The Arad Tennis and Education Center

The story

The tennis and education center of Arad opened on 1 May 1979, on the initiative and with the support of the then mayor Avraham Beiga Shochat. At first there were in it only two courts, and the price of the class was subsidized so that it would be within everyone's reach; hundreds of children came to play. Five years later three more courts, a practice wall and a study building were built, and three further years later two more courts. Today there are in the center seven courts, three practice walls and two shelters. It is named after Harry and Evelyn Borg, who donated to its building. Its first director was Al Tannenbaum, an American Jew from Philadelphia who immigrated to the country in 1978 and came to Arad. He directed the center for twenty-three years, and after him Einav Shevah and Svetlana Gankin; in 2011 he returned to the post. Among the graduates of the center are Gilat Barzilai, Avihai Tzahala and Shiri Zlotikman. In April 2001 Danny Dray, one of its prominent graduates, was killed in operational activity in Lebanon, at the age of twenty. At the request of the family a memorial was erected in the center in his memory, and every summer a regional competition in his name is held in it.

• Sport
• Education
• Arad