Well this is the first time I have ever written a blog in my life, so I guess to start out I'm sure some of you fans would like to know a little bit about me. As you know my name is Amit Kurz. I live in Givatayim which is a suburb of Tel-Aviv. I was born in New York and moved with my family to live in Israel when I was six months old, and ever since I've been living in Israel.
My baseball career started when I was 8 years old and I started playing T-ball every Friday on a team that was coached by Leon Klarfeld (the IBL Director of Israeli Operations). I have played on several teams in Israel and on 6 national teams in international tournaments.
I wanted to start off by writing about what is going on with me right now. As some of you might know, in Israel everybody has to go to the army once you turn 18. I was drafted about three months ago. I was really privileged that the army has allowed me to be on a special athletic program. This program provides all the top athletes in Israel with the opportunity to continue their sports profession while in the army. This means that I have a job that demands of me to be in the army 6 hours a day and then allows me to practice and play baseball the rest of the day. After finishing my basic training (which was a great experience, where we were sleeping in tents for a month and we got to go to the shooting range a few times) I went to a special course that trains you to be a soldier-teacher. This means that as a soldier, I go to schools and help kids who made Aliyah (the Hebrew word for people who immigrate to Israel). I will teach them Hebrew and help them with day-to-day life. I feel that it is very important that I contribute a great deal to the community.
So, now that I have completed the course I am glad that I can shift all of my efforts to get ready for the IBL season and our Israel Senior Baseball Spring season. I think that it is a great opportunity for me and for baseball in Israel.
I have to tell you that I am incredibly excited about playing in the IBL and I can't wait for the first game. Until then there is a long time to go! So I will just keep working hard by lifting weights and getting stronger, faster and bigger! I really hope you enjoy my blog - I will follow up on my army service and my day-to-day life and most importantly, my baseball life. I hope you enjoyed reading my first blog and if you have any questions please post a comment and I will be happy to talk about them in upcoming blogs.
Hope to see you in the summer!
-Amit
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