Monday, July 27, 2009:



Well, we are all home now and hopefully we have all made our adjustment back to USA time! I know it was great going, but even better coming home! Sean and I arrived in Birmingham at 1:20 PM and Aly arrived at 6:20 PM. After getting home and seeing how much I truly missed it, I was able to spend some quality time with my wife and also with our "Gang of Five". It was wonderful! After picking Aly up and returning home, low and behold my wife had a surprise party waiting on us. We had no idea about this and for the first time in my life, I was truly surprised. I thought all we were going to do was have some cold cuts and fresh pumpernickle, bagels and chalah once we got Aly home. It was a wonderful surprise to have my brother and nephew and his family here as well as all our friends that made this so special. Marie's sister Val and niece Claire from Mobile came up and were in on this from the start. They were such a big help as were our neighbors in helping Marie pull this off. As tired as we were, it was the best of times! Thank you honey for such a great and warm homecoming! I love you!



Now it is time to reflect on our experience for the past 3 and 1/2 weeks that we were away from home. I will once again apologize in advance of this post for my thoughts and open comments.



I can't help but think that this experience was supposed to be in two parts. The first being our pre-camp training/pre-camp touring. In the training segment, we had about 7 training sessions including the games in preparation for the tournament. So really, we had so few sessions to prepare our team and get to understand one another as well as understand Sean and my philosophy and tactical approach to the tournament. In such a short time frame, I truly believe we greatly over achieved as a team that had just been together for 1 week of training prior to the games. The second part of the experience was the games themselves and not only playing these games, but learning what it means to prepare for such a tournament off the field as well as on. As I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, I said, "everyone has the will to win, but not everone has the will to prepare to win". We tried to teach our kids to think, thus learning to have the will to prepare to win. I think for the most part, we learned that lesson quite well. It certainly showed during group play where we went undefeated, won our group for the first time ever and beat the defending and perennial champions Israel for the first time ever. Our kids were well prepared and more than competitive in these five games. They wanted to do the impossible....get to the medal round! They accomplished this goal with ease. They truly bought in to our philosophy during this time, with no interference from the outside. They were focused and highly motivated to follow our directions and rules and it clearly showed!



Now on to the semi-finals and the question that will always come up in my mind, is what should have been or really what could have been? I will try to answer both of these questions. In what should have been....I believe we should have struggled to make the medal round, based on the short window we had for turning a group of total strangers in to a team. It takes more than 1 week of intense training to mold a cohesive unit into a team of balance, rhythm and flow, while most of our competition had been together as a team for a very long time. The game of soccer is not based on individual talent or skill, but rather on the team functioning as one entity, creating a balance on the field, developing a rhythm in the actual play and creating a great flow to our tactics. You can not take a bunch of individuals, mold them and expect to win every game in such a short time frame. But you can expect them to try and understand the approach to the game and the tactics of the team in order to be successful. So, making the medal round was a great surprise for us. As for what could have been, I will always wonder what the outcomes would have been in the medal round, if we were well rested for the 1 day and a half that we had off before the semi-final game with Argentina. We had to play 2 games in 3 days in order to medal and that being done after playing 5 games in 6 days during the group round. The experience some questioned should have been done during the pre-camp phase of the trip and not during the games themselves. Maybe I am naive, but I thought we were chosen to go to Israel to play in the 18th Maccabiah and focus on that during that time. The experience should have been as a whole, but when it came time for the games, that should have been our total dedicated focus and nothing else. That is why there were try-outs to make this team and why all my emails addressed all these issues before we left for Israel on June 28th. If one attends any try-out in any sport, a prudent person would believe it was to make the team and that was the primary goal. Going and touring Israel was a by-product of this try-out in making the team. If an experience of Israel was all it was supposed to be, then there would not have been the games themselves! When it is time to tour, it is time to tour, but when it is time to play, it is time to play!



As for my players, I want to thank each one of them for the efforts and sacrifices they made in order to be as successful as they were. They were truly everything Sean and I hoped for in picking this team back in December, 2008. My only hope is that they learned from this experience and will continue with their passion for the game of soccer. I also hope they will always continue to think on the field as well as off the field in what is needed to be successful. I shall always remember this time in Israel with a group of kids that greatly over acheived and exceeded all expectations. They are all great kids and I wish them all the best that life has to offer, full of health and happiness. Each one helped to make Sean and my experience that more meaningful. There were bumps along the way, but with every bump, we were able to make the path that much more smooth in our journey!



