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Shilat hi, so give us a short cv<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n Okay, I’m 24 years old, left university, contemplating my life direction, working at customer service for Wolt. I have 7 siblings and 14 nephews and nieces, originally from Bet El.<\/p>\n\n Oh…. a settler?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Absolutely. Settler, religious, I play rugby in a skirt.”<\/p>\n\n How did a settler girl become a rugger?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Five years ago I was in my second year of national service in Jerusalem. My brother-in-law and sister live there, and he always looks for cool activities. So they tried rugby a few times and one Saturday they were at our place and told us how great it was. So I went along and was amazed, really.”<\/p>\n\n What sport were you doing before?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Me?? Sport? Nothing! Couch potato. Hates sports. Hates the gym.”<\/p>\n\n So from no sport you jump into one of the toughest games – how so?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Maybe it was the right moment in life. I found camaraderie at the club. Women from different backgrounds. Completely different from the world I grew up in.”<\/p>\n\n You mean politically different?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Politically too, but also from every other perspective. There were women in their thirties. Totally not religious. Lesbian girls and feminist girls. I had no connection with the LGBT community before. The previous-previous manager, Lior, initiated a really nice project of dialogue between Jewish and Arab women. And I’m this cute, religious girl from the National Service.”<\/p>\n\n So what made you relate to them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n “In my own world I’m also a feminist. I like a place where women are strong. Not submissive. No one tells them to be careful about anything.”<\/p>\n\n And how did the girls receive you? You emerged from somewhere totally different<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “In the most amazing welcoming way! See, I don’t have any other friends that I would meet twice a week. I probably see my teammates more than anyone else. And in all these years, I’ve never heard a word about my background or anything like that. They welcome me in everything. If at the end of a tournament we need to quickly organize to leave so I can make it for Shabbat, they speed up to make it happen. Even if I myself was initially hesitant to ask for it, they came and told me that I need to make it for Shabbat. And they will do anything required for me to make it.”<\/p>\n\n And really you knew nothing of rugby? Like that New Zealand are good at it or about women’s rugby… something<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “I told you, I knew nothing! Not about rugby and not about sports. I didn’t know even what you are supposed to do. Now I know more. We watched for example games in the recent World Cup (for men). It was very exciting because I play and I could relate. I watch more women’s games. It’s very exciting to see our national team, even if they are not at a world-class level.”<\/p>\n\n Are you interested in representing Israel?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “From the moment I understood that it conflicts with Shabbat, I realized it’s not realistic.”<\/p>\n\n You know, our ‘Haredi’ marathon runner Beatie Deutsch campaigns to reschedule marathons at major events<\/strong><\/p>
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\n “Yeah, I heard about her. I’m not a political person to get into these wars.”<\/p>\n\n It never occurred that you had to compromise Shabbat?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Once I drove back myself to make it in time for Shabbat. My friends were with me in the car. Let’s just say they won’t forget the experience.”<\/p>\n\n Any other Shabbat observing teammates?<\/strong><\/p>
\n <\/p><\/p>\n\n “Yes. At first, there was only me and now there are a few others. Elisheva, Aviva, Ester, Maya, Malka – some of them are ‘HAREDI’ – also not from my world.”<\/p>\n\n Haredi girls in rugby – you are destroying stereotypes with every step!<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Elisheva and Aviva are ‘Haredi’. Maya and Malka are American Orthodox, so it’s different. Malka and Ester are Baalot Tshuva.”<\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n\n Any Arab girls on the team?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Unfortunately not at the moment. I tried to approach some who were running track in Givat Ram, but those who came didn’t take to it. On the men’s team there are some great Arab guys.”<\/p>\n\n In your surroundings people must thing you’re insane<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “My family is very open minded. The surroundings? They know i’m crazy.”<\/p>\n\n Tell us a bit about the Jerusalem Lionesses\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Alright, I think we are the first women’s rugby club in the country. Many pioneers of the sport – Michal Trabulus, Roni Kipnis, Liat Geller – all started with Jerusalem. I’ve been at the club for five years. Currently, I manage the women’s team and on the field I’m number 9 (scrum-half). They shift me around from 9 to wing. I love the wing position, but they also need me in midfield.”<\/p>\n\n What is management about? Laundry?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “To make sure someone else does the laundry! To coordinate playing fields, cars, practices. To print promotional flyers. To know who is coming to each activity.”<\/p>\n\n Who is the coach?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “King Dima! (Dmitri Skobelev). He comes up from Ashkelon. we train with the guys on Mondays and girls only on Wednesdays.” <\/p>\n\n Why King?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Crazy about him! Has this Russian facade. Always totally calm.”<\/p>\n\n You know, Russian coaches… another stereotype is that they’ll tear you up<\/b><\/p><\/p>\n\n “You have no idea how right you are.”<\/p>\n\n Example please<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Let’s say we run three full laps of the outside stadium, including stairs. We finish breathless but satisfied. Then he quietly says, very calmly, ‘now three more!'”<\/p>\n\n Challenging your mental barriers?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Totally. All in on fitness”<\/p>\n\n More stereotypes… likes it’s super cool for a guy to have an athlete girlfriend…. until she’s seen with him with a blue eye…<\/b><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Ha. We laugh about it. It definitely happens. A blue eye is no big deal. We just explain it’s rugby.”<\/p>\n\n So your base is Jerusalem, international city, that should help you in recruitment<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “All the time. It’s one of the cool things. Girls come from exchange programs, sometimes from strange places with strange stories.”<\/p>\n\n Give us a strange story<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “A girl from Germany, Marie, came to us. I have a picture from her birthday. She proudly told us that she’s from a rural area and has a lumber-jacking license to chop wood. We said, ‘What’s the big deal? You need a license to chop wood? We just take a saw and cut!’ But no, in Germany it’s a thing. And she has one.”<\/p>\n\n Strange places?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “For example, there were several Chinese girls on the team last year. They spoke excellent English. I recently spoke with one of them. I saw a recipe online in Chinese, so she translated it for me. There was someone from Brazil a few years ago, Amanda. She came back after a few years to visit us with her husband and participated in a training session. It was very emotional.”<\/p>\n\n You had a tough first tournament?<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Tough? you mean scores?”<\/p><\/p>\n\n Yes, you know, sports… you have winners and losers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/p>\n\n “Yeah, we know. Jerusalem’s always scraping the bottom. It’s been like this since I arrived. I have a different approach. I’m a competitive person but I come for the fun. Conceding a try is frustrating, but I won’t go home and say ‘damn…I lost.’ I’ll say it was fun.
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\nDon’t get me wrong, we’re doing everything to improve, and we will improve – but it’s first of all for the fun.”<\/p>\n\n ****<\/p>\n\n Jerusalem (or surrounding) woman – become a Lioness! <\/p>\n\n We train Mondays and Wednesdays at Givat Ram. 20.00.<\/p>\n\n No experience needed. <\/p>\n\n Come open minded – we are waiting for you!<\/p>\n\n Contact Shilat +972545254319<\/p>\n\n Take a look at our facebook or instagram pages:<\/p>\n\n https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jerusalemRugby\/<\/p>\n\n https:\/\/instagram.com\/rugby_jlm_lionesses?utm_medium=copy_link<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Jerusalem Lionesses Rugby Club offers an alternative to all stereotypes about life in Israel. An optimistic conversation with player and team manager Shilat Vloch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gallery","category----en"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/h1><\/p>\n\n
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