Maccabi Tel Aviv’s “Special Maccabi” team for athletes with special needs that is sponsored by the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Foundation in partnership with Bank Hapoalim, is in full swing. On Wednesday the team was joined by the Great Britain Special Olympics team for training.
The Brits are visiting Israel and the two sides were put through their paces at the club’s Kiryat Shalom training facility. The players were assisted by club supporters who volunteer to help and who have become a regular part of the special squad.
First team striker Nick Blackman joined the event and said: “It is a great honour for me to participate in the Foundation’s project today and to meet the British Special Olympics team. We play a game we all love and we face challenges of one sort or another during our career. If there is one thing I can share, it is that they must continue to work hard, persevere and enjoy playing.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Foundation manager Yuval Shaham said: “The British Special Olympics team offered to join us for a joint training session and we said yes immediately. Part of our mission is to cooperate with other teams from around the world and we are very happy to host our friends here.”
Laura Baxter, the British Special Olympics Head of Network Development, praised the move and said: “It has been a wonderful experience to be a part of this project, which is worthy of praise. It is an opportunity for us to learn from others who run such projects and to see this great project that is sponsored by a great club such as Maccabi Tel Aviv. It has also been a fantastic experience for our players to meet Nick Blackman who is an inspirational role model.
The “Special Maccabi” team is one of the main projects of the Maccabi Tel Aviv FC Foundation for 2019-20. It has been established in partnership with Bank Hapoalim and the Special Olympics organisation. The team is made up of 18 special needs athletes and six club supporters who have volunteered to take an active part in training throughout the year.
