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Sailing / For Zubari, his parents were always there By Revital Levy-Stein Less than a day before Shahar Zubari takes to the water one last time in the 2008 Olympics, hoping for a bronze medal, his parents are trying to keep his feet on the ground. "It has always been and continues to be important to us to not let success get to his head," said Vered Zubari, his mother. "Though any medal makes you want more. More than anything, we educated him toward good values, modesty and polite behavior toward others." For Vered and her husband, Ze'ev, that educational approach started with letting Shahar be a kid. "We made sure quickly to put things in proportion, despite the closet full of medals, which he has been collecting since he was a teenager," Vered said yesterday. Advertisement Zubari has surfed with his father - known as Poodle for his black curls - since he was 6, in his home town of Eilat. By the time he was 11, his muscles and tendons developed problems, and a doctor recommended that he give up surfing. Quitting was not an option, so instead "we decided he would do things more properly and with supervision," recalled Vered. They eventually hired a fitness trainer, Shlomo Zaks, who was Zubari's sports teacher in high school. "We treated the situation like math or English tutoring, except our child needed a fitness teacher," said Vered. "Poodle would meet with the fitness trainer every few days to check that Shahar's body could take the stress." Food has also been a perennial problem for Shahar. "He was small, slim and simply didn't eat," according to Vered. "Roni Meir always told us that if Shahar would fail it would be because of the food," she added, referring to the director of Eilat's Hapoel Ocean Center. "They had him meet a nutritionist, and he always received direction, but it never helped." Recipe for success If someone is looking for a recipe for success, Shahar's story suggests that the answer lies in understanding a child's soul. Zubari's father made time to be with him and Shahar's sister Tal every afternoon. He would take them to the sea and surf with them. "Shahar knew he had something to lose, and we made it clear that if he didn't behave in school, it would come at the expense of surfing," said Vered. "I knew we couldn't demand straight A's, but we knew we could set standards." They also had to invest a lot of money, as well as time. "You need a lot of time and to be totally dedicated to your child's needs," said Vered. "Shahar would finish competitions Saturday night and then need a ride or a flight home and to coordinate collecting equipment. Even when he had a driver's license, if he had a race up north I would drive him to Be'er Sheva and take the bus back, just so he wouldn't have to drive the whole way." On the eve of his bid for an Olympic medal, Vered says she is satisfied but basically feels the same as in the past. "Whenever he returns triumphant I'm so happy, and Poodle is so happy, but it won't change us," she said. "It will make us happy if Shahar's success inspires other children to surf. My greatest joy was when a teacher in a special education school told me a child in her class wrote that he wanted to be like Shahar Zubari." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Poor sports Here are the top 10 excuses for Israel's poor Olympics showing. Kafka the Zionist Remnants of Kafka's estate found in T.A. raise questions of his belief in Zionism.

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