February 08, 2012
Tal Burstein rejoins Maccabi after injury
Tal Burstein - Maccabi Elite After nearly a full year on the sidelines, three-time European champion Tal Burstein is set to rejoin Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv. Burstein has not played wince May 31, 2007, when he stole a half court in bound pass by Terence Morris, then in the red jersey of Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem, to secure Maccabi's triumph in the Israeli League final. On Tuesday night, Burstein, now recovered from a leg injury and with specially fit sneakers to help him, practiced for the first time this season with head coach Zvika Sherf's team. He might even be on the roster already for the upcoming Top 16 game on Thursday night against Zalgiris Kaunas, but the fans, the team and Tal himself will have to wait a little bit longer before he'll leave some sweat on court. Burstein, who missed a big part of the previous season due to a different injury, had to go under surgery during the off-season to heal a rare lesion on both feet. Between then and now he faced a long rehabilitation process, which took a lot of strength and mental energy, but the Maccabi swingman remained focused on the target – his return to the courts. "It's natural to think about giving up in such a situation, but it crossed my mind only for split seconds," Bustein told Euroleague.net. "I was lucky to get great support from my family, friends and Maccabi during this whole time, and it helped me focused on the goal," he said minutes before joining his teammates for the first time this season.

"There's no set timetable as to when I'll be ready to play," Burstein continued. "It all depends on how I feel and when I'll be in shape again. Obviously then it'll be up to the coach to decide if and when I'll play. All I know for sure right now is that I'm very, very excited to step on court again. I went through a similar process with th e previous injury, but the excitement is still there. I watched our team go through a lot during this season – changes on the bench, injuries to key players, some nights we would like to forget and some we'll cherish forever. It was quite an experience to sit and watch it from the side, a little frustrating at times, but now I'm more than ready to find my spot, play the game again and hopefully help the team reach the Final Four again. If there's something I missed more than anything else, it was the big games, with the great atmosphere and pumped up adrenalin. I'm sure we'll have some of those until the end of the season, and I hope to play a key role in them, and bring our team to its targets."
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Yarone Arbel, Tel Aviv
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