In closing, there were some other things I wanted to say, but felt this was not the most appropriate venue for sharing those thoughts. So, I will leave it to those that dare to dream and to those that dare not to dream!



The most important part of this blog is in my thank you to all that made this dream possible. First and foremost, I must thank my wonderful and beautiful wife Marie, for all her support to me over all these years and for allowing me to be away from home for the longest we have ever been apart in our 34 years together. Thank you honey and I love you dearly. To my son Sean, for his devotion to me and his companionship during our time in Israel. He was the instrument to our success. His knowledge of the game continues to impress me at any level. He made this trip the most special time in my life. Being together with him and coaching with him, was the greatest experience of my life and to share it in our Ancestral Homeland, made it that much more special. I also wish to thank Maccabi USA for allowing me this unique and rare opportunity and for allowing me to do it with my son. I also want to thank my daughter Aly, for continuing to always make me so very proud to be her father. Her accomplishments at the games, is true testament to her devotion, commitment and integrity to her her chosen sport. The ultimate devotion to her team, came when she was asked to run the half marathon to make the USA be a team in the competition. Not being a distance runner at anytime in her life, this was a truly an amazing feat, just to compete. But, Aly being Aly, she is the ultimate team player and has always put her team ahead of herself. She not only ran the complete half marathon (13.1 miles), but she ran it at a 7 minute 47 second pace for a 7th place and helped to secure the silver medal for her team. I must also thank my employer, Birmingham-Southern College and my long time assistant coach and great friend, Greg Vinson for allowing me to do this journey. And to my new friends I made while in Israel, Barry Kaplan (a long time freind), Adam Cooper, Ami Monson, Roni Schneider, Harold Friedman, Mark Knue our overall Soccer Chairman and many others, thank you for allowing me to have such an enjoyable time and spending it all with you made it that much more enjoyable. I shall always remember with great fondness, the joy and laughter you brought each and every day and night to the Spades games and to this experience.



Thank you all for reading my daily blogs and sharing in this experience with Sean, Aly and me. It has been one of the greatest moments in my life, behind having the greatest parents and brother a boy could ever dream of having, getting married to the heart of my life, Marie and having the two most wonderful children in the world. I am truly blessed!



Take care and stay well!



With my warmest regards,

Preston and Sean from the USA

Tuesday, July 21, 2009:

The dream has ended, but the journey was special! Today, we lost in the Bronze Medal game to Brazil, 0:1. That meant we finished 4th in the entire tournament. It also meant we were the only men's team to play for a medal out of our open and youth teams. That in itself was an accomplishment for this team. The game started a lot like the semi-final game with Argentina...very flat emotionally, with poor decisions. We gave up a very sloppy goal about 10 minutes into the game. It was a bad defensive mistake and compounded by not being goalside of the man that scored. At that point, we started playing very good soccer, only to lose one of our starting strikers to a fractured nose from a deliberate elbow right in front of the referee, I will get into that in a bit. We also lost our starting goalkeeper to a hip injury on a collision with a striker from Brazil.

At the half, we re-grouped and began playing really well. We actually controlled the game the entire second half, but could not finish any goals. We had plenty of chances, but it was just not to be.

With about 10 minutes remaining, I was ejected from the game for arguing with the referee. Suffice it to say, it was some choice vocabulary by me. He was absolutely horrible and we got no calls at all. I lost it when 2 of the Brazilian players pulled our player down in the box and there was no call. We also had a player get his second yellow, so he was also ejected a few minutes after me. After my ejection, we had about 6 straight corners and 2 good shots on goal, but their keeper was good and stopped both attempts. We kept fighting until the final whistle.

We were extremely proud of our team for their showing in this tournament. They can certainly be very proud of all they accomplished. They went undefeated in group play, beat Israel for the first time ever and finished first in the group, with the second most goals scored and fewest goals allowed. No one ever thought we would have any chance in this tournament, but we fooled them all. We were great over achievers! I can't began to explain just how proud Sean and I are of this great group of young men. They came together as a team in just over 3 weeks of training and playing together. Only a few actually knew each other before we came and to do what they did as a group of strangers was remarkable! Brazil, Argentina, Great Britain and Israel all train as a team for long periods of time, way before they come here. Most of them play on the same club teams and those that don't, get together with them for their Maccabi training in their respective countries. We don't have that luxury. We come together for the first time while we are in Israel.
I only mention this, just to show how far we all came in accomplishing what we did. No one should ever feel more proud of their accomplishment, medal or not, than these young men!

