Israel's Division B games at the U18 European Championship for Women will not tip off until August. 

But don't think for a minute that the team will wait until this summer to begin their preparations. 

"We started to work on February 13, and we still have a long way to go," said coach Galit Musai to FIBA Europe. 

"At the moment, there are 20 girls on the team, and we'll need to find the best 12 of them. 

"We are giving them two weeks now to recover and will gather again on May 21st before holding some scrimmage games to test the waters and see where we stand." 

The Division B games will be played from August 6-15 in Skopje, in the FYR of Macedonia. 

Israel know the competition will be tough, but they will nevertheless have promotion to Division A as their aim. 

The last time the U18 team of Israel played in the European Championship was in 2004 when they finished ninth, only one spot behind the best ranking of the team in history. 

"We are still collecting information about our opponents," said Musai, a member of the coaching staff for that Israel side that captured silver at the men's U20 European Championship four years ago. 

"We're teaching them and hoping to be smarter before the first tip-off. Right now, we're focusing on our team." 

Israel are in the same group with Portugal, Estonia, Slovenia and hosts FYROM. 

"Estonia and Slovenia mostly show up with good teams while FYROM will enjoy the home court advantage," Musai said. 

"Portugal is a team we will meet only on the last day of the group, so we have time to study them." 

Israel will face a difficult task as only two teams from each group will advance in the competition to fight for a Division A ticket, while the rest will fight for a better position between the ninth and the 20th spots. 

Musai's roster at the moment features Coral Dolev, Idit Oryon and Naama Shafir, who all played with the junior national team last year when Israel finished fourth. 

Shafir, one of the top prospects in Israel, averaged 11.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in 2007. 

She is a very interesting story. 

Shafir comes from a religious house and has special approval from both sides of her life to compete. 

Her Rabbi said yes to Shafir playing in basketball shorts that expose her legs, which opposes her religion's beliefs, while the basketball world gave her a special permission to wear a t-shirt under the jersey. 

Four more players competed with the Israeli team in the U16 tournament where Israel came in sixth: Eloisa Katz, Orian Amsalem, Shira Shect and Shira Ben Barak. 

The rest of the girls will enjoy their first international experience.