You have to be yourself: Amit Sherf takes the reins at Hapoel Holon as goals are set for the new season

Sep 13, 2023 | Holyland Hoops

Hapoel Holon held their season opening press conference this week where guard Niv Misgav was officially named captain while the purples brass spoke about the goals ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.

With Head Coach Amit Sherf, CEO Eitan Lanciano and President Yossi Levy all present, hopes were high heading into the season, especially with Misgav earning the honor to captain the club as he enters his fourth season with Holon.

“I arrived here four years ago and this is a special day for me,” Misgav said. “I want to thank everyone for this privilege and the chance to realize my dreams. I understand what it means to be captain and what it means to be captain of this club, Hapoel Holon. I know what I need to do for the team and there are things that I still need to improve off of the court in order to take the next steps on it.”

Holon made wholesale changes to their roster this offseason by bringing in numerous new imports while making a decision to play with just four instead of five in order to benefit from Sports and Culture Minister Miki Zohar’s financial incentive package to do so.

Eitan Lanciano and Amit Sherf – Photo Credit: The Sports Rabbi


“We want to continue with the success that we have had over the past number of years,” Lanciano stated. “While we are a somewhat new team, we also have a very strong Israeli identity. We changed up our imports other than CJ Harris and as everyone asks us how do we do it, it’s the fact that we are a family and we are together in this. We are looking forward to a good year and a successful one ahead.”

“As for our budget, we have always been behind Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem and now Hapoel Tel Aviv, so we will be in fourth but there are teams with much smaller budgets who have accomplished one or two things in the recent past. Going forward we will see how we will adjust, but we have to thank Yossi Levy because without him we wouldn’t have the budget that we have now.

As for Levy, he is certainly excited to get the season off to a good start, “Holon is a club with so many fans and one that won the title two years ago. Every season we are looking to reach our goals and to achieve results. I want to wish Niv the best of luck in his role and while some clubs have increased their budget we have kept it as is for the last three years and we are sure that we will be able to reach our goals with Amit Sherf as the head coach.”

Niv Misgav – Photo Credit: The Sports Rabbi


This will be the first season that Sherf will be at the helm from the get go after having been an assistant for many years. Back in the “Corona Season” Sherf in fact took over for Stefanos Dedas who was in Greece at the time and stood on the sidelines for the Purples, but now as they say, it’s for real.

“I want to thank management who have given me this opportunity and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with the staff that is here as we have been doing over the last five years. We are keeping the continuity in the team which is what we have with a number of players who are still with us while we are also always looking ahead as the club wants to reach the highest of heights going forward. It may not always happen but that is the goal that we have set.”

For Levy, naming Sherf as the new head coach was an absolute no-brainer, “As management I’ve seen over the past number of years how he has been able to work with the players. We knew it was going to be an easy decision to appoint Amit as the head coach.”

Yossi Levy and Eitan Lanciano – Photo Credit: The Sports Rabbi


Sherf explained what he brings to the table and how he plans to use the qualities that he has gained throughout the years to succeed as a head coach, “What I’ve realized in recent years is that you have to learn from your character in order to connect with the players. To be able to pass on your style of play, you have to be yourself.”

“I have a certain quietness that can be interpreted as indifference, but I hope that I will be able to bring confidence, thoughtfulness and logic to the players so that we can all connect. There is a fan base that takes care of some of the other things and everything else I’ll have to learn. I was able to take a tremendous amount from all of the coaches that I have worked with and I hope that I will be able to translate those things as a head coach.”

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