The Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Foundation continued its bid to strengthen the residents of the South as more activities involving first team members and Youth Academy staff took place today in a bid to raise morale.

After last week Or Yitzhak visited families who were evacuated from Gaza border communities to hotels near the Dead Sea, today was the turn of Ofir Davidzada who arrived to meet the residents of Sa’ad. The 32-year-old left-back entertained the kids of Sa’ad, signed autographs and handed some gifts on behalf of the club before heading to meet kids from Be’eri kibbutz.

Elsewhere, Maccabi’s Youth Academy coaches met with residents of Kibbutz Karmia who were evacuated to Tel Aviv. The coaches guided the kids through a training session and played some mini matches that supplied a destruction from their day to day ordeal they are experiencing.

The Maccabi Tel Aviv FC foundation continues its efforts to strengthen residents of the South as it initiated on Thursday activities involving the first team players. 

Dor Peretz and Gabi Kanichowsky arrived at one of the Tel Aviv centers where families of security forces were evacuated from Gaza strip border communities. The players met with kids, had their photos taken, signed autographs and handed out gifts on behalf of the club. Perez said: “On behalf of Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, we wish for better, safer, quieter days. Let’s hope for peace and quiet, our hearts are with you, our thoughts are with you and we will do everything we can in order to make you feel better during these difficult days.”

A similar activity took place at Kfar Maccabiah which was attended by Yonatan Cohen, Ido Shahar and Osher Davida who met with the kids while Ofir Davidzada, Dan Biton, and Idan Nachmias were at Glil Yam. All players spoke to the kids, heard their experiences and handed out official Maccabi merchandise as gifts.

The state of Israel is in a state of war, and we are all experiencing extremely tough days. Despite all that, one of the bright spots of these days were the extensive volunteering by the public, as well as the Maccabi Foundation and the first team players. All came forward to strengthen the residents of the south thus raising the national morale.

As part of the Maccabi Foundation activities, players accompanied by members of Maccabi’s Youth Academy visited several centers with Eran Zahavi, Yonatan Cohen, Dor Peretz and Eyal Golasa arrived at Kibbutz Shfayim where residents of the Gaza strip border communities were evacuated to following the horrors of the war. The players played football with the kids, had their photos taken with them and obviously handed out some gifts on behalf of the club.

A similar activity involving kids from the south took place on the Tel Aviv beach with Sheran Yeini, Ofir Davidzada and Dan Biton took supplying the entertainment and distraction. Gabi Kanichowsky played his part as well with the midfielder meeting kids from Gaza border communities at Netanya.

Maccabi’s captain, Sheran Yeini, said: “It is a privilege to be able to give these boys and girls from the Nir Am Kibbutz as good a feeling as I possibly can. The situation is just heart breaking and we would all prefer to return to normality as fast as possible. In the meantime, we could do some good deeds and there are few young talents we might consider signing at Maccabi Tel Aviv.”

Ofir Davidzada added: “We must understand that our strength is in our unity. The more we stick together the stronger we will be as a nation, as a military and everything else we do.”

Dan Biton summed up: “We came to strengthen them and were strengthened ourselves. Let us just hope we experience better days in the future.”

I’m sitting and thinking what to write about you that I haven’t yet managed to. After such a long time, what else haven’t I said that I have wanted to. I try to remember you, one memory after another, experience after experience, dividing them up by time periods and it becomes an album in my head of experiences and memories, an album of your life story.

I remember when we were young and we played games together, we fought, we complimented each other, we competed against each other, worked as one but at the end of the day we were good brothers and best friends.

What we loved most to do was to play football with our neighborhood friends and even then one could see our differences when I was good at standing in goal and you were good at scoring goals. And that is where our love for Maccabi Tel Aviv began, I’m not sure where it came from and it was like love at first sight, something that just can’t be explained.

We watched the matches together, talked about them with our friends, collected stickers and get excited about the jerseys we had. We even signed up for football school with the goal of playing for Maccabi one day.

When I visit your grave at the cemetery, maybe I can get some inspiration from you. I look at the grave and see two flags, that of Golani and the other of Maccabi Tel Aviv, the flags that symbolized you over the years, our love for football and Maccabi did not diminish as we grew up, it actually intensified. Each one of us played with our school and class but no matter how much I loved football and practiced, you were always better, you were just very talented. We even tried to set up a team of our own with our friends and play against other teams. That was one of the periods I remember enjoying most.

I look around again and see a grave that is not familiar to me and another new grave. They have even started a new row, one family and another family whose lives were cut off in one moment and were forced to start a new life.

A life that throws you down to the ground and you don’t know how to even get up, how to continue, how to deal with the pain, loss and bereavement. The life that will never be the same as it once was and you must learn how to live all over again.

I ask you to give us more strength to continue to count the years which doesn’t get any easier over time. I’ll always remember how you would come back from the army with your uniform, weapons and bags; you looked tired. But you always had a smile smeared across your face and we all came to hug you at once.

We played FIFA together on PlayStation and watched many games, it’s the only thing that’s left of me from the football bug, but you continued on with everything. You went to all the Maccabi games, you bought more of their merchandise even though you barely had a salary, you participated in amateur tournaments and I remember that you would even leave the army to go and watch an important Maccabi match. You gave them unconditional love no matter if they won or lost and that’s what I loved about you so much, because you were like that with everyone and everything.

I respect you for believing in goodness and integrity, innocence and justice, and for wanting to give, to fight and to sacrifice yourself for your country and faith.

Thinking back to myself, remembering the time and looking at the mirror, I no longer look the same, I’m almost 30 years old, but how come you still haven’t reached 20? You haven’t changed at all and you’ll remain young forever and ever.

You are probably looking down from above with happiness and pride that there is now a Maccabi youth club in your name and that it will continue your memory, giving you those chances that life took from you. I still dream of a last hug form you, saying goodbye with a few words and not how you suddenly disappeared seven years ago.

Since then we have been breathing for you and taking you with us. Throughout the year, we cry and with each tear your memory grows, to keep reminding us and so will we continue to do as long as there is another soul in each one of us.

You always came to ask me things and I’d answer and explain to you like big brothers do, but since you left I’ve made a lot of new friends, I grew up and made positive changes in my life. I’ve learned a lot about life since then and you have continued to accompany me, teach me and remind me what the really important things are.

Ilan Sviatkovsky z”l 1989-2010

Ilan Sviatkovsky was born in Uzbekistan, immigrated to Israel with his family in 1994 and settled in Rishon Le’Zion. Already at an early age, he became a huge fan of the Club together with his brother Arik Sviatkovsky. There was no other fan like him. In March 2010, Ilan was killed in a clash with terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

This past season, the Under-15 Club was named after Ilan at a moving ceremony held at the Ramle Stadium in his memory. His father and brother were present.

Throughout the year, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Foundation does extensive work in the community and ahead of tomorrow’s Good Deeds Day (March 14th) which is marked globally, we took the opportunity to do something good.

Based on the simple idea that every single person can do something good, large or small, to improve the lives of others and positively change the world – the Maccabi Foundation hosted kids from the Pinhas Ayalon school for an eventful day. During the visit of the Kiryat Shalom training complex, the kids took part in a training session which was led by coaches of the Club’s Youth Academy. The kids then met with the first team players and to end the day with a good taste, they all sat down for lunch donated by the club’s sponsor Pizza Prego.

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