Project Inspire TB 2025 Zevi Samet Bounce Back Story

[Music] Swallow away three for the lead. For the lead. Time off. Farming. Oh my goodness. Demi salmon. [Music] Zebie is our third out of five children. Leinhara, ever since he was a little child, we noticed that he had a lot of energy. I grew up in a home where positivity was really stressed. Both of my parents focused on finding the good in everything. So when Zebie would wake up very early in the morning and had a lot of energy, I just looked for what can I do to help channel this energy? What can I do to help nurture it in the best way possible? I decided to take him outside in the mornings very early. If it was cold, I would put a sweater on him and we would play catch together. And I would teach him I would teach him how to play catch and how to throw. And very early on we noticed that he had some talent, a lot of natural talent. >> Learning wasn't that easy for him. We went through a number of schools during his childhood just to try to find that right connection to him because he needed that a little bit more attention, a little more help, but all the while we tried to still build that sports ability. >> My parents really understood me as a child and understood that what's best for me. Maybe I didn't grow up and do all the things that they wish their kid would have done, but they adjusted and adapted and wanted the best for me in every situation. >> Zebie had our hard time getting into high school. We live here in Muny and many of the schools don't really address that child per se. So, we looked into the schools outside of Muny, one in Tene, one in Manhattan. >> My parents found the school in Tene, which is called TABC, Torah Academy in Bergen County. Every single class was 40 minutes. My parents thought that it was amazing for me for my attention and to be able to sit still and and they had sports teams. >> We really wanted him to go there because we felt that that would be the place that would be able to nurture his strengths. He did not get in because he was a very energetic student and it was hard for him to learn and he did not come from Tene. He came from my so they were very hesitant to accept him at that time. >> When they did accept me, they put me on a two-page list probation. I said I have no other choice. I went >> we had a teacher or two that took him under his arm and you know to help him channel that energy. >> I wasn't learning so much here and there a little bit. I would learn with kuses on the phone with my cousins and I would have to like 10 minutes be bouncing off the roof and just it would be very hard for me. But you know I started developing it a little more and I had good parents and good older siblings that played a big role in me looking up to them and realized that Torah is very important but I just wasn't there yet. The first year on the basketball team, he was on the bench and he wasn't happy about it. >> My self-confidence was not great because I didn't play like I thought I would and it was just very hard for me. I kept doing it because I felt it was right and I love basketball. But it's very hard to just sit on the bench and watch all my friends succeed and me just being like, I could do that too, but I'm not getting the chance. The summer after 9th grade, Zevi came home and said, "You know, Iman Abba, I really want to be one of the starting five. Can you help me do that?" And right away, my parents stepped in, and they even offered to pay for it. They found a coach that just finished college, but he scored a,000 points in his career. And my father thought, "That is somebody that Zebie could learn from." And they trained together the whole summer. >> I had to earn everything. I had to read books. I had to write essays. I had to work really hard in academics in the summer in order to get basketball training covered. So I train a few days a week for a few hours and I got really good. Came into 10th grade. I was now one of the better players in the league. Finally, I was doing a little bit better in school. Still had a lot of energy and getting more comfortable now. You know, I'm not on probation anymore, but it was still like very bouncy and I was just trying to use my energy for basketball. During all my breaks, I would play ball and train and do all kinds of drills. We actually have a lot of appreciation for this incredible coach that Zevy had throughout high school. He really believed in all of his players and he really believed in Zevy and Zevy felt it. He at one point even told Zevy that, you know, Zevy, you express that you really want to be good at basketball. You actually have the potential to be the best player that ever stepped on this court. It's in your hands. And he loved that. He loved that motivation. >> Beginning of 10th grade was the year that on paper they looked very strong as a team. and he looked forward to that and then once they started playing and started winning they were looked at to be one of the better teams and he just started shooting and making shots and towards the end of that year we didn't have a very successful championship game that we lost two championships I felt broken after the year I remember calling my coach and I'm like how am I supposed to continue playing basketball I didn't play at all nth grade and now 10th grade I lost two championships the point of playing basketball is to win not to lose so after loss after loss it's just very hard to pick yourself back up 11th grade we finally made the championships but it got cancelled because of co so again in my mind 9th grade I didn't play 10th grade I lost two championships and now 11th grade we we made the championships but it got cancelled and it was very difficult for me during co I started doing basketball training for 5 to 7 hours a day it enlisted 2 hours of jumping program 1 hour of shooting 1 hour of lifting weights 1 hour of dribbling and twice a week I would go to a volleyball court with no net and there would just be sand and I would work on my speed and agility that I set up programs for myself that keeps me accountable because I wanted the results that I wanted and I knew that if I missed one day maybe I would not have got the results I wanted [Music] Basketball did prove to help him sit in