Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth academy is entering its fourth year under the tutelage of a team headed by Patrick Van Leeuwen, the club’s performance director. We caught up with the Dutchman to hear his take on the work he has done so far and his plans for the upcoming season.
Summing up the period to date and vision for the future:
“For the last three years, the youth academy has come on in leaps and bounds and we have made significant progress. My vision has been instilled and it has more or less become our lingua franca. Coaches and players are working to the high standards we expect and they have got better every season.
“We have set high standards in the development of young players and when I look back today, I can see that we have a firm base on which to build and on how we want to play football.
“Looking forward to my fourth season at the club, I expect to see more progress from players and teams. Additionally, I expect to see high quality work by coaches both in training and on the sidelines during matches. We are already at a stage where we do not have to make major changes and this is because we set a firm base in place at the outset. Now we can concentrate on specific points which will take players a step forward towards becoming better at doing the things they enjoy, namely: playing football.”
Plans for the upcoming season:
Elite Program:
“We inaugurated the elite training project last season and during the current season we want to target efficiencies. This is a programme that is working concurrently to regular training, and is aimed specifically at the players who are included to the project. The additional aspects that players will receive involve mental training, lifestyle demands for top athletes, analyzing situations with the use of video footage, physical training and tactical tuition that is tailor made for each individual participant.
We will increase the coaching staff so that they can concentrate on each player’s development. This will involve recruiting former club players who will be able to impart their experience and knowledge on the young talent. We received very positive reaction last season.”
Data analysis:
“The data analysis of players’ physical development in training and play, information that we receive through our cooperation with “Playermaker” we are able to monitor four separate teams from age 14-17 and we use GPS technology to track the activity of the youth team. This is a vital tool that provides us with the means to analyze whether out plan to increase player performance is working. We will store the data in order to create a benchmark for academy players at each age group and it will allow each coach to set standards every year because they will be able to know whether the players have reached the level we expect of them. The system also allows players to monitor their own progress through a smart phone app where they can view clips and personal data.
Girls’ Academy:
“Another aim is to continue to develop the girls’ academy. This project was started through our schools initiative last year when we set up a girls’ league team. In the coming season we want to establish an academy that will be organized in the same way as the one we have for the boys and we want to utilize the same training tools and analysis. This is a grand plan that we have set out and we want to ensure that we can implement it in the best possible way so that we can get girls to get excited about playing football.
We certainly hope that this will help the development of women’s soccer in Israel and will open the door for Maccabi players into the women’s national team.”
International tournament:
“In January, we will hold an international youth tournament at Kiryat Shalom following on from a similar event that has been held in the past two seasons. We hope also to add two more events for teams aged under-17. We want our players to get a taste of short-term competition and to be able to achieve results in a concentrated event which lasts only a few days.”
Goals For The Season
“For this season, we hope to be able to get youth players ready to enter play with the full squad and to give them the opportunity to train with our senior team so that the coach will be able to get an idea of their abilities. For the younger teams, we expect players to be able to set an example to other teams and to become the leading teams in their respective leagues, as they do every season.”
“Of course, just as with the youth players moving up to senior level, we want the same to happen with the younger players and hope they will be able to demonstrate that they are capable of competing for places in higher age group teams.
“We will also continue to monitor the progress of youth players who are on loan at other clubs in the second division where they can gain vital experience of tougher competition.
“If we want to continue to recruit the best talent, we need good scouts and one of our main activities is to hold open days for players from throughout the country. We want to get the best players playing for us and give them the opportunity to nurture their talent. 
Open days in the upcoming season will be aimed at boys aged five-12.”
Scouting:
“We hope also to attract young players through our branches in the north and the south with activities for six- and seven-year-olds through games and training, and hope that this will instill interest for the future. We will start with boys but expect also to see young girls joining in.”
Football Network:
Another initiative that we are continuing from last season is cooperation with other clubs through the Football Network. We have established connections with other clubs and have allowed them to observe our training sessions and to receive guidance from our coaches so that they too can improve their own work. We currently have 12 clubs who want to cooperate with us. Our aim is to be as open as possible and to share information for the good of everybody.”
Media:
We have developed our social media platform and I am especially proud that academy players can glean information from our Instagram page and from the web site. I particularly like the fact that it is possible to the youth team matches on the web site. It adds interest and enthusiasm to the players who know that they are being watched.”
Summary:
The season has begun and I really expect our work and progress to continue at full speed. I want to see our players who are out on loan playing at the highest level possible and that all Maccabi’s players will have the opportunity to play competitively. With the help of parents and full motivation, I believe that we will have a wonderful season.”