Like I said in the beginning, the dream is over, but the journey will continue for these young men....they will remain great friends for life, always remembering this wonderful experience they all shared together in Israel in July of 2009!

But before I end, my daughter Aly, informed me she was asked to run the Women's Half Marathon tonight, so the USA would have enough runners to have a team. I am so proud of her for always putting the team first in everything she does. It certainly will be an eventful night for her. Keep your fingers crossed for her!

Tomorrow, the team will go be an Israeli soldier for a day, complete with uniform. I know this will be a memorable experience for them all.

So, this will be my final blog from Israel. I will write my final overview and perspective once I return to my office next Monday. I hope each of you has enjoyed these blogs and my candid comments. I found it a most rewarding venture!

We will have the closing ceremony on Thursday evening and then depart for the airport for our return home! I can not wait to get back in the good old USA and especially to my home and my wonderful wife and family in Birmingham, Alabama!

So until my final thoughts on Monday, I will say good bye from Israel.

Take care, stay well and best regards,

Preston and Sean from Israel

Monday, July 20, 2009:.

Today is a rest day for our team, as we prepare for our bronze medal game with Brazil on Tuesday at 4 PM. It should be a good game for us, but that will be determined by the team and their attitude and preparation mentally and emotionally.

I would like to discuss a little bit about our overall philosophy with regards to our team. From the very beginning, at our pre-camp training, we have been stressing to them the importance of not only the team being the superstar, but more importantly, the ability to think when they have the ball at their feet and when they don't have it at their feet. Thinking 3 plays ahead of the situation, so they are always prepared mentally to do what is necessary with and without the ball. Along with that, we wanted them to start thinking off the field as well and learning to stand on their own two feet and make decisions and choices that were important to the overall landscape of this team. My reasoning for allowing them time to themselves after our loss to Argentina and throughout the day today, was to see what choices they would make. We gave them the parameters to do what they pleased, but with the understanding, that it is the choices they would be making that would help to create either a good or bad situation for tomorrow's game. It is about choices, just as Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, "the choices we make dictate the lives we lead...to thine ownself be true". Nothing could be more appropriately stated than this, with reference to athletes and athletic teams. I want our kids to start thinking and stop just reacting to situations that arise, that could be detrimental to the welfare of the overall team concept. That is why we said what we said yesterday to the kids. It had absolutely nothing to do with liking or disliking anyone, or whether we won or lost. But, rather it had to do with learning to think about the team, rather than themselves!

There was a parent confrontation yesterday at our hotel that is not worthy of mentioning, other than to say it was extremely callous, disrespectful and without validity to me and my son!

Now, to the important aspect of our trip..,..the nightly spades game with my son, Adam Cooper(youth boys coach), Ami Monson (Maccabi USA Program Director) and sometimes, Barry Kaplan (Junior girls coach). This has been the most fun and entertaining thing each and every night. Sometimes, these games go until 4 AM! Ami, has kept us all in stitches with his falling asleep in between hands. One time he even fell out of his chair and then he woke up, only to fall asleep once again. The pairings were in the beginning Sean and I against Coop and Ami, but we needed to change sides because we were always winning. Sean is an outstanding player, so he teamed with Ami and they proceeded to kick our buts all the time until last night, whenCoop and I kicked theirs really bad! So the sun really does not shine up the same dogs rear all the time!

So, as we wind down our time here in Israel, it is our hope that each of our players has had a very meaningful experience, as well as a rewarding soccer experience. We believe we have not only taught them about the game of soccer, but about life lessons of what it means to come together as a team and function as one with correct thoughts and choices. Sometimes you must make mistakes in order to succeed. This is one of those moments!

Take care and stay well! Honey, we will be home in a few days and I can't wait! I love you and miss you and my family very much.

Best regards,
Preston and Sean from Israel

Sunday, July 19, 2009:

Today was a very poor day for us, from start to finish! When we got to the field, one of our players informed he forgot his game jersey at the hotel. His parents were able to retrieve it, just before kick-off. I knew we were going to be in for a very long day on the field. I cautioned them once again during warm-up about their lack of intensity and emotion, but this time we could not overcome some ancillary things that went on prior to this game. I will get into those in a bit, but suffice it to say, we were tired mentally, drained emotionally and physically. The score at half was 0:0 and we were lucky to be tied. Argentina really never had to work hard, as we had so many unforced errors in our passing and dribbling, they just waited for us to deliver them the ball and then they would attack. I cautioned them at half about way too much dribbling and losing the ball everytime they dribbled and the extremely poor passing in the first half. I told them they must sharpen everything up, or we would give up a silly goal. Well, 10 minutes into the 2nd half, it happened. An unforced error of a poor pass in our defensive third of the field, allowed them to beat us on the endline and pass it back to an unmarked Argentinian player for their 1st goal. We then had to start pressing everything forward in hopes of getting an equalizer, but it was not meant to be. With less than a minute remaining, we were all pushed forward and they scored a one on one breakaway goal to make it 0:2. Shortly after their second goal, the whistle blew signaling the end of the game. USA 0, Argentina 2!