class, focus, grow as a student and grow as a person and it proved to be a very healthy, productive outlet. [Music] >> Started learning a little bit more and started liking it more and I started appreciating it more and I just started feeling connected to it. After TABC, uh, he went to Yoshiva in called Rashit, which is located in Bish and Zebie really adapted that inspiration. Really caught on pretty quickly. They also have a nice gym over there, one which he could continue to practice. He'd have to do it kind of on his own schedule, not to take away from the regular storm to which he did. You know, he call us, he would send pictures from the gym at 6:00 in the morning and really committed to that. >> So then it came time after Shana Alf to decide what he's going to do for the next year. And my husband ended up saying something so wise that stuck with Sevy and helped him make the decision. My husband said to him, "Sevie, to make this decision, you should be thinking about is not where you're going to be learning more, but where are you going to be happy learning?" That helped him make the decision to go to YU. Coming into YU was actually really risky for me because I wanted to figure out a way where I could learn Three Sedarm, play basketball for three and a half hours a day and do college classes. And I figured out a schedule before I went of how I can do it. And on paper, it looks like the craziest thing in the world. It allowed me zero free time and zero time to hang out with friends. And I said, "This is what I want to do. I'm going to try to do it." And Barash, I was able to do it. And I stuck to my schedule every single day. The first day I met the guys on the team, I see one guy with a red hair afro with earrings. See another guy with tattoos and I'm like, what in the world is this? I played a lot with people all over New York City that were not Jewish that had earrings and tattoos, but now it's Jewish team. A lot of these guys were not affiliated at all. [Music] I was born in New Jersey, but I moved down to South Carolina when I was three. And that's so I spent most of my life there. I didn't have the most religious background. I grew up going to public school, the only Jewish kid. I didn't say I would grow up too observant, maybe go to Shul on a Saturday. >> I grew up actually in Dallas, Texas. Both my parents are bubas from around the world and a large percentage of my class didn't keep shabas and so a lot of time I felt like I was kind of like on my own with it. >> I grew up mostly in Roshine in Tel Aviv. Beginning I didn't really know much of any holiday any traditions and at the age of 15 I left Israel. I went to play high school basketball in Northern California. spent there four years, finished high school, and then I was looking to play in colleges in in America, and I contacted YU, and they wanted me to come and play for them. Yes, why not? >> The first time I met Zebie was one of our first preseason workouts. We were in the in the gym at like 5:30 in the morning and he was wearing a CC over his shirt and he was wearing a kipo while he was warming up and I was like, "What is he wearing?" I I obviously I knew what the keepo was, but I didn't know what the tiss the tissues was. And ever since then, as the season went on, we just became closer and closer. >> I went up, there was a freshman retreat. We went on the bus, but I sat next to and then he's like telling me that he's learning about >> and I said, I need help in Hebrew. So some of the words in the Mishna bro, I didn't know. I said, can you help me? He said, yeah. >> Cuz honestly, I wanted to be educated. I wanted to know why are the reasons people doing it and why maybe maybe I want to do it. I don't know. And then Zevy suggested me if I want to try and do that. He said why not? So we got him a cup. He started doing it every day. Put a sign of Modi on the wall and he started saying it every day. It >> was always our vision to help all of our children to make a keshashem in whatever they choose to do. Zevy plays basketball to be able to have an outlet for himself and to be able to be an inspiration to others. [Music] The next year he said to himself, you know, as the games were going on, he said, "You know what? Let me do a a Friday minion with the team. Minion with the Max, he called it. Minion with the Max." And he would get someone to sponsor, you know, $1,000, $1,500, whatever it was, to buy the food. The guys had no idea really what they were doing, but he would teach them. and they would ask they would ask some questions and they would be inspired to to try to dive in a little bit here and there and they started to feel some kind of vibe with it as a whole that that just was very positive. We have like all different kinds of stuff during the minion for guys to be involved. One guy is called the hagba man. He does hogba. We have another guy who does the arum for creator. >> Each person has their role and I think that's what makes it fun. Also sometimes we dance and sing that help us bring the team on the court together and off the court as well. over that whole year he realized he can have a connection with these guys. So he started to establish more the next year you know the the mean periodically then the third year of his minion every day during practice but just that overall connection with the guys just kind of continued to grow. >> He wanted to inspire others around him that he would be spending every single day with day in and day out practicing trying to reach goals together >> and then we just started doing small things. I would tell guys, okay, we're going to get guys in YU who are from to learn with some of the guys on the team that are not from. And I wanted to bridge the gap a little bit between both of them and say, we're not any different. >> The guys that are already put on film, already dominating, but when they go out and give their film to somebody else to put on it, it helps them get closer to Hashem as well. >> I created a whole organization called Beyond the Court, which is the initiative of Beyond the Court stuff to help these guys just have an awesome time in Yiddish. So, it's to do team bonding, but to show them that Yiddishkite is not a bunch of rules and not a bunch of dos and don'ts, but