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University’s Sports Teams Prove a
Winner in More Ways than One
 “They
were playing together for a common purpose, Jews and Arabs.” Avipal
Kotter, assistant director of the University’s Physical Education
Unit, was describing a recent college tournament in Europe in which
the University’s soccer team took part.
“Some of the other teams, especially from France and Spain, wondered
how Jews and Arabs could not only play on the same side, but share
the same room,” he continued. “They saw how the teams from Algeria
and Lebanon were hostile to the Israelis. They thought that Jews and
Arabs only fought. And here was our team, 30 percent Arabs. It
changed perceptions. It was a shock to the French and others. It
showed the University in a good light. It did good service for
Israel.”
Although Kotter didn’t say so, it probably helped, too, that the
University of Haifa team placed high in the tournament.
Sports are not the thing at Israeli universities as they are at
American colleges. It would, in fact, probably come as a surprise to
faculty and staff alike, if not many of the students, as well, that
the University offers 22 different sports teams. Not every team is
fielded every year, since not every sport can attract a sufficient
number of varsity players each time.
In one unusual twist, there is a team, but no facility of its own to
practice or play. “We must be in the Guinness Book of Records for
having the only water polo team that has no pool,” Kotter laughed.
There are no leagues as such. The Academic Sports Association (ASA)
is the Israeli equivalent of the U.S.’s NCAA. Most games take place
in ASA tournaments, such as a four-day winter meet in Eilat. This
past winter, a 6-man University of Haifa team competing in a series
of 7 different sports—from tug-of-war, weight lifting, and wall
climbing, to paddle-boating, and others—placed second in the
competition.
In other ASA competitions, the women’s mini-soccer team claimed the
championship for 2005, and the men’s navigating team came in second
in that sport. The men’s mini-soccer team also placed second in the
ASA championships.
Although “there is not a sports culture here,” as Kotter put it,
“the University of Haifa does offer modest scholarships to
outstanding sportsmen and women. No recruiting for sports teams goes
on here at the University or in Israel, he states. He backtracks
from this assertion somewhat, noting parenthetically that some of
the newer private colleges around the country have begun to recruit
players. In the U.S., he says by way of comparison, colleges
constitute the route on the way to the pros. Here [at the University
and in Israel] it’s almost the other way.
The scholarships that the University awards are for outstanding
achievement on the field or court. But they may even go to
non-playing volunteers—a student who out of dedication voluntarily
performs all the clerical, technical, and even janitorial work for a
team—and roots them on. Varsity players are exempt from the
compulsory sports requirement that is incumbent on every B.A.
student at the University. In addition, players on teams that have
to practice a fair amount of time are given four academic credits by
way of compensation.
Students who want to teach sports can do an M.A. program in Physical
Education that the Faculty of Education offers in conjunction with
the Wingate Institute, Israel’s premier sports institute and
college. Students and staff who want to demonstrate their fitness
can participate in the annual Spring run in memory of Ilan Shapira
or can work out in the University gym, which has recently honored
requests to open earlier in the morning two days a week.
It is Avipal Kotter’s fifth year with the University’s Sports Unit,
and he is under no delusion about putting Haifa on a par with any of
the U.S. college sports powers. The fact, however, that his teams
have shown the Europeans and even some Arab countries that Israeli
Jews and Israeli Arabs can and do cooperate to produce a winner
propels University of Haifa sports, in his eyes, into the Big
Leagues. “They put the University, and Israel, in a good light,” he
says with understated pride.
VARSITY SPORTS AT THE UNIVERSITY
soccer, mini-soccer for men, mini-soccer for women,
volleyball for women, volley ball for men, basketball for men,
basketball for women, handball for men, chess, karate, judo,
swimming, water polo, surfing, tennis, table tennis, squash,
marksmanship, fencing, navigating, track and field, bicycling.
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In
This Issue:
President’s Focus - Battling Unjust
Resolutions
Prof. Azy Barak’s SAHAR Offers a Vital
Virtual Shoulder to Those with Nowhere Else to Turn
University Joins War on Drugs,
Campaign Is Integral to Interdisciplinary Clinical Center’s Service
Kidma Project Helps Students Face Their Identities
University Will Not Be Silent in Face of UK
Boycott
Anat Liberman Is New External Relations
Head
Prof. Majid Al-Haj to Be New Dean of Research
Prof. Sophia Menache – New Dean of
Graduate Studies
Prof. Menachem Mor—Dean of Humanities
Virtual Open House Proves a Big Hit
Students Have an Address for Complaints:
Professor Schatzker, Their Ombudsman
Computer Science and Occupational Therapy
Team Up for Virtual Reality Conference
Student Develops Innovative Technology to Deal with Post-Traumatic
Stress
Giora Lehavi: His Job Is to Check on
Quality Management, and Other Standards
University’s Sports Teams Prove a Winner in
More Ways than One
Student Publishes His Road to Wisdom
Honors and Awards
Mother and Son—in utero—Studied Hebrew at University’s Summer Ulpan
University’s China Connection Continues
Unique Algorithm Enables Better Mobile
Wireless Communication
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