Willy Workman ( he, וילי וורקמן; born March 14, 1990) is an American-Israeli professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for Hapoel Jerusalem of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at Amherst. Workman holds dual-American and Israeli citizenship.

Early life

Workman is Jewish and was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

mother in

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...

. He attended Northampton High School before completing a postgraduate year at nearby

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy is an elite coeducational preparatory school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association, the Ten Schools Admi ...

, where he resumed playing basketball after enduring injuries earlier in his high school career. Workman's father, Danny, is a longtime restaurateur. His mother, Dina Fein, is a judge in Springfield, Massachusetts.

College career

Workman attended Amherst College from 2009 to 2013, winning the NCAA3 Championship his senior year. He averaged 10.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists for his four-year career at Amherst, earning D3hoops.com men's All-America Third Team, ECAC Division III New England First Team and NESCAC First Team honors in 2013.

Professional career

During his first season of professional basketball in 2013-14, Workman played for

Hapoel Galil Elyon Hapoel Galil Elyon ( he, הפועל גליל עליון), also known as Hapoel Nofar Energy Galil Elion for sponsorship reasons, is an Israeli basketball club. The team competes in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli b ...

of the Israeli National League, the second-tier league in Israel, and was able to move to the country’s top-flight

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, when signing with Hapoel Tel Aviv for the 2014-15 season. He was signed by fellow Premier League side

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. ( he, מכבי אשדוד) is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sports ...

for 2015-16 and inked a contract with

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Footbal ...

prior to the 2016-17 Premier League campaign. That season, Workman helped Haifa to reach the 2017 Israeli League Finals, where they eventually lost to Hapoel Jerusalem. On February 28, 2018, Workman signed a three-year contract extension with Maccabi Haifa. On March 2, 2018, Workman participated in the Israeli League All-Star Game as a replacement for Oz Blayzer. That season, despite Workman having his best year in the Israeli Premier League in terms of personal averages (6.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game) - his team, Maccabi Haifa, had finished the season in the last place out of 12 teams and was relegated to the Israeli National League (the second-tier league in Israel). In the 2018–19 season, Workman won the 2019 Israeli National League Championship title with Haifa, earning a promotion back to the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested ...

. In the 2019-20 season, he averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. On August 5, 2020, Workman signed with Hapoel Holon. On July 2, 2021, he signed with Hapoel Jerusalem of the

References

External links

RealGM profile

Eurobasket profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workman, Willy 1990 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Israel American men's basketball players Amherst Mammoths men's basketball players Basketball players from Massachusetts Deerfield Academy alumni Hapoel Galil Elyon players Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C. players Israeli men's basketball players Jewish men's basketball players Maccabi Ashdod B.C. players Maccabi Haifa B.C. players People from Northampton, Massachusetts Small forwards