2 Years Since Oct. 7 Attack, Tennis Brings Some Nova Music Festival Survivors Together
Tennis has become its own form of therapy for a group of survivors.
By Gaby Vinick • October
7, 2025
When Shira Cohen first hit the tennis courts in Jaffa, Israel, the 29-year-old had a skeptical response to people enjoying a pastime. “I saw people playing and I thought it was weird. I looked and said, ‘What? They have time to develop a hobby?” she said. “I struggle to wake up in the morning – so how do they do it?”
Cohen, a survivor of the deadly Oct. 7 Nova music festival massacre, said she has struggled to find her purpose since the terrorist attack that changed her life two years ago, but she’s determined to find a way forward.
Cohen decided to go to the Nova music festival held in the Negev desert in southern Israel at the encouragement of her longtime friend, Livnat Levi, one month after losing her younger brother, Arye, in a motorcycle accident. Arye loved trance music. When they first arrived at the festival, Cohen felt connected to him again, she said.
Everything changed shortly after sunrise when she began hearing rockets. What started as a joyful dance party on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah suddenly became one of the first targets
and deadliest sites of a surprise terror attack by Hamas. More than 250 people were taken hostage and about 1,200 people were murdered throughout Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli officials.
Levi and another friend of Cohen’s, Hadar Hoshen, were both killed.
Since that day, Cohen said she has been looking for ways to reclaim her life. A former CEO of Travelor, a tourism company, she channeled her entrepreneurial skills into a new venture after Oct. 7. In 2024, she co-founded Beginning To Live Again,
an organization supporting Nova survivors in their recovery and helping them actualize their business goals.
“It’s hard to live here without them – without Arye, without Livnat, without Hadar. I think that because of the big loss I experienced, I searched for a lot of meaning. I didn’t understand ... what is there to continue in this life here?” Cohen said.
In April, a friend told her about a tennis group initiative for Nova survivors through a partnership between Eden Mansoor and the Israel Tennis & Education Centers. The nonprofit, founded in 1976, serves thousands of children a year through a wide range of social impact programs, according to its foundation CEO, Ilan Allali.
With small steps, Allali said he hopes survivors can gradually return to some level of normalcy. “It’s not that the trauma won’t be there, but they will be able to live with the trauma,” he said.
Mansoor’s two best friends survived the Nova festival and inspired him to create the group, he told ABC News.
Cohen said she wouldn’t have stuck with the group if not for Mansoor’s follow-up messages to her. He checked in, offered support and pushed her to show up again.
In the months that followed, tennis became a source of pride and joy for Cohen.
“It releases dopamine in your body – I don’t know exactly what it does – but it’s better than any other medicine for the soul,” she said.
Now she’s one of at least 15 people playing tennis every Wednesday at the Nussdorf & Mark Families Israel Tennis & Education Center in Jaffa, one of ITEC’s 24 centers and satellite locations throughout the country.
It’s not lost on Cohen that she’s “a walking miracle,” she said. In a way, tennis is its own form of therapy for many like her. She said it’s helping to restore trust and faith in herself, and it’s giving her the freedom to experience joy again.
The players formed something of a support group over time, she said. To Cohen, there’s something moving about a group of people who shared a traumatic experience coming together. Cohen described it as “one of the strongest forces that can be in the world.”
On Sunday, Oct. 5, Cohen visited Levi’s grave, she told ABC News. She said if not for a tennis training session that morning, she wouldn’t know how the day would have looked for her.
“She was my heart, the best person in the world, the girl who knew me. Without talking, she would see my face and would understand everything I had to say,” Cohen said. “We had big dreams for life.”
Even through her grief, she embraces hope for survivors like herself.
“This program and the idea that you can live and you can continue and you can move forward, that other survivors know that it’s possible — that is my purpose,” she said.
President Herzog: Sport as beacon of hope in Kiryat Shmona
Meeting with 30 children from northern centers, including 10 from Majdal Shams, the Herzogs engaged in an open dialogue that touched on both challenges and hopes for the future.
By
Jerusalem Sport Staff • September 3, 2025
President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog visited the Israel Tennis & Education Center (ITEC) in Kiryat Shmona on Monday, bringing attention to its rehabilitation and reaffirming its role as a cornerstone of community and athletic life in the north.
The center, which sustained damage since the outbreak of the war, remains a vital hub for children in the region, even as only four of its nine courts are currently active.
Meeting with 30 children from northern centers, including 10 from Majdal Shams, the Herzogs engaged in an open dialogue that touched on both challenges and hopes for the future.