Now to the mechanism that created this poor effort. Before we left for Israel, we had a long conference call, detailing all the rules and regulations for our junior athletes, regardless of sport. We were told in no uncertain terms, that no athlete would ever be allowed to leave the accomodation center with anyone, including parents. It was also stressed to us that no one would ever be allowed to spend the night away from our accomodation center. I also, upon arrival here, told our players that, as well as our managers. I have been coachinbg collegiate soccer for 27 years and including youth soccer a total of over 37 years. I do know what it takes to prepare a team for a semi final game. But, I can not prepare them if they are away from us. The proof of this, was how we played in group play in winning the group as the only undefeated team in either group. The kids were under our total control throughout the group play and that is why we were so successful. When administration allowed them be away all Friday and Saturday and some returning on Saturday night after our curfew, I knew this was not about winning anymore the correct way, but rather winning, if it happens, to be a by-product of being away to satisfy others and not doing what is truly in the best interest of the team. To allow a team to leave against the coach's better judgement, was doomed for failure. You can not win, if you are not totally immersed in the team atmosphere preparing for one of, if not the biggest game in their lives thus far....the semi-finals of the World Maccabiah games! You can not perform at your best when you are away from the environment of the team preparations, especially mentally and emotionally. When you are fatigued mentally, you make poor decisions and over compensate by dribbling extensively. That happened during the entire game, regardless of our constant prodding and pleading. Trying to over compensate only leads to wrong decisions and poor execution.

So, now the team is off until Tuesday at 4 PM, when we play Brazil for the Bronze Medal. We shall see what remains to be, in the closing of this adventure. Until then we will say good-bye.

Take care and stay well.

Best regards,

Preston and Sean from Israel

Saturday, July 18, 2009:

This was our off day and thekids are all with their respective families and are due back no later than 8 PM in order to start getting ready for our game with Argentina tomorrow at 11 AM.

As for Sean and I, we went with two other soccer coaches to the home of Ron Schneider, who is the Director of Soccer Coaching at the Wingate Institute. He grilled out for us and we had a wonderful meal with his wife, 2 daughters and their respcetive husband and fiancee. We had a greta time at his hopme in Kfar Saba. After lunch, we drove with Ron to the border of Jordan, which was maybe 5 minutes by car from his home. the perspective of just how close the Arab nations are to Israel at any point was startling to us. I now understand how precarious this proximity truly is.

After seeing that, we returned to our hotel, where we will remain for the evening. So, this is my shortest blog of the trip and hopefully, tomorrow's will be longer and full of good news about our semi-final game with Argentina. Remember, fingers crossed by everyone for us!

Take care, stay well and love to my wife, family and "gang of five"!

Best regards,
Preston and Sean from Israel

Friday, July 17, 2009:

Finally, our group games are completed! We closed out the group play with a good win against South Africa. The score was 3:0! Our first goal came 2 minutes into the game on a corner kick from the right side. Evan Goldman sent the ball in and Colby Abrahamoff went up for a great header and the keeper could not even move. Our next goal came about 10 minutes after that when Evan Goldman sent a terrific through ball to our striker Leon Aboudi, who slotted the ball beautifully in the right hand corner of the goal. After the second goal, we became quite complacent and stopped playing our style of soccer. Halftime score was 2:0. At half, I told them how dangerous the 2:0 lead was in soccer and that they should come out with more intensity and passion. Except for a few unforced errors in the back, we did what we should have done for the entire game....keep possession of the ball. With 25 minutes remaining we played all our players off the bench. David Goldberg scored our third goal on a great cross from Colby Abrahamoff to David for a terrific header. Score now was 3:0 and that was how it ended! Team USA went undefeated in group play with a record of 4 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie for a total of 13 points, We scored 10 goals and gave up 2 goals!

