What's in a Day

Before we get too deep into our placement in Israel, we thought it might be apt to provide a little clarification, a little detail as to what we are actually doing here. Having been here in Akko for two weeks, we’ve had the chance to familiarize ourselves with the unique nature of our project and wanted to provide the layman with a general overview of what it is we do on a day-to-day basis.

Our working week starts Sunday (in accordance with Jewish week) and ends Thursday (barring the occasional Friday meant to make up for cancelled sessions). Everyday we are in a different school in the community providing football lessons. The schools we currently coach at are: Eyal, Almanara, Alamal, Wietzman, Gordon, and Eskool. To most of you, these names probably mean nothing. Those familiar with the Akko school system would immediately notice three distinctions— Eyal is a special needs school, Almanara and Alamal are predominantly Arab schools, and Wietzman, Gordon, and Eskool are largely Jewish schools.

Now, whether the school is Arab, Jewish, or disability, our aim is the same: to create a fun, social environment where children can learn the basics of football. But most grassroots football is aimed at that basic goal. Where our project differs is in its social application.

(Session at Eskool)

Akko is a unique city in that it is mixed, a place where Christians, Muslims, Jews, Druze, and Bahai live side by side. Our project is aimed at creating equitable footballing opportunity for the groups through our lessons and aimed at furthering the social connection between the groups through weekly tournaments. We are currently in the process of setting up a weekly local tournament where the Arab and Jewish populations can come together to play in a friendly competition.

The notion of creating social harmony is the ideal behind the project. Now the day-to-day of the project looks a lot more like “work.” Below is a basic outline of what an average day might look like:

7:00 am – Wake up and do 200 pushups, eat a nutritionally balanced bowl of cereal, get dressed

8:00- 8:10 am – Arrive at school, drink between 1-3 cups of coffee, prepare for the maelstrom

8:10 – 2:15 pm – Coach for 6 hours (6 different classes) with intermittent coffee and pushup breaks; several minutes before and after each session designated to “hatima” time or signing autographs; schools also have several short food breaks, at which time we vacate the playing area as fast as possible or risk getting caught up in a game of “give me my football back.”

2:30 pm – Arrive back at the apartment, all previous plans abandoned. Do as many pushups as possible before taking a nap you promised yourself you wouldn’t take.

3:30 pm – Wake up from nap and do activities! (Which we now have more room for on account of having made bunk beds)

10 pm – Go to sleep until next day

(Signing Autographs at Wietzman)

(Keep in mind this schedule is flexible. Not all days look exactly like this, though all days are chock full of coaching!)

Hopefully this helps clarify exactly what our project entails and provides clearer insight into what our daily work life is like in Israel.

#Israël