Israel Tennis & Education Centers

From its single Ramat Hasharon site, ITEC expanded across Israel, particularly in the country's geographic periphery. An earlier overview listed 14 locations and noted that many centers were situated in outlying development towns or poor neighborhoods as part of the organization's social-development mission.[6] A 2020 report documented 15 centers and more than 7,500 weekly child participants, including approximately 2,000 children from disadvantaged populations enrolled in special community programs extending from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Ofakim and Arad in the south.[7]

In 2024, one organizational description reported 17 centers and seven satellite sites and identified ITEC's principles as equality, excellence, education, and leadership.[3] Another account that year described 24 centers and branches with nearly 200 courts.[1] A 2026 report marking 50 years of activity documented 25 centers and approximately 190 courts nationwide.[2] The ITEC Foundation — the organization's U.S. 501(c)(3) fundraising arm, with offices in New York City, Florida, and Toronto — reported that the organization had helped more than 500,000 children since its founding.[3] The varying facility counts may reflect both organizational growth and differing definitions of centers, branches, and satellite sites.[1][2]

ITEC traces its origins to a group of American, South African, and British philanthropists who were also tennis enthusiasts and decided to invest in Israeli youth sports.[8] They built a court and training center for children in Ramat Hasharon, north of Tel Aviv; the center opened in 1976.[8][9] Ian Froman, an Israeli tennis developer born in Johannesburg in 1937 who immigrated to Israel in 1964, played a leading role in its development.[9] Froman had represented South Africa at the 1961 Wimbledon championship, participated in the Maccabiah Games as both a South African and an Israeli, served as captain of Israel's Davis Cup team, and trained the national tennis squad.[9] In 1974, he left his dental practice to work full time on establishing a dedicated tennis center for Israeli youth.[9]

The 120,000-member South African Jewish community contributed significantly to the early centers, reflecting the transnational philanthropic network behind the initiative.[8] By 1987, more than 85,000 children had played at the Ramat Hasharon facility and at six additional complexes built in other Israeli cities, illustrating how quickly tennis, described in the article as “once unknown in the land,” had become popular.[8] Froman received the Israel Prize for sport and physical culture in 1989 and became chairman of the Israeli Tennis Association in 2004.[9]

ITEC's work is organized into three distinct spheres. Junior development serves approximately 5,500 children and offers the broadest entry point into the sport. Social-impact programming reaches around 2,000 children at risk through initiatives including coexistence programs and obesity prevention. Talent development serves roughly 500 gifted players and is designed to open pathways toward professional tennis careers or scholarships at universities and colleges abroad.[4]

Within the talent stream, junior academies operate in Akko, Yokneam, Haifa, Ramat HaSharon, Tel Aviv, and Ashkelon, among other locations.[4] Participants train two hours a day, five days a week, receiving fitness instruction, mental training, and tournament experience. The most advanced players can enter the International ITEC Tennis Academy, which adds physiotherapy or medical support and specialized nutrition services to the training regimen.[4] Tennis director Hans Felius described the high-performance pathway as a process requiring approximately ten years, beginning with the identification of talented children at an early age rather than waiting to select only the strongest players at age 16.[4]

The Headstart program — conducted in partnership with the Values in Sport association — targets children aged 10 to 14 from Israel's geographic periphery and all sectors of society. Participants receive three weekly tennis sessions alongside a separate weekly session of psychology-based workshops, discussion groups, simulations, and community initiatives focused on leadership, social skills, and emotional and mental resilience. Sites included Ofakim, Sajur, Jaffa, Beersheba, Tiberias, Arad, Jerusalem, and Kiryat Shmona, with the longer-term aim of training graduates first as assistant tennis instructors and eventually as certified instructors.[10]

The Special Tennis program, operating across 14 centers — 12 of them in the periphery — provides adapted tennis and personal-empowerment groups for approximately 300 children and young people with special needs. A partnership with Variety Israel announced in 2022 provided roughly NIS 1 million to expand the program, funding adapted training, tournament participation in Israel and abroad, personal sports equipment, and the professional development of coaches qualified to work with special populations.[11]

