Jerusalem hospital fields basketball team in international tournament

The Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem is fielding a basketball team to compete in an open tournament run by ESPN. The team will be led by David Blu, a former star player for Maccabi Tel Aviv, and will be competing against 64 other teams for the tournament’s $2 million prize.

The team is being organized by the American Committee for Shaare Zedek, a group that supports the medical facilities in Jerusalem. The first games of the basketball tournament, called The Basketball Tournament (TBT), begin July 9.

The Shaare Zedek squad is a motley crew of international veterans. In addition to the 6’7” Blu, team members have played in Netanya, the United States, Austria, Australia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and France. Last year’s winning team, the Overseas Elite, was also made up of veterans of the international scene.

Blu was inspired to support the hospital by the loss of his mother to cancer when he was 14. Blu won two Euroleague Championships with Maccabi Tel Aviv and played in The Basketball Tournament with a different team last year.

“Shaare Zedek has a real shot at winning,” he said in a statement. “We have a great squad of players, all eager to do good for the hospital.”

The first games will be played in Los Angeles, the semifinals will be in Philadelphia, and the final will be played in Madison Square Garden in New York City, live on ESPN, on August 2. Qualifying rounds are taking place now.

The teams compete on social media as well as on the court. Each team needs a minimum of 200 votes from supporters to qualify, and more social media support improves a team’s seeding in the tournament. The top 100 supporters of the winning team will each receive $2,000.

“We put this team together to unite supporters of Shaare Zedek,” said Barak Raviv, a representative of the hospital, “and to bring national and international awareness to our work in Jerusalem,” he said.

Shaare Zedek staff saw 140,000 emergency room visits last year, and 22,400 babies were born in their facilities. Hospital personnel treated more than three-quarters of the victims of the ongoing terror wave. The hospital recently opened a children’s hospital and is planning a neurological institute.