Striving for Contact: A Sociological Search of The Game of Basketball

The tale that I wish present here is about the effort of looking at basketball with a new pair of eyes. A mission that from the beginning was, I feared, for an aficionado of the game as myself, be almost impossible. What is there about the game that I still don't know? And the game, is what in front of this ethnographic tale that I painted, after three months observations in Israel. I was bound to question my knowledge about the game and give it sociological interpretations. The book is composed of three parts, while the focus is changing between them simultaneously. The main part of the book deals with an Israeli Premier League team and its story of the 2013-2014 season. The second part sheds light on the world of women's basketball and its construction as inferior in society. This section examines the story of the younger professional group of the same club. In addition, in view of the events, each episode begins with my personal story in the days when I was a young basketball player. This part gives the book its nostalgic notion that connects the parts. The book is about the love for the game, but it also teaches what is basketball, and how women are an integral part of it.