{"id":8376,"date":"2017-08-29T09:56:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T09:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportsrabbi.agpwebdesign.com\/?p=8376"},"modified":"2017-08-29T09:56:48","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T09:56:48","slug":"oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Oz Blayzer – Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oz Blayzer<\/strong> is not a newcomer to the Israel Basketball National Team as he has featured for the Under-18 and Under-20 sides in the past. However, this time it\u2019s a bit different for the Kfar Tavor native as he has a chance to crack the senior team roster and play in Eurobasket 2017 which will have a group stage in Israel. Let\u2019s take an intimate look at this 24 year old who has played with Maccabi Haifa over the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

Blazer\u2019s background:<\/strong>
\nI was born in Kfar Tavor which is right between Afula and Tiberias. I played locally while growing up and playing in the Gilboa youth department. I then played for two years at Afula which is in the second division followed by a pair of seasons with Herzlilya. I\u2019ve been with Haifa over the past two campaigns.
\n\u00a0
\nFinding Basketball:<\/strong>
\n\u201cMy mom told me that I have been shooting the basketball into the crib since I was 3 years old. As a kid I tried everything form soccer to volleyball and everything in between. So I guess I just made a special connection to basketball. Also, since I\u2019m a big guy, I was was attracted to the game. Since then it\u2019s been a love story.<\/p>\n

Role models:<\/strong>
\n\u201cWhen I was started to realize I that my profession could be basketball, I looked up to Terrence Morris and when he played with Maccabi Tel Aviv he was a very versatile player. I also admired Lior Eliyahu and Omri Casspi and I\u2019ve been trying to be like all of them.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nArriving at Haifa:<\/strong>
\n\u201cI played two years in Herzliya which was like a home for me and at the end of my second year I had a few options. I just felt that Haifa would be the right step forward for my career in order to take it to the next level. The people, the club, the coaching and the staff just felt right.
\n\u00a0
\nTrying to become a more complete player:<\/strong>
\n\u201cOver the last three summers I\u2019ve been able to work out with a personal trainer. Basically I work on making my game more versatile while trying to be able to make an impact in more areas of the game. If it\u2019s shooting, post up, rebound or passing, I\u2019m trying to be the most versatile player that I can be. This year I had a little drop in my 3-point percentage, but it\u2019s also because I am trying to do other things on the floor.
\n\u00a0
\nWould you like to see Haifa play in Europe?<\/strong>
\nFor me as a player it would be good, I think playing in a European league is good. But there are other aspects to it, the team, the owner; they see stuff that as a player, I can\u2019t see. It\u2019s their decision. If it happens I\u2019ll be happy because it\u2019s a different style of game. Also, you can see that teams who play in Europe also perform better in their domestic league because it\u2019s good for the team chemistry and bonding. I hope it will happen but if not it\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dreams:<\/strong>
\nEvery player has the dream to play in the NBA and if it will happen I will be the happiest player I can be, because of Maccabi Haifa, I had the chance to play at this level and because of that I think if it will happen it will it would be amazing but if not I aim to be a legit player in Europe, a EuroLeague player and just to be able to say I did the best I could and made the best career I could.
\n

