Camp YavnehCamp Yavneh
March 08, 2022

Alumni Spotlight: Nate Hollenberg (K’14)

Author - Camp Yavneh

Hello Everyone! My name is Nate Hollenberg and I am Kerem ‘14, Naaleh ‘15. I am excited to share what I have been up to since my last year on staff in Summer ‘16.

Since I left Camp Yavneh, I studied Statistics with a minor in Computer Science at Harvard University. I actually spent my next summer in Israel on the TAMID Fellowship where I had the time of my life interning for a boutique video game firm.  After playing on the Yavneh Basketball team and always participating in Shabbas Ball, I continued to play Club Basketball at college. One year I actually got to travel to South Bend, Indiana for the Club Basketball national championship. We beat undefeated and #1 Michigan in the final four, but sadly lost to Ohio State in the National Championship. In my time at school, I joined the sports analytics collective where I really found my passion for basketball analytics. Starting my Sophomore year I worked with USA Basketball on some data driven projects that included me flying to San Antonio to present to some of their coaches! For my senior thesis I decided to keep following my passion and wrote about a hypothetical world in which the three-point line in the NBA would be moved back, and statistically what might happen to the NBA and its shooters if that were the case. I found that three-point efficiency and frequency would decrease significantly, providing great evidence that this rule change would definitely change NBA basketball. It was truly an awesome experience, and, yes, I still think that the NBA should move the three-point line back (we can keep it close at Yavneh though)!

After working a year in New York City at a more corporate job, I finally broke into the professional field of Basketball Analytics in Atlanta and currently work for Overtime Elite, which is a start up basketball league for the top basketball players around the world aged 16-19. We pay them all six-figure salaries for them to forgo their college basketball eligibility and come train and go to school with us to prepare them for the NBA. We provide them financial literacy training, communications bootcamp, and many other life skills that normal schools do not provide to their elite athletes. It has been so much fun to see the start up grow, and to see these kids grow as young men and basketball players! We have had all 30 NBA teams in our building this year, and have many projected NBA draft picks in the coming years. There is nothing more rewarding than creating and finding the best statistics that make these kids shine in front of NBA scouts. Hopefully, we can convince the next Deni Avdija to come play with us as well!

Outside of Basketball Analytics, I love spending time with my friends and listening to music. I actually help manage one of my best friends ZEVY (who actually went to Bauercrest BOOO). ZEVY is an up and coming DJ and EDM producer in LA, who has over 2 million plays on Spotify. I help him sign singers to sing over his beats, and help promote him through social media and other avenues. I recently traveled to LA to spend some time with him in the studio and around the city. 

Best,

Nate