The Israel Under-18 National Team departed today (Wednesday) for a preparation tournament in Latvia ahead of the FIBA U18 European Championship and will play four warmup games.

July 2 – vs. Latvia
July 3 – vs. Georgia
July 6 – vs. Ukraine
July 7 – vs. Ukraine

Head coach Nadav Zilberstein and his staff selected the 12 players who will participate in the preparation tournament ahead of the Championships that will be held later in the month.

Roster for the Preparation Tournament:
Arbel Lachmanovitz, Kerem Ashkenazi, Amitai Azriel, Omri Orland, Ido Salama, Rom Stoller, Aviv Aronov, Noam Eckstein, Oren Troshkin, Lior Hershko, Nikita Sokolov, David Muscis.

Head coach Nadav Zilberstein spoke about the upcoming tournament, “We’ve set several goals for this summer. First and foremost, we want to have the best possible preparation for the European Championship. The second goal is to compete in a very tough group, but that’s what a European Championship is like. We don’t feel we’re inferior to anyone, so we’ll do everything we can to finish as high as possible in the standings in order to reach the Round of 16 in the best possible position.

“I feel that the situation our country has been in over the past few years will work in our favor at this championship. It will create a kind of ‘us against the world’ mentality, bringing us closer together and making us a more united and tougher group. That will give us the extra 10% of motivation and determination to prove ourselves, and we’ll do that on the court.”

Zilberstain concluded, “This is a very special team. Compared to the average Israeli youth teams of the past, we’re more athletic, with good size, plenty of talent and many players who can contribute in different ways. The most important thing for us as a coaching staff and for the team is the understanding that we are a team. We’re not looking for one or two players to make the difference, that’s what makes this group unique.”