\"\"<\/a>

tel aviv<\/p><\/div>
\nRepresenting Israel at the Eurobasket:<\/strong>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big honor for me to be here and learn from the other players as well as the staff. I think that it\u2019s the highest privilege for a player to represent their country and I don\u2019t think there is a player that wouldn\u2019t want to be part of the National Team. It\u2019s been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I hope this year I will make the final cut and get my chance. If not, I\u2019m sure that in the future I will get my chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting ready for the touney:<\/strong>
\n\u201cWe have a month of preparation and for me personally it will be a chance to show why the staff invited me and prove that they made the correct decision in doing so. As a team it will be a chance for all of us to get to know each other both on and off the court. Some of us have been together for years, but we still have to get into a rhythm. We have a great staff and they will get us ready to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having the competition in Israel:<\/strong>
\n\u201cIt\u2019s historical that the Eurobasket will be in Israel and it represents how big a deal Israeli basketball is in Europe. It shows how much they respect our basketball and hope that the whole country watches every one of our games. It\u2019s a true honor to represent the National Team and I\u2019m looking forward to an amazing experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Final message:<\/strong>
\n\u201cI want to personally invite all of our fans outside of the country to come to Israel. We have an amazing country. I can guarantee we will give everything we can to win and move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oz Blayzer is not a newcomer to the Israel Basketball National Team as he has featured for the Under-18 and Under-20 sides in the past. However, this time it\u2019s a bit different for the Kfar Tavor native as he has a chance to crack the senior team roster and play in Eurobasket 2017 which will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":8378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9],"tags":[29,80,83],"class_list":["post-8376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-european-competitions-holy-land-hoops","category-holy-land-hoops","tag-israel","tag-maccabi-haifa","tag-oz-blayzer","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nOz Blayzer - Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oz Blayzer - Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oz Blayzer is not a newcomer to the Israel Basketball National Team as he has featured for the Under-18 and Under-20 sides in the past. However, this time it\u2019s a bit different for the Kfar Tavor native as he has a chance to crack the senior team roster and play in Eurobasket 2017 which will […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-29T09:56:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1089\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Halickman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua Halickman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joshua Halickman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0\"},\"headline\":\"Oz Blayzer – Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-29T09:56:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":935,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"israel\",\"maccabi haifa\",\"Oz Blayzer\"],\"articleSection\":[\"European Competitions\",\"Holyland Hoops\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/\",\"name\":\"Oz Blayzer - Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team - Sports Rabbi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-29T09:56:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1089},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sports Rabbi\",\"description\":\"The Home of Israeli Sports\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0\",\"name\":\"Joshua Halickman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Joshua Halickman\"},\"description\":\"Joshua Halickman, The Sports Rabbi is the founder of the website and has been covering Israeli sports since 2004. The Sports Rabbi has gone to over 4,000 live sporting events in 25+ countries looking for the most exciting and intriguing stories. Josh has lectured to tens of thousands across the globe about the Zionism through Israeli Sports. You can follow Josh on Twitter @thesportsrabbi\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sportsrabbi.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/thesportsrabbiisrael\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oz Blayzer - Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team - Sports Rabbi","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Oz Blayzer - Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team - Sports Rabbi","og_description":"Oz Blayzer is not a newcomer to the Israel Basketball National Team as he has featured for the Under-18 and Under-20 sides in the past. However, this time it\u2019s a bit different for the Kfar Tavor native as he has a chance to crack the senior team roster and play in Eurobasket 2017 which will […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/","og_site_name":"Sports Rabbi","article_published_time":"2017-08-29T09:56:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1089,"url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joshua Halickman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua Halickman","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/"},"author":{"name":"Joshua Halickman","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0"},"headline":"Oz Blayzer – Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team","datePublished":"2017-08-29T09:56:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/"},"wordCount":935,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg","keywords":["israel","maccabi haifa","Oz Blayzer"],"articleSection":["European Competitions","Holyland Hoops"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/","name":"Oz Blayzer - Trailblazer! Meet the Israel National Basketball Team - Sports Rabbi","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-29T09:56:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/oz-blayzer-trailblazer-meet-the-israel-national-basketball-team\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/DSC_0789-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1089},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/","name":"Sports Rabbi","description":"The Home of Israeli Sports","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10150053309b5bf124d40c3812a32bf0","name":"Joshua Halickman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/WhatsApp-Image-2020-12-08-at-10.13.06-150x150.jpeg","caption":"Joshua Halickman"},"description":"Joshua Halickman, The Sports Rabbi is the founder of the website and has been covering Israeli sports since 2004. The Sports Rabbi has gone to over 4,000 live sporting events in 25+ countries looking for the most exciting and intriguing stories. Josh has lectured to tens of thousands across the globe about the Zionism through Israeli Sports. You can follow Josh on Twitter @thesportsrabbi","url":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/author\/thesportsrabbiisrael\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}