Kelli Saunders
Staff Writer
Mira Costa sophomore Zach Horowitz was selected to play on the Israel U-19 national lacrosse team after trying out against people from all over the world.
Horowitz discovered the team through twitter, and his club team, Factory Lacrosse, was traveling to Israel for a service trip at the same time of the tryout. On his final days in Israel, he attended the tryouts, which were two six-hour sessions filled with drills and scrimmages.
“The tryouts were very intimidating because some of the guys who were trying out were much older than me and had a lot more experience,” Horowitz said. “I thought my skill level was average compared to everyone else’s so I honestly didn’t think I’d make it onto the team.”
Horowitz has been playing club lacrosse for three and a half years, but did not get serious with it until he joined the Mira Costa team freshman year playing as a midfielder and attacker for the JV team. He now plays on varsity and is apart of a club team called Factory Lacrosse, in addition to playing on the Israel team.
“Since high school lacrosse has a very competitive atmosphere, it motivated me to workout and practice a lot more,” Horowitz said. “On all of my teams I am constantly fighting for a starting position.”
The Israel team will meet in New York in April for their first practices followed by games. From there, the coaches will evaluate all of the American players and split them up into two teams: the festival team and the national team. The festival team will travel to Philadelphia over the summer to compete in a tournament against other world lacrosse teams. The national team will go to compete at the World Championships in Canada.
“Zach has always been willing to work for what he wants,” his mom Greta Horowitz said. “When he tried out for the Israel team, we knew he’d give it his all just has he does with all of his other teams.”
With his parents constantly supporting him in lacrosse and motivating him to improve, he believes that, in the future, he will be able to play lacrosse at the collegiate level. Horowitz hopes to continue to develop his skills by playing with various teams and abilities.
“From lacrosse I have gotten so many opportunities that I wouldn’t have been able to experience without it,” Horowitz said. “It has given me the opportunity to meet so many new people around the world and to play for a country, which is an amazing and indescribable feeling.”
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