Lacrosse Star on Shortlist for 2014 Israeli National Team

While most college sophomores return home this summer to work odd jobs and soak in the sun, Fair Lawn native Rich Cheifitz will be halfway around the globe pioneering the sport of lacrosse in his motherland.

Cheifitz, a 19-year-old lacrosse superstar attacker at Kean University, was selected to represent Israel's nascent national lacrosse team when it debuts on the world stage this summer at the European Lacrosse Championships in Amsterdam. 

The sport is still in its infancy in Israel, but Israel Lacrosse -- an organization dedicated to the development of lacrosse in Israel -- is working to grow the game throughout the country with Cheifitz tabbed among its 40 athlete ambassadors.

"The end goal is to make lacrosse widespread through Israel," said Shelley Sheiner, who will coach the Jerusalem Lacrosse Club in Israel this summer. "Our set goal is by 2014, we want to have kids in Israel with a stick in their hand. We set a number, something like 5,000 to 6,000 kids playing in Israel."

While Israel Lacrosse could have imported a Jewish-American all-star squad and been a favorite to win the developing nations pool at the European Championships in June, they opted instead for a more nativist approach.

Players selected for this inaugural incarnation of the Israeli national team were required to have direct ties to Israel -- either by birth, current residence or recent ancestral birth or residence. Cheifitz, whose mother was born in Israel, fit the bill.

"The main goal is to support and to grow the sport in Israel," Sheiner said. "So, we were select in who we even reached out to, to compile this 40-man list. We’re not expected to win the tournament and that’s OK. What we want to do is grow the game with good players, good coaching, and after the tournament is done we’re all going to Israel and doing camps and clinics."

Cheifitz will fly to Israel on June 10 for a brief training camp with his new teammates before the group departs first for an exhibition match against the Turkish National Team in Turkey and then heads to Amsterdam for the European Championships at the end of June. After the tournament, the group will return to Israel on July 1 to play more exhibition games, train and run youth camps and clinics to promote the sport. Cheifitz will return to the states on July 12.

But this summer likely won't be the last time Cheifitz suits up for Israel's national lacrosse team, said Sheiner, who in addition to coaching an Israel Lacrosse club team is also Cheifitz's head coach at Kean.

Sheiner said Cheifitz will be among a pool of players eligible for Israel's entry at the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships -- the premiere international men's lacrosse tournament.

By the 2014 World Games, Sheiner said that Israel will have opened up its national team to more Jewish Americans without direct Israeli lineage.

"We'll be looking for the best players," he said. "We expect that player pool to balloon to about 80 to 100 that we’re looking to select from for the World Games."

Despite the fiercer competition for roster spots, Sheiner said he believes Cheifitz stands a great chance of making the 2014 Israeli national squad.

"Richie is a tremendous player," Sheiner said. "He’ll go down in history as one of the best players at [Kean] University."

As a freshman last year, Cheifitz finished second on the Cougars in goals and points. He was named Skyline Conference Rookie of the Year and Second-Team All-Skyline Conference, in addition to earning a spot on the Jewish All-American Team.  

Sheiner said what sets Cheifitz apart is his demeanor on the field.

"He doesn't get rattled and he just finds ways to score," Sheiner said. "He’s a kid where you might look and say 'He's having a bad game,' and then before you know it, he has four, five points."

Cheifitz' imperturbability should serve him well this summer when he takes his game to an international stage against world-class opponents.

"Since he doesn’t get rattled in extreme situations, I think that’s going to help him," Sheiner said. "When he moves on with the Israeli national team, he’ll be playing against some of the best in the world...and I think he’ll do very well just because he's that type of player. Very calm."

Part of that calm may come from Cheifitz's early exposure to the game. His older brother, Bruce, first encouraged him to play lacrosse and taught him the game from an early age. By fifth grade, Rich was playing in a junior league and attending camps.

"[My brother] knew that lacrosse would be a good sport for me because I was always the fastest kid in my family and among a bunch of my friends," Cheifitz said. "It’s something that, at the time, not many other kids were doing, which was what I enjoyed."

For Cheifitz, playing with his older brother meant taking on older and more experienced opponents. Competing against a higher level of competition served him well and set the stage for the rest of his lacrosse career.

"I’ve always been in a way ahead of the game," said Cheifitz, who as a freshman in high school began playing in men's leagues. "I would go back during the high school season to play with kids my age and it would be different to compete against them than against older men who had more experience."

Following a successful high school career -- Sheiner calls him one of the best to ever play for Fair Lawn High School - Cheifitz received a couple offers to play lacrosse from small Division-I schools, but said for him the choice ultimately came down to Division-III Kean and Montclair State University.

"I chose Kean because the campus is beautiful and they give a quality education," said Cheifitz, who aspires to someday teach physical education and coach. "I knew the program here was going to be great, coming in with a lot of the other recruits coming in at the time." 

After a mediocre season last year with a young team, the Cougars are primed to compete for a conference championship this season.

Cheifitz said the college game is much faster than lacrosse at the high school level, but from his dominant play thus far, the speed doesn't seem to have phased him.

Through only five games this season, Cheifitz already has 21 points (12 goals, 9 assists) -- more than twice as many as any of his teammates, while leading Kean to a 4-1 record.

Speaking of Chefitz's Kean teammates, four of them are also graduates of . In recent years, Sheiner, a Fair Lawn resident himself, has built a pipeline from the high school to the Union-based university.

"It's easy for me to recruit when I live in Fair Lawn," Sheiner said. "I walk outside my door and there are kids playing lacrosse...They’re all great kids. They’ve done a great job at the university."

In addition to Cheifitz, Kean's Fair Lawn grads include senior Mike Copelton, sophomores Ben Bretter and James Mallon, and freshman Connor O'Brien.

Sheiner said he won't be bringing on any players from this year's Fair Lawn senior class, but that he's currently looking at three juniors for 2014.