About Us
The Wingate Institute, the national institute for excellence in sports of the State of Israel, is named after the British officer Charles Orde Wingate. It has opened its gates in the year 1957 as Israel’s main institution for sports education with goals to train physical education teachers, coaches and instructors, organization of recreation camps, physical education to new immigrants, research, information, and promotion of popular sports in Israel.
With the implementation of the National Institute for Sport Excellence Law (Wingate Institute), 2017, Wingate Institute was incorporated as a governmental corporation, under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and its name was officially changed to The Charles Orde Wingate National Institute for Excellence in Sports.
As the National Institute for Excellence in Sports the Wingate Institute has adopted the slogan “A world leader of knowledge, infrastructure and training to locate elite athletes and nurture them as national champions and serve as a home for the sports associations in Israel” to be its motto.
The Wingate Institute, a winner of the Israel Award 1989 on its achievements and contribution to the development and advancement of sports in Israel, has been striving tirelessly for the promotion of popular sports and achievements in sports in Israel.
The institute provides an all-inclusive service package to the achieved athletes of Israel, including stat-of the-art and well-equipped training facilities, Olympic swimming pools, tennis court, track and field stadium, football field, sports medicine and research center, athletes hotel, dining halls, conference rooms and study classes.
Among following noteworthy main units of the institute include The Nath Holman School of Coaches and Instructors, the Ribstein Center for Sports Medicine and Research, the Achievement Sports Unit, the Wingate Academy for Excellence in Sports, Athena – the Center for the Advancement of Women’s Sports in Israel, the Varsity House Hotel and the Zvi Nesheri Physical Education History Archive, the Jewish Museum of the Jewish sportsman – The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the Sports Bookstore and Publishing house.
In July 2013 a new swimming pool was opened and in 2019 accelerated construction and renovation procedures have started in the institute, in which the concrete facades of the buildings were renovated, the training halls were renovated and newly equipped with top facilities and a modern and unique gym pavilion has been erected for the benefit of Israel’s Olympic gymnastics.
In 2021 we had the commencement of additional renovation plans and the execution of our flagship project – a multipurpose building to contain luxurious training halls, track and field lanes, state-of-the-art sports hotel, medical facilities, residence buildings and a recreation zone at a cost of NIS 150 million. This project is expected to raise the Wingate National Institute to the level of some renowned European sports institutes, such as Papendal in Netherland.
The Wingate institute lays at the Southern edge of the city of Netanya and in its municipal jurisdiction, directly on the waterfront of the Mediterranean Sea and bordering the Poleg Stream natural reserve park, where the Israel Trail passes.
At the present the entrance (and exit) to the Institute is only from the south bound coast road, however it seems that already in 2023 additional north and southbound entrances and exits will be allowed with the construction of the development works that started in 2021, by the Ayalon Highways Company Ltd.
