This afternoon 180 children from "The Equaliser" project were the guests of Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club to participate in a special tournament at the Kiryat Shalom training ground
This afternoon a very special tournament was held at Maccabi Tel Aviv's Kiryat Shalom training ground as part of "The Equaliser", a project of the Israeli Sports Education Initiative. The main goal of the project is to provide children from the country's social periphery with a social, educational and athletic framework that combines football training and educational studies throughout the school year. The project is geared to children aged 10 to 12, who get together in groups of 15 for four meetings a week, two of which are dedicated to educational matters and two to football practices. The project run 72 such groups throughout the country.
The special tournament was held at Kiryat Shalom's new East pitch and was attending by all 180 children who participate in the project in the country's central region. The tournament offered the children the opportunity to spend some three hours playing football and testing their skills on Maccabi's Kiryat Shalom training pitch. In addition to the activity on the pitch, there was plenty for the children to do off the pitch as well, with Maccabi mascot Maccabino receiving considerable attention and playing his role in enlivening the entire tournament atmosphere. Representatives of Maccabi Tel Aviv's community orientated fan organisation "Achim Lesemel" were also in attendance, donating as always their time and efforts to the club's community endeavours. Their contribution this afternoon was taking charge of booths where the children could get their faces painted, either with make-up or with the delicious candy floss that the volunteers were handing out to all takers.
