Away from the "pressure cooker" Israeli reality, surrounded by stunning scenery around him, 37-year-old basketball coach Mody Maor has now opened his fourth year in New Zealand.
After three years serving as Dan Shamir's assistant in the NZ Breakers, he has taken over as head coach and is already making a difference, as they have reached the playoff finals against hot favorites Sydney Kings.
Between the flights, nerve-wracking games and jetlag, Maor sat down with Ynet for an interview about the big opportunity he received when Shamir left the team and how his time in Hapoel Jerusalem strengthened his resolve to succeed.
"Both Israel and New Zealand are fairly unique locations," he says. "We've been here for four years and I can confidently say the distance between them is huge both geographically and culturally."
Are you enjoying life on the other side of the world?
"Two things are very funny to me. One is that my daughters were born here and while I speak English with an American accent, my daughter speaks as if she's ready for her five o'clock tea. The other is that everyone in this country loves hummus! There are like 6,000 different types of it. I keep telling them it's an Israeli thing."
Is there an active Jewish community?
"It isn't big, but it's there. They celebrate Hanukkah every year and there's an Israeli restaurant called Carmel. I feel like the Jewish community in Australia is very supportive. I even saw an Israeli flag waving in a game in Melbourne."
How did your family handle the move here?
"There's plenty of beautiful greenery where we live, so obviously they took it well. It's like paradise here. It's a beautiful nature reserve and a country in one. People are very patient. No one has ever honked at me here," he says.
"That said, they are also very ambitious and there's a balance that's being maintained between work and leisure. This isn't a siesta."
What is it that you feel most connected to?
"The basketball. It doesn't matter where I coach. It could be a team on Mars, as long as there's a decent league."
Do you miss Israel?
"I don't. When my eldest daughter was born I did because she was almost two when she first met her grandparents for the first time because of COVID. So in family moments, yes, there is a price for being far away, you miss out on important things. But I don't miss it at all."
You're not known for being very calm. Don't you miss yelling at people?
"I yell plenty. My family is all about New Zealand but I'm all about basketball, and my heart is constantly pounding hard. Being a team from New Zealand in an Australian league can be challenging."
What's the difference between the Israeli and Australian leagues?
"Here you only get up to three foreigners in a team and they're very expensive. Some of the teams here serve as a springboard to the NBA. On average, the league exports five players to the NBA draft each year," he says.
"Playing here is more reminiscent of the NBA than playing in Europe. The tempo is high, some coaches are American and the season ends plenty of time before the NBA draft."
After your brief period with Hapoel Jerusalem, weren't you afraid to move to the center stage here?
"No. My experience in Jerusalem wasn't particularly positive, but the failure there was the best schooling experience I could ever get. When I got here it was all about helping Dan Shamir succeed, and after a year, I was named associate head coach, which means I get to succeed him."
What made him leave?
"He did impossible things here, but his family just wanted to go back home. He had a crazy season during COVID, but I didn't think that would make him leave. He just sent me a laconic message saying he's decided to go back to Israel. Very much like him."
Was making it to the finals an objective from the beginning?
"No. We have a very low budget and I had to start from scratch. The training facilities had spiderwebs all over. Now we're in the finals against the richest team in the league, Sydney Kings. They're the clear favorites and I'm fine being the underdog, but we don't feel inferior," he says.
"The time in Jerusalem was very meaningful, and becoming head coach is a dream come true, but it's been a long road, and I enhanced my development as a coach any way I could, including coaching children's teams. I was no golden child that was destined for it. I made it through grit and hard work."
In hindsight, were you too naive?
"It doesn't matter. My path as a coach was challenging and you don't run away from a challenge. Without the failure in Jerusalem, I wouldn't be in the finals now. Success is earned through blood and sweat."
Do you think you'd have this opportunity as head coach in Israel?
"They never gave me the chance and coaching the Breakers is a lot more challenging than anything in Israeli basketball. Especially when it comes to management and how to build up young promising players. I'm glad to have this challenge."
Do you expect more recognition in Israel after all this?
"I'm not doing this to prove anything in Israel. I'm doing this to prove it to myself. I needed to since the failure in Jerusalem. I'm very appreciated here."