Last week four coaches from Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Youth Department spent a week at Everton in the city of Liverpool as they continued their ongoing professional education at the English Premier League Club.
Upon their return, the group summed up the experiences as the Assistant Performance Director Raymond Atteveld discussed what it was like to return to the Club where he had once played:
“It was a wonderful experience to be at a Premier League Club with training facilities of the highest level. For me personally, it was nice to be back at a place that I know really well from the time I was there as a player. We wanted our coaches to meet with other coaches who have different philosophies when dealing with the players on their teams. It’s important for every coach to see as many perspectives as possible, this is invaluable”
Atteveld continued: “Of course we want them to follow our philosophy, but it’s very important for them to gain other ideas along the way as this will just keep giving them more experiences to draw from and they will continue to improve because of that. We want them to be able to give over what they have learned to their players also. We saw some interesting examples that allowed the players to be coaches during the training sessions and in some cases they were able to try out various positions so they could also understand the holistic approach of the game.”
Other things the Maccabi coaches did during their time in England:
“We spoke to Everton’s first team assistant coach, senior staff at the Academy and we saw how they do video analysis and use the GPS System. We spent a lot of time with the Everton staff and they were extremely open and friendly to us. We received responses to anything and everything we asked and it was truly a fantastic experience. We also were able to see three matches that were all victories for them, so they really wanted us to stay.” Atteveld said with a smile.
What he learned about the Maccabi coaches:
“I was very happy to see that the coaches not only listened attentively but they asked questions about issues that were of interest and they weren’t afraid to ask again if they needed to. Every coach that came with us works with a different age group and they knew how to take the advice from their Everton counterparts. They prepared well before coming on the trip, they were active and they wanted to learn which made me very happy.”
Eliezer Ben Aharon, coach of Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv spoke about the Everton experience and tried to put his finger on the main differences between the academies: “This wasn’t the first time that I’ve travelled outside of Israel for continuing professional education. Overall the concept is similar between the two clubs, however the differences lie in the agenda of each of them. I was happy to see that this time compared to other trips I have been on, that we are on a similar path to that of a big European Club like Everton. This is in regards to the style of play built on training exercises, learning and improving, time management, set training program etc..
The main differences between the academies:
“I felt that we are on the correct path and it’s very encouraging going forward. I also learned that the gap between the quality of our players match play isn’t so great. The only gap that I can point to is in the mental part of the game. The players here come 100% focussed to every training session. The coaches don’t have to spend a lot of time on the mental side of the game whereas we have to do much more. I would be very happy if our players would come “full blast” to every practice.”
Alon Brumer, who played at the highest of levels with Maccabi also gave his thoughts on the trip:
“It was an amazing experience. This was my first continuing professional education program with the academy so I didn’t know what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised. What really struck me was that everyone at Everton had the same goal; to make sure the players advance to the first team.”
On the differences between the departments:
“Their sports culture is different, where they deal with just the game itself. The children who are part of their youth department receive the utmost attention and the program is at a very high level from the most complex to the simplest of things. As coaches who work in the youth department, we try to stimulate the children. At Everton they begin working on the simpler and easier things and work their way up to that which is more difficult. It’s very much related to the sports culture because it is imbued in them at a very early age.”
Maccabi “Ilan” Tel Aviv coach, Amir Sofer also spoke about the Everton experience:
“It was truly fascinating. It’s always interesting to see a Club which is at a higher level especially in terms of conduct and practice. I was very impressed by Everton’s facilities and how they work on the tiniest details of the game during practice. I came back from then trip with a number of new ideas and there’s no question that we can all learn plenty from them.”