The other results from our group today were Israel 6, Canada 1. So Israel winds up second in our group with 10 points and Canada finished third with 8 points. In the other group, Brazil beat Belgium to secure first in their group and Argentina and Great Britain played to a 1:1 tie. Based on my calculation, Argentina will go through as the second place team. They had the same number of points(7) as Great Britain, but the first tiebreaker is goal difference and Argentina has a +5 goal difference, while Great Britain has a +3 goal difference. So it appears we will play Argentina and Brazil will play Israel. Both games are on Sunday at 11 AM. If I find out this is different, I will post it immediately.

Finally, our kids have started to really grasp what we have been teaching for the past 3 weeks. They are playing possession soccer and their speed of play has improved significantly, for which I am most proud. They are now thinking on and off the ball with quickness of mind and not of feet, as they were doing when we all started training back on June 29th. I am quite proud of this group of young men and regardless of what happend in the final four, they have done everything Sean and I have every asked from them. Sean has been a tremendous help and influence on each of our players. He has such a great rapport with everyone. He also has a wonderfully keen eye for the game itself and has been invaluable to me and this team. Shachar has done a great job with our two goalkeepers as well and I am most appreciative of his tireless work of coming and going everyday from his home in Haifa.

So, tomorrow is an off day and it is greatly needed. We will relax and get ready for Argentina and hopefully, a chance of beating them and getting to the Gold Medal Game on Tuesday! Please keep your fingers crossed for our young guys!

As each day comes and goes, it becomes more apparent to me how special this time here has been. It has been a wonderful experience for us all and to make it to the Final Four or Semi Finals, is unbelievable to me, especially since this is our first time here and our being able to bring this group along with only 3 weeks of training and playing. I am quite thankful!

I miss my wonderful wife and love her very much, as well as my brother and his family and especially our family tradition of Sunday dinner. I also miss my "Gang of Five" Satch, Cassie, Max, Kol and Kippi!

Take care and stay well!

Best regards,
Preston and Sean from Israel

Thursday, July 16, 2009:

Hello to everyone! Today was a most interesting day in the life of our team. We played our fourth game in our group against Germany. I knew during warm-ups that we were really not here mentally or physically. I cautioned them, that they were ready for an upset, if they did not get themselves mentally ready. The game started lethargically on our parr, as I had cautioned. But, we scored a nice goal 20 minutes in, with Jake Weiss finishing a nice ball from sent through by Colby Abrahamoff. I still felt we were just sleep walking, even after the goal. Germany, was really a very poor team, but they hung in there and finally, 5 minutes after we scored, they counter attacked us down their right side and sent a floating cross into the box on the 6 yard line and our keeper had his feet in cement and ouir marking back was not even 10 yards within his man ands they scored on a header. Score now is 1:1 and the half ended that way.



During halftime, I told our team, that if they did not get their act together (not in those words) in the first 10 minutes, I was going to bench them all and play the non starters the rest of the game. Well, it seemed to have worked, as they finally found a rhythm and flow to the game and in the 12th minute of the second half, we scored a nice goal by Drew Rosenberg, with an assist by Sam Katz, to make it 2:1! Now it seemed we were finally rolling and sure enough we continued and scored our third goal, this time by Eyal Schecter ( our captain and sweeper) with an assist again, by Colby Abrahamoff. The score now stood 3:1 with about 20 minutes remaining.



We decided to replace most of our players that did not start the game and they did very well. They scored a second goal on an offsides non-call (4 players definitely off). That made the score 3:2. But, we were not finished with our scoring and in the 25th minute, we scored a fourth goal by Colby Abrahamoff, with an assist from Harrison Seigel. 5 minutes later, Colby Abrahamoff scored our 5th goal, with an assist from David Goldberg! The final score now stood at 5:2 and a recored of 3 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie for 10 points and a goal differential of +5.



The other results in our group today were Israel 4, South Africa 2 and Canada 0, Mexico 0. Right now, with one game remaining in group play, thye standings are as follows:

1. USA with 10 points

2. Canada with 8 points

3. Israel with 7 points

4. Mexico with 3 points

5. South Africa with 2 points

6. Germany with 1 point



All we need is a tie tomorrow for the number 1 seed from our group, if Canada does not beat Israel. So, regardless we are finally through to the Semi Finals regardless of our outcome tomorrow, but we want the number 1 seed. We probably will play either Argentina or Brazil!