“The meeting with the children of the north moved us deeply and showed how education and sport are not merely leisure activities, but anchors of values, resilience, and partnership,” Herzog said. “Today in Kiryat Shmona, we saw how the Tennis and Education Center is rising out of pain and difficulty to become a symbol of resilience, growth, and hope.”
The President and First Lady were joined by Kiryat Shmona Mayor Avihay Shtern, ITEC CEO Eyal Taoz, center manager Tal Amsalem,
ITEC ambassador Andy Ram, and Batel Garbi, CEO of Sports Value. Together, they witnessed how the professional staff continue to provide not only athletic instruction, but also educational guidance, financial support, and equipment assistance for children across the north.
Peace, growth, and renewal
In a symbolic ceremony, Herzog planted an olive tree on the grounds of the center, a gesture meant to represent peace, growth, and renewal.
“Sport here reflects exactly that – competitiveness alongside fairness, excellence alongside friendship, personal resilience alongside community responsibility,” Herzog added.
The President was also presented with a glass shield and a tennis racket wrapped in fragments of war, a striking symbol of the dual reality children in the region face, where sport and conflict exist side by side.
Taoz said the visit reaffirmed the center’s mission after its reopening last May.
“The planting of the President’s tree symbolizes new Zionism and the flourishing that will come to the north. Sport instills important values, strengthens resilience, and nurtures excellence, and we are proud to continue providing a framework in which every child can flourish and realize their potential.”
For Ram, who rose from the ITEC system to become one of Israel’s most successful tennis players, the significance of the President’s visit was clear.
“Their presence provides tremendous inspiration to the children, who understand how much the country sees them as the next generation,” Ram said. “As someone who grew up through tennis, I know the power this framework has to educate, strengthen, and provide tools for life.”
Despite challenges, Amsalem said the staff remain determined.
“The five courts that are still inactive and the damage caused are not simple, but we continue to work with dedication to restore the center to full activity,” he said. “The President and First Lady showed the children how important they are, as they are welcomed into a supportive environment that empowers them not only in sports but also in life.”
Majdal Shams tennis court becomes symbol of hope one year after deadly Hezbollah attack
The Israel Tennis and Education Center (ITEC) family hosted a festive event on the grounds of the tennis court in order to celebrate its integration as an official branch of the organization.
By Anouk Carter-Dorf • September 29, 2025
The Israel Tennis and Education Center (ITEC) family hosted a festive event on the grounds of the only tennis court in Majdal Shams, a predominantly Druze town in the Upper Galilee, to celebrate its integration as an official branch of the organization earlier this month.
The festival, attended by hundreds of children and parents, served as a beacon of hope for the shaken town one year after the Hezbollah rocket strike on the soccer field that killed 12 children and teenagers.
The celebration included tennis activity stations, creative workshops using recycled rackets and balls, face painting, and inflatables. Head of the Shams Local Council, Dolan Abu Saleh, attended the event and highlighted the value of collaboration between the community council and ITEC as a medium for fostering joy and healing.
On the day of the event, he said that he was deeply moved to share this moment with the community, all of whom he says are “looking ahead with hope toward a flourishing sporting future.” He contin-
ued to say that engaging in sports “provides the strength to grow anew, face every challenge with courage, and build a healthy and united community.”
Founded in 1979, the Israel Tennis and Education Center – Kiryat Shmona offers children in the Upper Galilee and northern Israel support through a combination of a value-based education with sporting excellence. The children in Majdal Shams will now benefit from the center’s resources and educational programs, gaining the opportunity to grow not only as athletes but as individuals.
Eyal Ta’oz, CEO of ITEC, emphasized the importance of supporting local communities and encouraging the creation of spaces meant for physical movement and fun. He says that opening this center demonstrates “a shared commitment to providing children with a safe space to grow, learn, excel, and gain tools that will serve them for a lifetime.”
One year since the Hezbollah strike on the Majdal Shams soccer field
Announcing the incorporation of this
space into ITEC comes at a much-needed time. This announcement came on the first anniversary of the Hezbollah rocket strike. Amit Awidat, who lost his cousin and two close friends in the tragedy, shares that the tennis court became a personal refuge.
“After the incident at the soccer field, I felt that tennis was my safe place,” he said. “It gave me a lot of purpose and comfort.” His experience speaks to the reality of many in Majdal Shams who have found a path to healing and renewal through the court.
The court will be led by local coach Bassel Shoufani, who has played tennis since childhood. For Bassel, partnering with the center that nurtured him is a full-circle moment. He is committed to ensuring that the program in Majdal Shams is rooted in professional support and strong community connection.
He says, “This is a significant step forward for the children of Majdal Shams in educational sports in general, and in tennis in particular. We are ready and full of anticipation to embark on this shared journey.”
