Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Academy representatives began the season with the First Team. Daniel Peretz, Bar Cohen, Nadav Nidam all joined the first training session of the new campaign while Academy graduates, Noam Cohen and Eden Kartzev who were loaned out to Hapoel Hadera and Beitar Tel Aviv Ramle respectively also took part in Vladimir Ivic’s squad’s session.
Category: Youth Teams
Youth Academy Holds End of Season Banquet
The Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Academy held their annual end of the season banquet as the entire department staff and club personnel attended the special evening at the PenguinPickUp Training Ground at Kiryat Shalom.
Patrick Van Leeuwen, the club’s Performance Director and Youth Academy Manager Guy Zukerman spoke at the banquet as they summed up the season. Over the course of the evening that included a sumptuous dinner, the club said goodbye to a number of the staff who were leaving the club.
Youth Academy Keepers Sum up season
Just before heading to the summer break the Youth Academy keepers held a session to sum up the season that was under Israel Eini the head of the department. Every shot stopper from age 8 to 19 attended the event where the staff looked back at the development of the youngsters as per the club’s philosophy.
The event focused on professional technical and tactical points for the keepers including, saves, catching the ball, building the game from the keeper, how to stands properly as per the highest professional standards, the mental state, leadership and how to deal with pressure.
Youth tournament ends Academy season in style
The 2018/19 Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Academy season officially came to a close on Saturday as the various age groups held their final training sessions along with a tournament that encompasses many of the young Yellow & Blue teams.
The Under-13 to Under-19 squads created teams with one player from each age group and played matches of 15 minutes. In addition, the Under-8 to Under-13 groups also held a competition similar to the older teams. It was a wonderful way to end another successful Youth Academy season.
Over 300 Youth attend the Academy’s Open Day
The Maccabi Tel Aviv “Avi Cohen” Youth Academy held a special day for young players from across the country. The open trial day was held at the PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom under the direction of the Academy’s chief scout Ran Elias. Patrick van Leeuwen, the Club’s Performance Director goal with these special days is to be able to find additional quality players at various ages.
Open to those born between 2007-2013, the staff prepared training sessions appropriate for different age groups which were split into two (2007-2009 & 2010-2013) and had the chance to impress the coaches on hand. The sessions were held under the philosophy of the club.
Should a player impress the staff, the club will be in contact with them. This amazing day was a fantastic opportunity for youngsters from around the country to get a taste of the values of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Youth “Football Network” Tournament at Kiryat Shalom
The Youth Academy held a tournament for Under-13 teams from around the country with the goal of Maccabi Tel Aviv strengthening its ties with other clubs from the around the country.
Six teams from with players born in 2006 and two from Maccabi who were born in 2007 were split into two groups to play 25 minute games.
Group A
Maccabi “Oz” Tel Aviv, Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam, Nahariya, Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon
Group B
Maccabi “Leibo” Tel Aviv, Holon, Beitar Ramat Gan, Haporl Hadera
Bat Yam took first place, Hapoel Hadera came in second while Maccabi “Leibo” was third.
The tournament organizer Ran Elias spoke about the importance of the cooperating with other clubs from around the country: “This tournament was the first connection in future cooperation with these clubs from various parts of the country. The purpose is to build a football network from the north to the south of the country. This will allow teams and clubs the chance to be connected to Maccabi and enjoy professional collaboration. The tournament itself was an opportunity gave these clubs the opportunity to get to know Maccabi Tel Aviv and the power of the club. This will be the first step in continuing cooperation with these clubs with the goal of hosting more of these tourneys around the country in the future.”
Some of the participating coaches also talked about the experience including Chai, the Bat Yam coach: “This was a competition organized by the top club in the country with the highest professional standards. Maccabi Tel Aviv treated us all first class and from a professional side I’m thrilled we won this tournament. I look forward to more in the future.”
Boaz, the Hapoel Hadera coach also chimed in: “The idea to out together this competition was brilliant. It gave us a chance to not only meet other teams form across Israel but also gave if a chance to see what a club like Maccabi Tel Aviv is all about. The teams played on a number of pitches and the players didn’t have to wait around as they moved from game to game. On a personal level I hope that there will be more of these opportunities in the future.”
Youth Academy team coaches named for the upcoming season
Just before the youth teams end training for this season and go out to break, the coaches for the various teams from the Under-19 to Under-15 squads were named for the 2019/20 campaign under the direction of Performance Director Patrick van Leeuwen.
Under-19
Eliezer Ben Aharon will be the Under-19 Head Coach for the upcoming season. Ben Aharon has been with the Academy for 8 years with the last three guiding the Under-17 side and winning the league title in all of those seasons. Ben Aharon will move up a level along with the players he coached this past campaign at the U17 level.
