Lifestyle/Community
Werbeloff leads new Maccabi tennis initiative
Ever since most people can remember, the South African tennis team chosen for the Maccabi Games, has been selected based on whether you can reasonably hit a ball over the net, how available you were and if you could afford to go.
JACK MILNER
Not quite, but selections were made more often on an arbitrary basis. However, that is all about to change if Byron Werbeloff has his way. Byron, 24, has been appointed convener and head coach for Maccabi South Africa and he intends setting up a national structure, similar to that of Maccabi Golf SA.
“Maccabi has not had an organised programme,” said Byron. “We want to have regular tournaments and a ladder with rankings based on performance. In that way selection to the Maccabiah will be prestigious.
“We will set up a system that will help us get to know the players and give them the chance to play against members of other clubs.”
Byron was top junior in the country. He has set up a number of very good initiatives in the past and hopefully Maccabi will be another success story.
The courts at King David High School Linksfield, will be the home base in Johannesburg and to help him co-ordinate the venture, Byron has enlisted the help of Kayleigh Sher. Eight years ago Kayleigh, now 21, was one of South Africa’s biggest prospects and she twice qualified for the International Masters of the Nike Junior Tour, representing the country in Nice in 2005 as an under-12 player and again in 207 at Turin in the under-14 category.
For a while Kayleigh hung up her racquet to concentrate on her studies, but over the past few years she has coached tennis and has also represented South Africa at the International University Games.
There will be a small charge to be part of the Maccabi set-up, but this will be a nominal amount. Part of the money collected will be used to sponsor the team going to the Maccabiah.
The training will be open to anybody between the ages of six and 25. “The under-10s will be known as our ‘Rising Maccabi Stars’,” explained Byron. “The idea is to plan for the future and give them something to work towards.”
He added that the training and tournaments will be open to all, irrespective of race and religion. “We are trying to create an inexpensive way of training. The more people we have, the better it is for everybody. Of course, when it comes to selection for the Maccabiah, only Jewish members will be considered.”
With this in mind Maccabi will be holding an open day at King David on Sunday March 1. “We will have a competition format based on the level of the players. Anyone can attend, irrespective of age or race and it will be free.”
Byron is also looking at setting up a similar structure in Cape Town.