Chani Tabak, baseball mom and IAB volunteer, talks about her journey from New Jersey to establishing a new baseball program in the South of Israel.
As far back as I can remember, baseball has been a part of my life. I enjoyed the sport as a youngster, playing a lot of pick-up games with my siblings and friends until high school when I had the opportunity to play on the school women’s softball team. As a parent, I always encouraged my daughters to join sports programs, which in our local community of Highland Park, NJ included softball. By the time we made Aliyah, I had given birth to Moshe, my youngest and only son.
When we first arrived, my daughter Adina joined the Hashmonaim softball team. She was followed by Tara and Martina who also played some years later. Then as Moshe entered first grade, he was anxious to join the baseball team in Hashmonaim. He had already been practicing on a regular basis with his dad. In Hashmonaim, the streets are closed to traffic on Shabbat which left them a wonderful place to have a weekly catch. Moshe, (along with 4 other first graders), was accepted to the Hashmonaim minors team even though they officially took players in second grade and up. Moshe loved playing and playing and playing. He has played with a team every year since then. When we told him we were moving to Metar, we promised him we would do whatever we could to make sure he could continue to play.
Not long after we moved, we decided that it was time for the residents of the South to discover baseball. It was then that we decided to see what could be done about bringing baseball chugim to the Beer Sheba area. At first, I turned to Nefesh B’nefesh figuring that they would know where would be the best place to start. They suggested Beer Sheba since it was the largest city and thereby would have the largest population from which to draw participants. Their staff was also helpful giving me leads as to where to hold it and how to reach out to the population. When I spoke with IAB, Nate Fish said that first you need to find a coach. Once you have a coach, the rest is pretty easy. I spent many days on the phone trying to reach out to people but a simple post on Facebook got me my coach. Shortly after we started the chug in Beer Sheba I took a chance and called one of the people who I had spoken with (regarding the chug) and asked if he would be willing to coach in Metar. He responded positively and the Metar team was formed. For now, we are playing wherever we can. The Beer Sheba team is playing in a nearby park and at a local school field. In Metar, mostly at a grassy open field near a playground and sometimes at an outdoor basketball court. I hope someday soon we can work on getting better playing spaces or maybe even a real baseball field.
Both teams are very much at the early stages, but after Pesach, we had our first game between the Beer Sheba Braves and the Meitar Magic. It was an exciting afternoon for all. The players were so excited to play and see it all came together. They are already asking when the next game is scheduled.
It is my dream to have a Southern division of IAB with teams throughout the Beer Sheba area. We have had a very successful first season. I hope that next year we will have a minors and a juveniles team in the two cities and hope to expand to two more cities. Right now, the first challenge is finding coaches. If anyone would like to coach or bring baseball to their community in the South, please contact me - .