it's just having a good time and how to make a gush in Yiddishite. >> We'll do shabatones together and people who never even didn't know what Shabas is. It's like so special. We're sitting on a table like you know, just laughing around, messing around, singing, bonding with each other. And I think that that's the power of Shabas and that's really the impact that it has really on our team. We saw a lot of transformation of the guys on the team throughout the years and they themselves shared how much they have grown learning from Zevy and learning with Zevy and that they on their own had made some decisions to pick a Jewish girlfriend for example and that's huge to be able to to make that decision and they really say that they attribute it from being inspired by Zevy. >> Zevy's secret is he leads by action. He doesn't really tell us what to do. He just does it and that's how we kind of follow him by his positivity and his actions. [Music] this past year when YU started. So, pretty much most of the core guys were coming back and they're coming off a loss in the championship game. The lead to this particular year was that this year they came in as the number one seed in their conference and that was really the time to shine and try to get to that championship to win it and move to the next level. A lot of anticipation up to that game. We knew a lot of people were going to come. >> We got to the championship and we're going to play Farmingdale State where we knew that it was championship or bust. Anything short of a conference championship would have been probably failure as harsh as that sounds. >> Get it inside. Tip to Sam. He lays it up with a left hand. >> The championship was a roller coaster. We came to the locker room down 14 and we were very down. We were just in the same situation the previous year and it was uh heartbreaking to lose. I had two fouls so my coach saw me out and I go into the locker room. I put my head down and I said, "Listen, Nasham, I'm not so hopeful. Last year, same thing. 14 points. We lost by 20. This team is too good when they're up going into the half, especially 14 points." And then I picked my head back up. I said, "Listen, we have one thing that they don't have, and that's Tila." I said, "Hashem, if we lose, help me try to accept it. But if we win, I said, I never promise, but I said, Hashem, I promise. I'm going to use my platform to inspire many people." And I just started making shot after shot. And we started coming back. And one by one, we made shots, they missed shots. Everything happened in our favor. This was like the biggest nace. I saw it in front of my eyes. Such literally playing it out. >> Steals the basketball. Here's Sevy to the hole past Santos. Lays it up with a left hand. What a move. He's come up with play after play. Zebie flo three. Are you kidding me? Falls back for three again. Count that one. And again, Yoshiva can cut it to one or tie to bend this way for a little while. Sam dribbling elbow jumper is good. >> There were 30 seconds left in the game. We fouled one of their best players. He had the ball we needed to foul him and they were up by one. Zebie just he dribbled across that court and uh and he trusted the work he's put in and we all trusted him and uh we trusted God too. >> 34 points, 29.8 shot clock is off. Timeout a two-point game. >> Dribbles second shot. This one's good. Here we go. in across the timeline. 20 seconds. Fall away three for the lead. For the lead. Time out. Farming nail. Oh my goodness. Zi Summit with a fall away three to take the lead with 15 seconds. >> There is a picture of him where it was like, "Yes, I did it." And that's what the world saw. But I know that in that picture it was him saying, "Hashem, this is all because of you." Like, "You did this. Thank you, Hashem." After the big win, I heard him being interviewed. And the guy asked him, "Zezy, how do you feel after winning the big championship game?" And I was listening closely. What's Zy going to say? >> Victory 81 to 78. What's going through your head right now? Give us your thoughts. >> I feel good. I don't know. We worked hard the whole season. Practice at 4:5 a.m. Practice before 5:00 a.m. and uh team Shabaton Shakras everything everything pulls out together and Brock Shaman were just just excited. Muna Bakon wins championship. That's how it works. >> After the championship game, we all go into the locker room and I get in there and I'm like thinking like these guys are going to all be playing rap music and I get in there and they stop and they look at me and they go, "You ready guys?" And they all go in together. to be a gishmark to be a I know to be a >> I looked at myself afterwards at the moment I didn't really get it afterwards I was like how special is that you have a team that probably 50% are not religious and after the championship game they're all singing gishmakid on the bus ride afterwards just playing music having a good time but they're all wearing tits This is so cool to see these guys who would never put on sites are now putting it on after they win the championship game. At that moment, I realized this is what basketball can do to somebody. Basketball can inspire not just tens, but thousands of people for the lead for the lead. >> He took the opportunity to look beyond himself and to look at the team members that he's playing with and to inspire them and to help them grow. And each team member did grow and they loved sharing with us and with Zebie areas that they did grow in life and in Yiddish kite and getting closer to Hashem. >> Now I keep kosher, I keep most Shabbats, I try my best and I want to do kouch every Friday night and keep all the holidays and things like that. It was something that definitely I wasn't thinking that I was going to do later in life and now I do. [Applause] I [Applause] [Music] >> Today I look at the team and we are all brothers. We might have different backgrounds, different pasts, different shortcomings, different experiences, but we're all Jews. We're all yidden trying to do the same thing. come closer to Hashem each in our own way [Music] is ultimately just be yourself. You have to be yourself. You have to try your best in your own way but then to always look out for opportunities. [Music]