 By age 16, Sherf was playing for Maccabi South Tel Aviv (the club's second side), and was sent to a coaching course, along with fellow future Israeli basketball coach Pini Gershon.By age 20, Sherf was coaching the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth teams, and by age 25, he was coaching Maccabi South Tel Aviv, leading it to his first championship.In the 1980–81 season, when Maccabi Tel Aviv won the EuroLeague, the Israeli League and the Israeli State Cup titles, Sherf was an assistant coach to Rudy D'Amico.