At a special press conference held today (Tuesday), the Hapoel Beer Sheva basketball team announced a broad regional cooperation between the club, the city of Beer Sheva and the city of Dimona.
As part of the cooperation, Dimona’s name will be added to the team’s name, and the games of the senior team within the Balkan League will be held in Dimona. Also, Hapoel Be’er Sheva will provide a professional shell for the youth department of Maccabi Dimona and will open a new basketball school in the city.
As part of the cooperation, a program will be implemented to locate and develop basketball for girls and boys in the city and to strengthen women’s basketball in the Negev. At the same time, Hapoel Beer Sheva and Maccabi Dimona will jointly operate the senior team in the city with the aim of fielding a team in the national league that will serve as a development team for the one from the Premier League.
This is just the first step in a broad plan to continue the development of basketball in the Negev region, a plan in which the Israel Basketball Association, the municipality of Beer Sheva, the municipality of Dimona and other associations in the region are partners.
Rubik Danilovich, the Mayor of Beer Sheva: “An empire was built here to glory, I must say that today’s meeting symbolizes our worldview of a strong and united Negev. We want the Negev to be strong and its residents to receive the best possible. I turned to my friend Benny Biton, who loves sports very much, after Kafir (Arzi) has been trying for many, many years to involve other factors in this difficult journey, of leading a professional sports team that plays in the top league in Israel and wants to play in Europe. It is not an easy journey financially, everything here has to be at the highest level. It is not enough to be established as a basketball team in the league The elite, we want to break more boundaries and bring greater achievements. This is what Kafir instills as chairman and owner, I must say to his credit that he lacks ego and he does everything so that basketball is established here. We are always looking for partnerships, this togetherness will be a force multiplier.”
Benny Beatonthe mayor of Dimona: “Thank you to my friend and friend, the mayor of the Negev capital, I have to congratulate Robik who is doing a great job in Beer Sheva and I am not ashamed to say that I am his student. When he turned to me and said that we want to collaborate, I told him that for me the sky is the limit. We We will be equal partners. An infidel who is crazy to talk, the salt of the land, he loves sports and it is difficult for us as members of the public to find people like him. We would like to emphasize the issue of women, it is very important to me. I said that in three years we will be in the women’s Premier League as well. Everyone should be a partner in the project The sport of the Negev, so that we have a unique and representative sport here. When Be’er Sheva is strong, Dimona will also be strong and so will Yeruhem, Arad and Nativut.”
Kefir Arzi, the chairman of the club: “This union will give us the opportunity to increase the number of boys and girls who will play in the area, I believe we can raise the women’s team to the Premier League. It will make a lot of boys and girls play, that’s the goal. We have introduced very serious reinforcement players here. Altshuler has been playing with us since the national league, it’s been a long time, this is the place to say thank you and well done. We need partners here, basketball is not just a team in the Premier League. The group needs a little stronger financial backing and I’m always happy for partners. It was either to play in the Balkan League in Dimona or not to play in the Balkan League at all. I’m happy to play in Dimona and I’m sure it will bring us new fans. The more basketball is played here in the region, the more fans we will have and maybe we will also be able to fill the conch hall.”
Tomer Yaron The CEO of the club: “We are happy to announce the launch of a regional cooperation, which began between the cities of Bash and Dimona and other commercial companies. This cooperation has been operating for years and we are happy to expand it to the world of basketball. I am happy and proud to say that the club’s senior team will be called from today Hapoel ‘Altschuler Shachem’ Beer Sheva/Dimona. The club will give professional help to Maccabi Dimona, which plays in League A South, with the aim of turning it into the club’s development team. In addition, the goal is to develop the women’s team and girls’ basketball in the city. We are very proud of this move and are sure that this is just the beginning of the road. The idea of playing in the city of Dimona is to open basketball to new audiences. The club will be happy to open itself to a new audience, we will find solutions for our audience and make sure that they have the opportunity to come and we are sure that those who are at peace with the team and love it, will find a way to come. We would love to see everyone with us. The club has developed in many areas, whether it’s the academy, the youth and women’s department. We all benefit from this power multiplier.”