you can’t say that we don’t work hard as they bring it every practice, every day. We have some great veterans and young talented players which is a good mix, plus we have Polish national team players also.”
 
After two seasons in Israel and heading into his second in Poland, Van Vliet is able to indicate what the differences are between the two leagues, “Israel Is more run and gun and Poland is set up your offense, play hard and really physical with plenty of X’s and O’s. There may not be as much talent as you have in Israel with NBA and Euroleague players as guys that come here use the league as a step up in their career.”
 
Looking back at his time at Herzliya, Van Vliet reflected on perhaps why his second season wasn’t up to par with his first, “There were some really good games and some really and bad games. Sometimes things don’t click and sometimes is just doesn’t work from one season to the next, Things didn’t click the same, It was really unfortunate. I have great relationships with the people at Herzliya and we talk now and then. At the time it was very frustrating that things didn’t work out and I looked for reasons why. But sometimes things don’t work the same way and you take lessons from that and incorporate them into your game.”
 
One thing that Van Vliet really enjoyed in Israel was building friendships and relationships, “I really enjoyed how the people were, they were so wonderful and warm. They bring you in and treat you just like you are family. In all the countries I played in whether in college and Lithuania I stayed mostly in touch with people from Herzliya and a huge part of that was the relationships. You can have amazing weather, beaches and food, but it was the people and the relationships that were made which was why Israel is so special.”
 
On October 7, 2023 when Van Vliet got word of the horrific Hamas attack on Israel, he has stunned that something like this could happen in the country he had fallen in love with and spent two of his best years in.

“Pure shock and devastation. My immediate response was checking in on everybody, friends, teammates and anyone that I knew including people at Herzliya. Every time something happens now during the war I send a quick text to see if things are ok. The situation was horrible and my girlfriend who is Jewish was devastated and while she hasn’t been back to Israel her mother has been numerous times to help those who have been affected while having also visited the site of the Nova Festival. It was really tough for all us to see what has happened.”

Van Vliet has moved closer to Israel and Judaism during his two years in the Holy Land but also thanks to Liat his girlfriend who hails from Philadelphia he’s been able to become a mainstay as well in the community,

“My girlfriend who is Jewish and her family are really active in the community both in Philadelphia and in Israel. Her mother flies to Israel a bunch and goes and supports the victims of October 7th and helps any way she can. With that you feel much more of a connection. With that she was able to make a connection with the JCC in Philadelphia and Bnei Herzliya and that’s been really fun for me to be a part of that. We are so close to the country and the community.
 
On the topic of Israel, Van Vliet has been able to see one of the country’s finest in Ben Saraf who plays for Ulm. While he didn’t play in the EuroCup game between the two squads he saw Saraf from the bench and the potential NBA lottery draft pick left him extremely impressed.

“Saraf, he can play. It’s different watching than guarding him. I remember asking Tarik Phillip about what he thought of Saraf after playing against him and he said, boy the kid can play. I’m happy to see what he is doing in EuroCup and he is a really talented player. He could be the next NBA player from Israel after Deni Avdija.”

 
For Van Vliet and Trefl, Hapoel Tel Aviv will be a difficult matchup but, the big man does see ways where his team may be able to exploit the reds, “It’s going to be tough. Hapoel has a lot of big names and great individual players and stars up and down the roster. A lot of what they do one-on-ones and individual plays. That will be a huge key to stop them, box them out, be physical and play our game. They are at the top of the league and we are winless but it’s just a case of not getting discouraged by the record not being impressed by theirs. We have to go out an play and work for our first win. I would love for that to happen.”
 
With that, Van Vliet has a message to the people of Israel, “I feel very connected to the country and maintain friendships. It’s too bad we don’t play in Tel Aviv, my heart and mind are with the people of Israel and I am following everything that is happening.”