We have now accomplished one of our goals and that was to get in the Medal Round. Now we want number 1 from our group and then we want to medal, then win Gold! It can be done, only if we get back to "Excellence Through Fundamentals"!!



I will update everyone after tomoorrows games. Sean will also post some photos from Aly's Track Meet from lsat night, later today.



Take care and stay well. We miss all of you very much, especially my wife and "Gang of Five" and the rest of my family. We love you all!



Best regards,

Preston and Sean from Israel

Wednesday, July 15, 2009


Hello everyone,





Let me first start with my daughter Aly's 400 meter race last night. Sean, Shachar and I went to the stadium (Hadar Joseph) and saw a great spectacle. The stands were almost full and very loud and supportive of all the athletes. This was the first time in over 2 years that Aly has run the 400 in a very competitive meet. She certainly hasn't been training exactly for the 400. Well, all that mess being said, she won the BRONZE MEDAL!!! We were all so very proud of her at that moment and seeing her on the victory stand was an incredible moment for us all! She has her tough night tonight with thw Pole Vault at 7:15 PM followed by the 800 Meter run at 8:15 PM and then the 4x400 relay at 9:20 PM. We can't wait to see her compete tonight. We are taking the team to see her compete tonight. Well, we a re now back from Aly's track events. She won the Bronze Medal in Pole Vault witha height of 11'8"and just missed at 12'4.5", then she had only had 10 minutes to get to the 800 meters. She was running quite well, then her sickness and congestion caught up to her and she finished 5th overall. Next came the 4x400 relay about 50minutes after the 800. She ran the 2nd leg and got the baton about 50 meters behind the Israeli girl in first and then really turned it on and passed her to get the baton to the 3rd leg about 50 meters in front, where the team coasted to a Gold Medal Win! We were so very proud of her with 2 Bronze Medals and 1 Gold! Not bad Aly Paige!

Now, on to the game with Mexico. It started off with a bang. They had us on a bus to depart for the field, only to be told to get off and get on another bus coming. It had the Mexican team on it. I have never witnessed anything like this in my entire career of coaching. Once we were on the bus, they started singing and taunting our players with expletives not worthy of mentioning here. Very typical of Mexican soccer players. We stayed extremely quiet, for which we were so proud of our biys for controlling themselves in a hostile environment. Once the game started, it was very clear all they wanted to do was punch, kick and spit on our players. Finally, after about 20 minutes, one of their strikers spit on my defender in the face, He was given a red card immediately. From then on it was a war with more punching and kicking and spitting. Our kids really kept their composure and let me do the yelling at the referees, which I do with so much grace!! They only had 1 shot on goal and we had plenty, but could not find the net. However, with 10 minutes remaining in the game, we scored a beautiful goal in the upper 90 of the far post to take a 1:0 lead. The goals was set up with a beautiful through ball from Ely Lewin to Drew Rosenberg, who lit the back of the net up with his shot! How sweet it was! We controlled the last 10 minutes playing keep away from the Mexicans for the 1:0 win!

Now we have 7 points and a record of 2 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie. We play Germany on Thursday and South Africa on Friday. We need 1 more win and a tie to seal first place in our group and play the 2nd place team from the other group in the Medal Round! Righat now we are tied on points with Canada, who still must play Mexico tomorrow and finish their play against Israel. Both Canada and Israel won today. Canada beat South Africa 3:0 and Israel beat Germany 5:0. With the tournament rules of tiebreakers if points are the same, we go to goal difference, then goals scored then head to head play. It shoul be reversed, but thinking things properly and the doing them here in Israel is never the norm! Oh well, I guess we just have to win the reamaining 2 games to make sure we win our division, so this system does not apply!

Please keep your fingers crossed for us as we make our march in our last 2 games to get to the medal round.

Good night to all and especially my love to my wife and "Gang of Five".

Best regards to all,
Preston and Sean from Israel

Tuesday, July 14, 2009:

Good morning to all! Today is a well needed rest day for our team. We had planned a short warmdown session this morning, but due to the very late return from the Opening Ceremony (1:15 AM) we decided to let our players rest today and spend some time with their parents that are here. Tonight the team is having a team dinner with their parents at a restaurant nearby. Sean and I will not be attending, as we are going to watch Aly start her competition with the open 400 meter race! Shachar, Sean and I will go to dinner and then to the meet in Tel Aviv at Hadar Joseph Stadium.

