Another Israeli legionnaire went out today (Thursday) for German handball. This is 18-year-old Nadav Cohen, captain of the national team and youth project of Israel and a player of the city of Rehovot, who signed with the Grosswellstadt senior team in the German sub-league. He will join this group to the Israeli national team pivot, Snir Natzia, who joined Grosswellstadt in the summer (both grew up on the streets, as did other legionnaires – Yonatan Dayan and Yoav Lambrozo).
Cohen, a very talented player, will play for the German team in the corner position (in the team he also plays as a center and liaison, and serves as a joint captain along with Or Maman). He signed a contract until the end of the season, with an option to extend it for a period of two years. Grosswellstadt is one of the luxury clubs in Germany, holding 6 championships and 4 state cups in Germany, along with two glorious European Cup victories – most of them in the period from the late seventies to 1990. Grosswellstadt also used to play the brothers Chen and Gil Pomeranz.
Cohen will be the fifth legionnaire in Germany, where Daniel Musindi (Erlangen from the Bundesliga), Yonatan Dayan (Rimper from the second Bundesliga), Natzia of course and Tomer Bondheimer who plays for Mecklenburger Shtira from the third league are already playing. Last season, Yoav Lambrozo also played for Eisenach in Germany, and in the summer he moved to the successful top team of Limoges in the French league.
This is a great achievement for the youth team project, which started several years ago in Germany and lasts this season in Portugal (the project players will return to Israel tomorrow at the end of the second part), and developed many players alongside legionnaires mentioned here in the article (including Lior Gorman who plays in the second French league).
Cohen will take off for Germany on the 24th of the month, together with Nazia, and in April will also participate in the World Under-19 Championship qualifiers, in the uniform of the Israeli youth team. Cohen told the Handball Association website: “Very exciting, it’s a crazy feeling of a dream come true. The ambition is to make the most of everything I can and succeed. I know this is a very young team, developing players. It has a very impressive past, and big ambitions for the future. In it and find my way. “
The route you took is familiar, both in the streets and in the youth teams and of course in the youth team project. How much has the process contributed to you?
“Rehovot gave me the basics, and the stage to break forward in the alumni group, and thanks to Shahar Habar who gave me a lot of confidence and of course Amitai Dayan, that the whole generation that grew up in Rehovot and went to play in Europe passed under his hands. The experience I gained in Rehovot of course I brought to the project and youth team. , And gave me all the tools to be ready for this moment. From the level of knowledge required to be ready to move to a professional team. Work intensively in training and games, manage yourself and your body properly, and know how to cope away from home with high standards. I definitely feel upgraded in every aspect, professional, “The mental, the physical. This is a framework that does not exist in the country, and I thank the union, coach Dvir Goldstein and the entire team that guided us.”
With your joining Grosswellstadt, you and Snir Natzia will be one of 3 pairs of Israeli players in European teams (Adir Cohen and Yahav Shamir play in Winterthur in Switzerland, Dan Tepper and Lior Gorman in Sharbor in France). To what extent will the fact that there is an Israeli by your side who knows the method and the group help?
“I’m sure it’s going to help me a lot that Snir is in the team. He’s going to help me understand how things work, how to run more properly. He’s another friend I can talk to there, “Feel at least on weekends or holidays at home. It gives a good feeling.”
Nadav’s father, Nir Cohen, Added: “Thank you to everyone who helped along the way, and it is a great honor for the union and the project and of course for Rehovot, and especially for Amitai Dayan who raises such talented guys. I want to thank the person without whom it would have happened – Eran Rom (former actor and uncle of Nazia “He believed in Nadav from the first moment, pushed like a bulldozer, even when we did not believe it could happen.”
As mentioned, the Israeli youth team project will end its second part in Portugal tonight, and is 3 days ahead of its return to Israel (it will land in Israel tomorrow) due to the total closure that is about to enter Portugal. Due to this, the last training match planned for the project was also brought forward and will be held tonight, against a team from the first league in Portugal.