Lacrosse team trains in Gaza’s shadow

The Israel Lacrosse Women’s National Team placed second in the women’s European lacrosse championship tournament in Braga, Portugal, in July. The silver medal was won with the help of two women from the MetroWest area –- head coach Sophie Bass, originally from Westfield, and attacker/midfielder Jordyn Lipkin of Short Hills.

“I am super proud of what we put together in Portugal,” Ms. Bass said. “Finishing in second place out of 19 teams is an incredible accomplishment, showcasing the team’s outstanding performance and efforts.”

Teams from Switzerland, Poland, Latvia, Germany, Italy, and Wales all were defeated by the Israeli women before they lost the final game to England, the only other undefeated team in the tournament.

Lacrosse is fairly new to Israel. Considered the oldest organized sport in North America, this fast-paced contact competition has elements of basketball, soccer, and hockey, and requires a high level of coordination and agility.

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The Israel Lacrosse Association, founded in 2011, is dedicated to developing the sport in the Jewish state and using lacrosse to engage diaspora Jews.

To further this goal, the ILA partners with Birthright Israel to offer American lacrosse players a free 10-day visit during which the usual touring is combined with coaching young Israeli players and competing in exhibition games against the men’s and women’s national teams.

This is how both Ms. Bass and Ms. Lipkin got involved.

Ms. Bass, 27, coaches women’s lacrosse at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. In 2017, while she was a student and lacrosse player at Albright College, she went to Israel on a regular Birthright trip and extended her stay with an Onward Israel summer internship.

There were two weeks between the programs, so she contacted Israel Lacrosse Birthright and went to ILA’s national training center in Ashkelon for two weeks to assist with that program. She ended up playing in the women’s premier league during the summer.

“That winter, I helped chaperone a 10-day high school service trip for Jewish kids, where they see the sights and go into schools to do lacrosse clinics and then help out at practices,” she said. “In 2022, after college, I came back in the winter and chaperoned another service trip.”

In the summer of 2023, ILA was seeking a new national women’s coach, and Ms. Bass got the job. She was able to take on this position because the lacrosse season at college runs from February through May.

Fluency in Hebrew is not necessary; the national team of 22 players, from 18 to 26 years old, now is comprised of 18 Americans — some of them dual citizens of the United States and Israel — and four native-born Israelis, the most sabras the team has ever had.

ILA also has an under-20 team for girls, comprised mainly of native-born Israelis and a few dual citizens whose families made aliyah.

“Older girls in Israel are just learning to play lacrosse, unlike girls in America who may start in second grade,” Ms. Bass said. “Also, the girls go into the army at 18 for two years, so it’s hard to have consistency. But we do have a lot of Israeli athletes we’re encouraging.”

Ms. Bass was in Ashkelon from June 26 to August 4 to help the Israeli coaches prepare the team for the European tournament. This also gave her the opportunity to spend some time with her twin brother, Ben, who made aliyah five years ago and lives in Tel Aviv.

Although Ms. Bass said she feels comfortable in Israel, it certainly was not an easy summer to be in Ashkelon, just 13 miles north of Gaza.

“This was the first time we’ve brought the whole team here prior to a tournament, and we talked to the Ministry of Defense to make sure it was safe to bring athletes to Ashkelon,” she said. “Some of the girls making aliyah had never been in Israel before, and some others dropped out because they were scared to come, but we picked up other girls who wanted to be a part of it.”

Thankfully, Hamas didn’t fire any rockets at Ashkelon during the July 1-8 training camp, and the women were able to concentrate on building their skills and gelling as a team before their silver medal performance.

“Having training camp in Israel prior to the tournament was vital to our success as a team,” Ms. Bass said.

“What I love most is watching players grow, not only on the field but also off the field. Lacrosse teaches you leadership, organization, time management, and being a good teammate, and that translates into the working world.”

Ms. Lipkin, a 21-year-old lacrosse player at the University of Maryland, participated in Israel Lacrosse Birthright last summer. She’s been playing lacrosse since elementary school and was on the team at Millburn High School, as well as club teams.

“Through the Birthright trip, I had contacts in Israel Lacrosse and I reached out to figure out how to be part of it,” she said. “Tryouts for the national team were supposed to be in Israel but were moved to Florida, so I tried out there in January and made the team. Then I came to Israel in the summer for the training camp before Portugal.”

The blue-and-white team jerseys prominently feature stars of David, but the women were advised not to wear anything overtly Jewish or Israeli when they were off the field.

“You want to represent the team you play for, so it was definitely annoying, but it made sense in that they were trying to keep us safe,” Ms. Lipkin said.

At some of the games, fans waved Palestinian flags and heckled the Israelis. At one game, the Israeli flag hanging in the stadium was ripped down.

“It makes you angry when these things happen, and it’s hard to focus on the game, but we teammates were all on the same page and pulled it together,” Ms. Lipkin said. “With everything going on, it was very special and very meaningful, and we all felt like a family. Everyone had each other’s backs.”

Reflecting on her eight days in Israel for training, Ms. Lipkin said, “The biggest thing I enjoyed was the appreciation for life that everyone has, even for the little things. When I was walking around talking to the Israelis I’ve become friends with, they told me they can’t stop living, even though there’s a war going on. That really resonated with me. We in the United States see Israel as very scary, and that’s not how they see it. I admire their attitude.”

She said that she hopes to participate again next summer and is looking forward to playing for Israel in the Women’s World Championships in Japan in the summer of 2026.