Maccabi junior Futsal bring back bronze

SA Maccabi u16 team: Ben Horwitz, Zach Brivik, Aaron Isserow, Jordan Arelisky, Ethan Morris, Daniel Rubin, Reon Siyaya (Coach), Ronen Cohen (Manager) Jake Greenberg, Sam Matisonn, Noah Kallner, Tal Eisenberg and Daniel Nueburger

After a successful European Maccabi Games in Berlin, where both the Open and Masters Futsal teams won bronze medals, the u16 junior Maccabi Futsal team have now added another bronze medal to the sport after competing at the Maccabiah Games in Israel in July this year.

Ronen Cohen, manager of the team said “Many of the boys that were part of this u16 Futsal team that participated at this year’s Maccabiah started Maccabi Futsal together in 2009 where a plan was put in place to take an u16 team to Israel for the Games in 2017, so not only did we see this through, but we came back with a bronze medal to show for it.”
The team who were coached by Reon Siyaya and managed by Ronen Cohen, was made up of nine boys from Cape Town and two boys from Johannesburg.
Having been drawn in a group with the likes of Great Britain, Italy and Hong Kong, the team managed to finish runners up in the group to Great Britain, who they narrowly lost to in the group stages 3-5. The team then lost their grueling semi-final to eventual tournament winners Israel, but managed to pick themselves up by beating Great Britain (who lost to Argentina in the other semi-finals) in the 3rd/4th playoff match 4-2, taking home the Bronze medal. Ronen said “It was amazing to see how dedicated and professional the boys were leading up to and during the Games, their discipline and maturity were definitely a big factor in winning the bronze.”
The team trained twice a week together for just over a year and a half, having conducted several training camps with regular fitness assessments to monitor their progress. Ronen said “A huge thank you must go out to Gary Bieber and the District Six CrossFit team who took the boys for weekly fitness sessions, making us one of the fittest teams at the tournament and ultimately helping us win our bronze medal.”
Maccabi Futsal are planning to send junior teams to Israel to compete at the Youth Maccabi Games in 2018, as well as sending junior, senior and masters teams to the 15th European Maccabi Games in Budapest in 2019. For more information contact futsal@maccabi.co.za

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