The second Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Department club began training for the 2017/18 campaign as Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv, the Under-17 Club under the direction of Eliezer Ben Aharon who earned the Double last season hit the Kiryat Shalom pitch. Ben Aharon will begin his second year as head coach and will have new players who advanced from the Under-16 team. In addition, the professional staff will include a pair of new faces in Dedi Ben Dayan who will be the assistant coach and goalkeeper coach Kale Dreshler. Patrick van Leeuwen the Club’s Performance Director and his assistant Raymond Atteveld were also present at opening practice.
Ben Aharon spoke about getting back to work on the training pitch: “It’s a new season with new team and it’s very exciting. You can already see that the team is very talented and there are some good players here. If I can help them with the little things then together we’ll be able to do some big things this season. We’ve also added some former players to the professional staff who come to Maccabi with very rich histories and I believe that we can help the players advance and improve.”
Assistant coach Dedi Ben Dayan also discussed returning to the field, however this time as part of the professional staff: “Personally, it’s very exciting. It’s coming full circle for me as I began my career at the age of 17 with the club’s first team and now I’m beginning the second chapter of my career in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Youth Department. I hope that I’ll be able to contribute with my many years of experience and be able to teach the younger players. I’ll do the maximum to make them better players and better people as well.”
The club’s goalkeeping staff also has a new addition in Kale Dreshler who returns to the team he had once played for: “It’s a big honor to return to the club and in the past we did some great things. I came here to work and teach and I’m happy that I have come back to a big club. The conditions here are like being at Barcelona but in Israel.”