Last night...oh what a night it was indeed. Just like we imagined, after watching all these years the Opening Ceremonies to the Olympics! Nothing could have been more exhilerating or special than what we participated in. It was just like being in the Olympics. The lighting of the Torch by our own Jason Lezak (Gold Medalist from the Bejing Olympics) topped it off. The program was so very special and unique, that it made standing on your feet for over 6 hours, well worth the pain and fatigue. We heard Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres address the athletes. That in itself, made it more meaningful to me and showed how truly inportant this Maccabiah is to the Jewish people and State of Israel. There were over 50,000 people in the stands when we marched in as the Delegation from the United States of America! Both Sean and I along with Aly, were in total awe of this magnificent ceremony and achievement. But to truly feel a part of all this, was something in our wildest imagination that we never dreamed of doing, let alone participating.

As we marched into the Ramat Gan Stadium, the applause was so loud we could hardly hear each other speak. This was something that Dreams are made of and something that will live inside all of us for the rest of our lives! Sharing this incredible moment with my son and daughter made everything more special. While Sean and I did not walk in beside Aly ( she was a little in front of us), being side by side with Sean, walking ito the stadium in front of such a large crowd, is not worthy of words, as it would do so little to capture the feeling we all shared last evening.

It was an incredible experience, to be in a ceremony, surrounded by all this history that Israel affords us all and to be with fellow Jews from all over the world, including the tiny island of Palau! I shall remember this tfor the rest of my life. The image in my head, being with my son and daughter, will be forever in my memory. As we marched in, my thought immediately went to my wonderful wife and just how much I miss her and love her. I wish she could have been here with us to witness this. I also wish my brother could have been here as well to be a part of this incredible moment in time. As I my thoughts began to wander, I was led back to my parents and just how proud they would have been of us. I know they are watching us all from above, with a great big proud smile. I miss them more and more, as I experience these life altering events.

The most amazing thing would unfold as the evening progressed. I have never seen people actually taking shirts off and swapping with people form other countries. It was a sight to behold!
Sean changed his shirt with a guy from Great Britain, along with his hat being swapped as well, The only thing I swapped , was hat for hat exchange with a Canadian. They had the coolest "bush" type hat. But, Sean really wanted it, so I gave it to him!

With the evening over, we returned to our hotels and went immediately to bed!

Tomorrow, we play Mexico, which is a critical game for us. We need atleat a tie at the worst, but a win would almost assure us of a place in the medal round. So, please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Hopefully, Sean will upload some photos in a little while. I know you will enjoy them.

Take care and stay well. We miss everyone very much.

Best regards from Israel,
Preston and Sean

Monday, July 13, 2009:

Today was a very rewarding day for our young team. After a dismal day on Sunday, the old sage advise was in full force today. Yes, the sun still came up and we survived to play another day!

USA 1:Israel 0!! We executed our small adjustment to our tactical system with precision, determination and passion. After the poor result on Sunday, we had a very long meeting about our team philosophy and how we could best get back to our simple style of playing and understanding what it means to truly be a part of a team. What I wrote yesterday, was a duplication of what I told the team in person. Finally, they understood what Sean and I have been trying to teach them for the past 15 days in Israel. It has been a learning process, both on and off the field. I believe now they completely understand what we expect and demand from them.

Now, to the game itself. As I said earlier, we tinkered with our system and instead of playing with a defensive, center and attacking midfielder, we chose to play with 2 defensive midfielders playing behind the center midfielder, with our 2 strikers in advance of them. When we attacked, we did so with better passes and quicker decisions than yesterday. On defense, we kept our defensive line 35 yards from our 2 strikers, so that everything Israel tried to do down the middle was not available to them, thus forcing them very wide where they had no support and we could isolate them. If they treid the middle, it would be picked off by us or they played it very long over the top, where our goalkeeper or sweeper could get it without any pressure. It was really frustrating Israel, as they really only had 1 clear good chance to score and that was off a free kick from the edge of the 18 yard box. Our wall held and the ball hit off it and they had a second chance, but not in a good position and the ball went way over the goal. That was in the first half and our kids knew we had to get out of the game with no less than a tie. We had a few really good counter attacks that resulted in a couple of good shots on goal. So the half ended 0:0!

The second half started and we pretty much had good control, but made some silly unforced errors which allowed Israel to counter attack wide and get some crosses off, but we were able to clear them all out of danger. They really had no good chances at all on goal in the second half. Withy 7 minutes remaining, we attacked down our left side and Jake Weiss took a nice pass from Evan Goldman and had a hard shot on frame that went in the far post for our GOAL! The entire team went crazy and we had to calm them down to finish the game and not give up a late silly goal. We accomplished that feat, although the referee extended the game an extra 5 minutes. We held the ball deep in our attacking third until the final whistle was blown. Pandemonium erupted from our bench onto the field embarcing each other in hugs and high fives all around. It was quite a sight to see, not to mention the euphoria we all felt!

