I have an opportunity to write a sports column for the Israelite. What follows is a quick journey back in time to when I began to write for fun.

(JTA) — A member of the United Arab Emirates’ royal family has formally announced his interest in buying half of the Israeli soccer team Beitar Jerusalem.

(JTA) — Three players from Argentina’s national rugby team were suspended after anti-Semitic and other hateful messages from a decade ago were discovered on line and spread on social media.

(JNS) Judoka Peter Paltchik, 28, was crowned European Judo Champion on Nov. 21 in Prague. Tal Flicker won the silver medal.

(JTA) — An Israeli professional cycling team won a stage of one of the three major international races for the first time ever on October 10th.

(JTA) — Sue Bird turns 40 in two weeks, but the Jewish basketball star is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The 2021 Maccabiah Games have been postponed for a year due to the worldwide coronavirus crisis.

(JNS) Israeli cyclist Guy Niv made history on Sunday, becoming the first-ever Israeli cyclist to complete the Tour de France. He was riding as part of the Team Israel Start-Up Nation squad, which was competing in the Tour for the first time.

(JTA) — Jewish billionaire Steve Cohen is set to become the next owner of the New York Mets baseball team.

(JTA) — Tenth time is the charm: After previously losing to Rafael Nadal nine straight times, Diego Schwartzman stunned him in straight sets on September 19th.

(JNS)- Jerusalem-based OrCam Technologies, which develops artificial intelligence-based wearable devices to aid the blind and visually impaired, announced on Wednesday that it was partnering with soccer legend Lionel Messi.

(JTA) — Zach Banner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers wants the Black community to know: Jews “deal with the same amount of hate, similar hardships and hard times.”

(JNS) Team Israel Start-Up Nation (ISN) has announced that Chris Froome, a four-time Tour de France winner and one of the biggest names in the sport, has signed a long-term contract to lead the Jewish state’s cycling team.

(JTA) — Like the rest of the world, San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler is on hold waiting for his life to resume. But he’s trying to make sure the sitting around prepares him for a Major League Baseball season he hopes will take place.

(JTA) — The 2021 Maccabi Games have been postponed for a year due to the worldwide coronavirus crisis.

(April 20, 2020 / JNS) Israeli Olympian Sagi Muki is sharing his home-training regimen online to help motivate those in isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, and dedicating his time to projects to raise money for coronavirus relief.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Deni Avdija is no doubt aware that ESPN ranks him as the fifth-best basketball prospect in the world, even though he’s only 19.

(JTA) — The Chelsea soccer club in Britain marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a commemorative mural of Jewish players and prisoners of war who were sent to a Nazi camp.

 (JNS) Israeli alpine skier Noa Szollos, 17, won Israel its first medals in the Winter Youth Olympic Games when she competed in the competition earlier this month in Lausanne, Switzerland.

(JNS) Roy Nissany will become the official test driver for the Williams Group, making him Israel’s very first Formula One driver, announced the motor racing team and constructor ROKiT Williams Racing on Wednesday

(JTA) — Argentine-Jewish tennis player Diego Schwartzman finished second in the Vienna Open Oct. 27.

There’s a professional baseball team based in Florence, Kentucky, called the Freedom, and they’ve had a whale of a season. 

(JTA) — Major League baseball star Yasiel Puig visited a Jewish camp for kids with cancer and called it “one of the best days” of his life.

(JNS) For two days in mid-August, 575 men left their jobs, families and hometowns to cycle some 180 miles across three states as part of the Bike4Chai annual fundraiser to benefit Chai Lifeline, an organization dedicated to helping children with cancer and other life-altering illnesses, and …

(JNS) In a show of support for future development of the sport in Israel, the women’s Chelsea Football Club team visited HaMoshava Stadium in Petach Tikvah on Aug. 20 for a sold-out pre-season match against the Israel women’s national team.

(JTA) — The Los Angeles Dodgers will add a statue of legendary Jewish pitcher Sandy Koufax to their stadium as part of a renovation project.

(JNS) The 15th European Maccabi Games, which some have likened to the Jewish Olympics, concluded on Aug. 7 in Budapest, Hungary, with team USA taking home a total of 155 medals, more than any other country.

(JTA) — A Jewish British tennis champ who won the women’s doubles at Wimbledon 63 years ago says an exclusive sport club refused to accept her because she is Jewish.

(JTA) — On May 14, the NBA held its draft lottery, determining in which order each of its teams would pick players in next month’s draft. It made headlines for a couple of reasons: First, the consensus No. 1 pick, Zion Williamson of Duke, is the most hyped basketball player in years — possib…

(JTA) — Two professional soccer teams — one in England and one in the United States — will send a joint delegation to the March of the Living.

In October of 1945, Sgt. Lester Rodney was stationed on a remote South Pacific island when he received a telegram from New York:

Sarah Singer-Nourie, a leadership coach, wife and mother, walked into a Division I men’s college basketball practice and immediately sensed strained energy.

The life of a professional athlete is anything but stable. One day you’re the captain of your hometown team, the next you and your family are in a different country acclimating to life in a city you have never heard of before.

When Kevin Youkilis threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park before Game One of the American League Championship Series on October 13, four teams remained alive in the Major League Baseball playoffs. Each featured a Jewish slugger. 

(JTA) — Greg Joseph of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns got a new mezuzah and kicked a game-winning field goal — on the same day.

Max Eisenberg is an entrepreneur living in downtown Cincinnati. The 27-year-old Michigan native is the CEO of ActionStreamer, a Cincinnati-based technology company that is ushering in a new era of sports fan engagement.

On April 26 the Arizona Cardinals selected Josh Rosen in the first round of the National Football League draft. The quarterback from UCLA became the first Jew taken in the first round since 1987 (Harris Barton, San Francisco). 

The American Football in Israel (AFI) men’s and women’s national teams returned home this week, proudly representing their country halfway around the globe at the 2018 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Flag Football World Championships in Panama.

Ephraim Roth celebrated his 100th birthday on July 7. It was a rousing gala at Cedar Village. 

By Ivan Koop Kuper