A defining feature of ITEC is its deliberate use of tennis as a framework for Jewish-Arab cooperation. Many of the organization's centers are located in outlying development towns or poor neighborhoods, a geographic strategy consistent with its social-development goals.[6] Coexistence tournaments have provided one structured setting for contact between children from different communities.[12]

One prominent expression of this mission was the Jaffa Doubles Coexistence Winter Regional Tournament, which brought 90 Jewish and Arab players together from centers in Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Beersheba. Players competed in mixed doubles across four categories after two months of preparation emphasizing doubles tactics, communication, and positive reinforcement; approximately 100 matches were played.[12] A participant from an Arab family called it “a privilege” to interact with Jewish friends and build friendships over the years.[13]

The organization has also supported children from immigrant absorption centers and children with special needs.[2] One digital-inclusion initiative associated with former player Andy Ram, the Israel Builders Association, and the Israeli Leadership Forum distributed 100 computer packages — each including a laptop, internet-access device, accessories, and a carrying case — to children in economically disadvantaged peripheral communities, funded by approximately NIS 250,000.[5] The organization also awarded four Anna and Michael Kahn scholarships totaling NIS 200,000 to outstanding young players, supporting international competition, training, professional equipment, and specialist coaching. The scholarship program was described as being awarded for the tenth consecutive year.[14]

ITEC's operations have repeatedly been tested by security and public-health crises, and the organization's responses illuminate the depth of its community role. During the COVID-19 restrictions of Passover 2020, when regular tennis and community activities were suspended, board members from the United States, Canada, and Israel funded NIS 400,000 in food vouchers — NIS 400 per family — distributed to 1,000 participating families.[7]

During the war that began in 2023, ITEC's northern centers closed amid worsening security conditions.[15] The Ashkelon center continued supporting children who could not reach the courts through remote activities, Zoom tennis sessions, Zoom meetings with a psychologist, home visits when possible, board-game distribution, small-group activities under Home Front Command guidelines, and emotional support for staff. The center also maintained contact with displaced athletes and helped at least one player find an alternative training framework in Modi'in.[2]

In 2024, ITEC organized a three-day “Home Away From Home” camp at its Beersheba branch for 50 children from Acre, Nahariya, and Sajur — a Druze town — including Jewish, Druze, Muslim, and Christian children displaced or affected by the conflict.[15] Activities included tennis, bowling, a theater visit, video games, and mental-coaching sessions facilitated by mental-health coach Asaf Barel, who led sessions of approximately 45 minutes addressing children's hidden stress, family disruption, and confidence. The program was intended to give children a break from alarms, shelling, and displacement while helping them rebuild a sense of safety and normal routine.[15]

ITEC's physical infrastructure reflects both its national scope and its ambitions for elite sport alongside community access. As of 2026, the network comprised 25 centers and approximately 190 courts, with its broader operations extending from Kiryat Shmona and Tiberias in the north to Arad and Beersheba in the south.[2][1] The Ashkelon center alone served more than 1,500 children and teenagers.[2]

A landmark development was the Jerusalem tennis complex inaugurated in 2025, built at an investment of more than NIS 70 million. The complex includes 18 tennis courts — 12 upgraded existing courts, four newly covered courts, and two additional outdoor courts — along with four squash halls, a judo hall, a fitness room, and commercial areas. The facility was designed to integrate elite sport with broad community activity.[16]

ITEC's contribution to Israeli tennis at the professional level is substantial. Most professional Israeli tennis players spent their formative years as students at the centers.[6] The organization's early connection to Amos Mansdorf — who trained at the original Ramat Hasharon center as a child and went on to become Israel's top-ranked professional player — is emblematic of the pipeline the centers developed.[8] Historical accounts connect the centers with tennis's rise from a game described in 1987 as “once unknown in the land” to a popular sport, noting that 14 centers opened in various parts of Israel.[8][17]