Under-17
Ori David will take over as the Under-17 Head Coach after two campaigns with the Under-15 team. David has been with the club for 11 years and has coached the lower age groups until now. His U15 side won the league championship this past season.
Under-16
Eran Sassi will continue with the Under-16 squad in what will be his second season with the club. Sassi guided his team to the State Cup this past campaign.
Under-15
After seven years with Maccabi, Boaz Bracha will become the Under-15 Head Coach. In prior seasons Bracha coached younger teams in the Academy for the club.
Friendlies: 7 Academy Representatives with the U19 Israel National Team
The Under-19 Israel National Team will head to Macedonia for a pair of matches against the hosts along with seven representatives of Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv. The two contests will help prepare the team for the upcoming European Championship qualifiers that will take place in Latvia in October. Israel will be in Group 12 along with Holland, Moldova and Latvia.
Yesterday, Israel defeated North Macedonia 2:1 with the Academy’s Bar Cohen scoring the winning goal. In addition to Cohen, other Maccabi representatives include Dan Lugassi, Ido Shahar, Omri Ram, Rave Assayag, David Dego and Guy Mizrahi are also on the Blue & White squad.
Michael Zandberg: “I’ll be able to help the young players”
Over the past few years, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Avi Cohen Youth Academy has seen a dramatic change thanks to Performance Director Patrick van Leeuwen who introduced and imbued his football philosophy throughout the department. This season also saw the introduction of the Individual Elite Training program headed by Raymond Atteveld, van Leeuwen’s assistant, with the goal of developing the Academy’s players. The Individual Elite Training program runs in conjunction with the regular training program and is designed to suit the individual needs of the players who are part of the project. The program includes additional resources for better living, video, physical and tactical sessions for individual players.
Also: The Elite Training Program
Together with Atteveld, who heads the Elite Program, there are a number of Youth Academy who help develop the players according to the philosophy of the club. Boaz Bracha, Hamda Mari and Ori David along with the latest addition to the Academy, Michael Zandberg are all involved in the project.
Ori David explained the importance of the Elite Training Program at the Academy: “The project allows they youth players to reach their maximum in each of the areas of concentration whether it’s professional, physical mental. The coaches under the direction of Raymond Atteveld are bucking training programs with much thought in mind for each individual player in the project with the help of a full team of coaches and analysts.
Michael Zandberg also talked about the goals of the program: “I’m at the beginning of my career as a coach and I feel that this is a place I need to be to learn and improve. I’m sure with my experience I’ll be able to add to the program and help the young players. The Elite Training session are an enrichment for a specific player. Each player receives guidance in an area that they can’t get when they are training with the whole team and the attention given to the players by the coaches is unprecedented where they analyze each and every move. On a personal level it’s also an opportunity to learn and the players have the chance to do so from a number of coaches at one time on the pitch. I hope that I will also improve and develop as a coach so I can help the players much more.”
Hamda Mari discussed the importance of each and every bit of information the player receives: “The players learn many topics that will help them in an actual match. Techniques, offensive moves according to the philosophy of the club, proper defending and more. We work with every player on their weak points in order for them to improve and thereby also being more effective on the pitch with the team itself.”
The goal of the project is to develop the Academy players and help them improve but the coach also take many positives themselves from the project explain Boaz Bracha: “The Elite training sessions demand that the coaches understand each and every movement that the player makes and where they need to improve in the specific area. This will allow them to understand in the simplest form what they need to do so the instructions must be given over at the highest level. The goal is to make sure the player can make the proper adjustments and improve in the best way possible and in order to do that the training session must be player specific so they can then help their team.”
Eduardo Guerrero with Panama at the Under-20 World Championship
With the Israel Youth League coming to an end, the Under-19 striker Eduardo Guerrero will take part in the Under-20 World Championship in Poland. The Panama native will represent his country in a group with France, Mali and Saudi Arabia. The tournament itself will feature 24 countries including Argentina, Uruguay, Italy, Portugal, Mexico and many others from around the globe.
Panama entered the competition from the Central America section where the first 4 teams earned a ticket to the tourney. Panama finished in 3rd along with Honduras. The Yellow & Blue striker didn’t take part in the qualification portion as he was with Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv in Champions League action. Guerrero appeared in 33 matches across all competitions and scored 19 goals (13 league, 1 State Cup, 5 Champions League).
Panama Fixtures:
25.5 – Mali
28.5 – France
31.5 – Saudi Arabia
