Alon Badat’s Israeli roots are made abundantly clear on the soccer pitch. As a freshman forward on the newly crowned CIS champion York University Lions, Badat has showcased the aggressive style and hard-nosed work ethic he developed while playing professionally for Maccabi Netanya.
Alon Badat
Spending his formative years exposed to the intense, rigid demands of a soccer hotbed like Israel certainly didn’t hurt the development of the 20-year-old athlete.
“In Israel, you are pretty much living the game,” says Badat. “You are practising basically every day, and there’s a constant need to focus and work hard.”
That strong work ethic has gotten Badat to where he is today: runner-up as CIS rookie of the year and a significant contributor to the York Lions, a team that recently earned its second national title in the past three years.
At the CIS championships, played at the University of Toronto, Badat collected two points in three playoff elimination game victories, including an assist on team-leading scorer Adrian Pena’s championship-winning goal against the UBC Thunderbirds.
Even after having played professionally in Israel, the meaning of the Lions’ victory wasn’t lost on Badat, a finance major at York.
“Since the start of the season, we had one goal in mind,” said Badat. “Thanks to [York head coach Carmine Isacco] and a great group of guys working hard all year, we were able to realize that goal.”
There it is again – that emphasis on working hard. Fortunately for Badat, it comes easily for an athlete with his level of passion for the sport.
It was that passion that inspired him at age 17 to return to his birthplace Israel to play for Maccabi, a club that competes in the top tier of the Israeli league.
It was that passion that convinced him to sit out a year in order to comply with CIS rules about former professional players before returning to play for the Lions.
And it’s that passion that will see him continue to play the sport for as long as he can at as high a level as possible.
Badat’s love of the “beautiful game” is perhaps trumped only by his devotion to family and sense of connection with Israel.
A driven, talented athlete with strong family values and a proud tie to his Israeli roots, he said it’s been a struggle for him to choose between his homeland and his Thornhill-based parents, brother and sister.
“I feel that Israel is my true home and where I belong, and I hope to return at some point,” Badat said. “But family is my main priority, and staying near them is very important to me.”
Already in his young life, he’s moved to Canada at age 10, returned to Israel at 17 and then came back last year to play with the Thornhill Soccer Club for one season before joining the York men’s team.
