As in the rest of life, football at the Maccabi Youth Division is now also being guided by the "Ten Commandments"
For Maccabi Tel Aviv's U19s to U15s, a new project is getting underway at team games and practices. The project is called the "Ten Commandments" and was conceived by the club's sports psychologist Noam Eyal together with Youth Division's football director Nir Levin. It is designed to improve the players' functioning in "real time" on the pitch. The "Ten Commandments" are in fact codes agreed upon by coaches and players alike designed to make it easier for the players to deal with different kinds of situations during matches. Mr Eyal provided a detailed explanation to each team about the significance of the "Ten Commandments" and each player received a card with all the "commandments" written on it. Each "commandment" consists of a number, a word printed in bold type and a short explanation of the action the player is required to take.The players carry these cards with them at all times and learn all the" commandments", so that if a number is called out during a match each player will know exactly what to do.
Mr Eyal explained the significance of the project: "We've taken it upon ourselves to teach the lads these words in a very precise form which are designed to trigger the most appropriate action at any given moment they might need to help themselves out. From this point on, every coach can signal to any player what his thoughts should be at any given moment during a match. At any distance and under all circumstances of the game the players will be trained to react quickly and appropriately to the coach's instructions. Such communication will raise the level of training and play during matches in real time".
