When you’re a sleep-deprived kid who has spent two weeks running in and out of a miklat (bomb shelter) at all hours, life is surreal, For kids, perhaps more than anyone else, it’s downright scary. It breeds anxiety and lethargy. So, when Tamir Goodman was sheltering in his miklat, he resolved, as a coach – and as he put it, “shaliach for Hashem” – that he would empower as many kids as possible.
Just over a week ago he received Home Front clearance to run his annual basketball camp. Immediately, he began to make that happen. From July 1-15, at the Sylvan Adams Sports Center in Jerusalem, 40 kids will be moving forward by learning that “part of being Jewish is bouncing back” in a timely and meaningful way.
For most Jewish sports fans, Goodman needs no introduction. Dubbed “Jewish Jordan,” he was a high school superstar and appeared on Sports Illustrated’s cover in 1998. He refused to play on Shabbos for the University of Maryland’s Division I team. He switched to Towson University, a Division 1 team that was allowed to change its schedule to accommodate Shabbat, while he was still on scholarship. Goodman dreamed of playing professionally for Maccabi and eventually signed with four Maccabi teams. An injury ended his career as a player – but not as a coach.
For years, Goodman has coached camps globally, across races, religions, and diverse abilities. His main sponsor, Athletes for Israel, brings NBA players and teams to meet and work with boys and girls in clinics throughout the country.
This time, though, his focus for the campers is on healing, given these kids’ trauma since Operation Rising Lion (Am Kelavi), the war with Iran, began. Basketball, Goodman asserts, is a vehicle that facilitates empowerment, and he’s confident that basketball will help these children emerge from a pervasive “down” state of mind and life in limbo – disrupted schedules, disrupted sleep, schools closed, extensive time in shelters, explosions and more. “B’chol derachecha da’ayhu,” Goodman maintains, invoking a pasuk in Mishlei which is often taken to mean that one should know Hashem in everything one does. If basketball is a means to an end, the end that he has in mind is building a cohort of campers who have acquired life skills that empower them – ones that will help them recover from their experiences of the last few weeks.
Unlike other years, this year’s Tamir Goodman Basketball Camp is an all-boys, all-Jewish, English-speaking camp. The day begins at 8 a.m. and finishes at 2:00 p.m. The first two days’ orientation differed substantially from previous seasons, including detailed walks through the bomb shelters.
Safety precautions aside, there is an emphasis on camper growth on many levels. Goodman’s approach to managing the camp is holistic. It’s not just about what happens on the courts but includes life skills and healthy habits that the campers practice off the courts as well. The values and the skills that the camp reinforces go home with them, and spill over into other areas of life. “The way you do one thing is the way you do everything,” Goodman posits.
Among the habits that campers are taught are arriving properly in camp, maintaining a healthy diet and adequate hydration, and wearing appropriate attire and footwear in camp. If a camper can’t afford the latter, Goodman will find resources to purchase them for him. Given differences in kashrut observance and concerns about allergies, campers bring their own lunches.
Goodman lives and mentors by a powerful credo: “Every day, what you do counts,” he emphasizes. The 40 campers, who range from 9-16, are mentored by Goodman and five coaches who work with him. The camp’s usual enrollment is 55 campers; Goodman attributes this decline to the war. All are American (including new olim) or Israelis. In this sense, the camp may be less diverse and the numbers down from previous years, but it’s no less engaging and what it offers is confidence and character building.
An unintended but very significant consequence of the war is that it left Goodman and his coaches with a reduced prep time to arrange all the logistics. Nevertheless, Goodman’s special guests include NBA players, college players, and others, who meet with campers. There are also former campers from outside Israel and Israelis, some of whom may serve as mentors and some who just enjoy being there with the campers and coaches. (And no, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf will not be making any appearances at the camp, but Goodman is “elated” that these two Israelis were just signed to the Brooklyn Nets.)
Forget about “lemons making lemonade.” This camp is taking basketball and making menschen.
