Eyal Golasa, 10 years old

Where did you live?
“In Bat Hefer”

What school did you go to?
“I went to S’dot Bat Hefer. It was a small school and everyone knew each other, it was like a family.”

What subject did you like the most and the least?
“I really enjoyed Tanach (Bible Study) and math. Tanach really spoke to me because of the stories and subject matter. I was excellent in math. Geography and history were a couple ones that I didn’t enjoy much.”

Who was your best friend?
“I always had many friends. There are about 5-6 friends that I am still in touch with today. We were very close and I’m happy that we remained this way.”

Which club did you support?
“I didn’t really have a team that I supported in Israel, but I loved Barcelona in Spain.”

Who was your favorite player?
“I really liked Ronaldinho, but my favorite was Deco, who played the same position as I play now. In my eyes these were two of the greats.”

What did you do in your spare time?
“Of course I played PlayStation. Today I usually play with FIFA but back then Pro Evolution was king. I liked to play with Barcelona but I also enjoyed playing with Inter. It was fun playing with them.”

Did you have an animal at home?
“Ever since I was a boy I’ve had a dog. When I was ten I had a boxer named Jesse.”

What other sports did you enjoy?
“I really liked tennis. I wasn’t in an after school program but once or twice a week I would play. Singles or doubles with friends.”

What type of music did you like?
“I enjoyed all different types, both from Israel and from around the world. If I had to choose then it would be Mashina.”

Which TV show did you enjoy?
“There were a lot of good ones. I liked Moomin, Arthur along with Dennis the Menace. They were all great.”

Oscar Scarione, at 10 years old:

Where did you live?
“The city was called Jose C. Paz and it was part of Buenos Aries just north of the city.”

Did you have a nickname?
“In general, people in Argentina have nicknames but I didn’t have one, so people just called me Ezequiel. Occasionally some people called me ‘Eze'”

What school did you go to?
“I went to a school that was just 100 meters from my home and it was a public school. There were always plenty of issues in these types of schools including teachers going on strike because they didn’t get their salary and things like that. This happens a lot in Argentina.”

What subject did you enjoy and which ones didn’t you?
“I really liked subjects that dealt with reality and anything connected to numbers. Math and science. I remember that I didn’t care much for classes that dealt with language.”

Who was your best friend?
“I had many friends and we always played together in the neighborhood. There was always two or three really good friends. One of them Juan, became my best friend and we are still in touch. He actually had a nickname, Kehito, but I’m not sure what it meant.”

What club did you play for?
When I was ten years old I just played in the neighborhood and generally in every neighborhood there were 5 on 5 or 6 on 6 games going on during the weekends. There really weren’t any clubs like there were in Buenos Aries. The first club I played for was called La Esperenza and it was fairly close to my house. A cousin of mine played for them and I began learning more and more about football.

Which club did you root for?
“My father was from San Lorenzo so that was the team I followed and became a fan of.”

Which player did you like?
“At this age I really didn’t look at individual players. I loved to to see goals on TV but didn’t have a favorite player. When I did begin to follow players it was Zidane and Riquelme. When I began to play professionally I started paying attention to different things that the players did. Riquelme was a player I really liked to watch.”

What were some of your hobbies?
“We didn’t get homework so we had plenty of time to hang out with friends after school. Of course we played football along with hide & seek. One friend had Nintendo so we all used to go over to his house to play it.”

What other sports did you like?
“We had sports class in school where they tried to teach us dodgeball but in Argentina everyone just loved football.”

What music did you enjoy?
“I remember that I didn’t like MTV as it just wasn’t my style. There’s a type of music called Cumbia in Argentina and I really enjoyed listening to that.”

What TV show did you like?
“My favorite was Dragon Ball Z and there was also a Japanese TV show about football called Captain Tsubasa and it was a really good series. It was a 30-minute show but in those 30-minutes they maybe moved about 20 meters and they always thought about their passes. You should check it out.”

Tal, when he was 10 years old:

Where did you live?
Rishon Le’Zion

What did your friends call you?
I didn’t have a nickname, my friends just called me Tal.

Where did you go to school?
Neve Chof School in Rishon Le’Zion.

What subject did you like the most and least?
I enjoyed math and even from a young age I liked reality related things. I was less interested in history especially when it came to memorizing the material. Of course, there was no question that I loved sports.

Who was your best friend?
My father. He accompanied me everywhere, he’s the person that I’m still closest to.

Did you have a girlfriend?
I had a girlfriend but she moved down to Eilat. That was my first heartbreak. Her name was Deganit.

What club did you play for?
When I was ten years old I was with Maccabi Tel Aviv. In fact, I began with the club when I was 6 years old.

Which footballer did you like?
There were plenty of stars during that period of time like Nimni, Berkovic, Ohana & Malmillian. Outside of Israel I really didn’t have anyone that I liked that I can really remember.

Where did you like to hang out?
On Fridays, we had our evening class get-togethers. For two hours, we hung out at a different person’s house every week. Everyday I came home from school and I did my homework. From there I went out to play football.

What did you spend money on?
When I was a boy I loved the football player and club sticker albums. I remember buying them.

What other sports did you like?
Swimming. When I was ten I was with Maccabi but also on a swimming team. I swam for Hapoel Bat Yam and I was even ranked 4th in the country.

What singer did you enjoy?
I really liked Arik Einstein.

What was your favorite television show?
I enjoyed Denver the Last Dinosaur. I also watched Bimba and that’s something I’ll remember to this day.