INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

hand I knew that if I wanted to achieve better opportunities for
women’s Volleyball, I must continue and be more involved and less
naive in the way I perceive the politics of Sport Organisations. I
realized that if I would be more aware to the relationships amongst the
members and between the different organizations which are involved
in the Politics of the Israeli Sport arena, I would have more access to
power and will gain more opportunities for women’s Volleyball.
From Sept 2002 to Aug 2003, debate arose in relation to the
establishment of a similar project for young female players. This time
I was more experienced and more aware of the power relations within
the related organizations and were additionally more sensitive to the
substructures and subtext which were constructed on an underlying
reality (the informal relationships, the culture and the history) that also
had to be take into consideration while working on the new project.
As we (me and other women who were involved) had not done
enough to affect overcome of the "Selinger Project", I understood that
this might be the only way we could break into the "round table" as
women in a male-dominated organizational culture.
The Story of the establishment of the VAYTG
Since I was a baby, I was surrounded with sport especially
volleyball. My mother was one of the best players in the history of
Israel and volleyball was the local traditional sport in my area.
Therefore I found my self-playing from a very young age. Firstly I
played in the local team, then later I progressed to first division and to
the junior national team, and finally in the national team. Naturally, I
continued my involvement in the sport to become a coach, and
developed myself in many sport related courses as well as an
undergraduate degree in Physical Education and a Masters degree in
Educational Management.
However, throughout this formative period, I felt that my
colleagues and I could have been better players, yet we never had the
opportunity to further our talent in the same way that our male
counterparts were able to. I found it hard to accept that being a female
could be a barrier to achieving my dreams. Thus in 1998, I made a
decision to join the board of the Volleyball Association. In the first
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