The coach of the women’s judo team, Shani Hershko, was a guest on the podcast “WSP – The voice of female athletes in Israel”, led by basketball player Noa Zlibanski. Hershko, 51 years old from Pardesia, is one of the most decorated coaches in Israel, with a host of achievements in the world arena and two Olympic medals, obtained under his guidance.
Hershko spoke in an interview about the success that led Israel to the status of a judo powerhouse, about the exciting moments in his career, the preparations for the Paris Olympics and the dream of making history. “I am very proud of the path I took as a coach and I am very proud of my athletes, who are part of the heritage of judo and Israeli sports.”
What is the secret of the success of the women’s judo team? “The secret is, first of all, that it’s not one secret. Two, on the one hand, you have to have some kind of fixed strategy, but some of them have to change depending on the athletes you train. Depending on your opponents out there, and it’s always divided between two things. That the main thing is your responsibility and there are things that are less under your responsibility”.
“What I am responsible for is uncompromising commitment, and without even one percent of saying I could have done more. As far as I am concerned, I am responsible for the effort and the effort must always be 100 percent. The opponents have less ability to take responsibility, but the effort is always 100 percent.”
Raz Hershko (from left), Inbar Lanir and coach Shani Hershko, with the medals at the European Judo Championships (photo: Israel Judo Association)
You train four seconds for one moment in the Olympics, how do you do it? “We don’t train for four years, we train all our lives for one moment. The campaign is four years. An athlete doesn’t wake up at the end of August after the Olympic Games and say let’s start preparing for the Olympics. It’s a process where you try to maximize everything, to prepare in the best possible way.”
“On the one hand, there should be a plan, not only how you train best, but how you train better than your opponents. This is the place of risk and experience, because in the end you will arrive at the Olympics with added value that the others did not. There are a lot of variables that you have to produce , when you prepare the female athletes to compete at an Olympic level.”