I must commend my son Sean for his excellent game report on Israel from our scouting report. He had our team totally prepared for anything Israel could possibly throw at us. He was so happy for the boys. Shachar, did a wonderful job in preparing our keepers for this very moment.

We came back to the hotel and Sean took them to the pool for a cool down session and then lunch. We now must get ready for the opening ceremony tonight and walking into the stadium, which will be an incredible moment for us all I am sure. We will leave the hotel at 3:30 PM and go to the stadium for staging and organization ( I can't wait to see that). After the ceremony tonight, we will return back to the hotel and start getting some sleep and preparing for Mexico on Wednesday. We must keep our emotions in check and not get so high fater this great victory and I am sure we will re-focus with passion to beat Mexico.

Tomorrow evening my daughter Aly will start her competition at the track stadium and run the open 400 meters. Then on Wednesday, she will do the 800 meters, Pole Vault and 4x400 meter relay. I can't wait to watch her compete and hopefully win gold!

So, with one of my favorite sayings I will sign off until tomorrow and a report on the opening ceremonies. " It is not hard hard you fall, but how high you bounce back up after hitting bottom"! Today we showed what we are made of...character!

Take care and stay well.

Best regards,
Preston and Sean from Israel

Sunday, July 12, 2009 Game Day:

I hope what I am about to say does not offend anyone, as it certainly is not my intention. So, I will apologize upfront for anything I say in this blog. Here we go.... Today was really not a good day in the life of our team of young boys. I will try to explain as politely as I can why that is so.

We played Canada this morning and I really had no expectations of whether they woul be really good or really bad. Our team was, I thought (there I go again thinking) ready as we could be. We had some really good sessions building up to this game, so why not think in the positive....wromg again. Canada was really not a very good team at all and the result should have been a win for us and 3 clear points. But, it ended 0:0 and we got 1 point for a tie. So, you might think 1 point is good and after the other results you will see why it wasn' t so good after all. In our group, Germany and South Africa also tied 0:0 and the surprise of the day was that Israel tied Mexico 0:0 as well. So, we all have 1 point and we play Israel in the morning and then play Mexico after that on Wednesday. Sean and I went to the game, courtesy of Shachar and both were really good teams with a lot of skill and movement off the ball. Both will be major tests for us for sure. Now the reason our tie was not so good, was because we could have had 3 points and been in first place at the moment and at the worst, still tied even if we lose tomorrow against Israel. That is why it was so bad for us, especially because we should have won the game going away. We had some really good chances, but no goals.

Now, the real issue comes in to play with this result today. We have had a more strict curfew than all the other teams that are staying here and we have not abided by it all until last night. It was way too late now for that. In the game they were very slow to the ball and always 3 steps slow. In addition, they did not win one 50-50 ball. And, I am telling you Canada was bad. We were clearly better and had 80-90% of the possession, but ultimately, our first touch was as soft as a brick and the ball always got away form us. I don't want to even dare mention the unforced errors we had in the game today. We needed our players to step up and it did not happen at all. I know it was our first game of international experience for almost all our players, so I understand the "butterflies" in the start of the game, but as the game progressed and we had more and more of the possession, we should have settled down and finished our chances. Sometimes the game of soccer can be really cruel and unlucky to the better team, but today we were not unlucky at all. I have told them that "they all want to win, but they have not had the will to prepare to win". That was the difference today for sure! To make matters worse, I asked them all to go to the pool to warmdown in the cool water for 20 minutes after returning to the hotel. That way, as I have told them from day one over here in pre-camp, it is very important to relax and cool down in a pool to get out all the Lactic Acid out of their muscles so they will not have cramps tonight and tomorrow. This is extremely important, especially since we will play 5 games in 6 days as I have mentioned before. Since they have not listened to us about curfew, at least I thought (once again the wrong thing to do) they would definitely do that. 3 guesses all all 3 don't count that they would go......of course they followed tradition and did not listen to us once again. I am not quite sure what it is about our 3 simple rules they do not understand, but they just do not get it at all.

Sean and I are extremely tired and very frustrated with them at the moment. We had a meeting and expressed everything to them again, as we have done so many times before. They all want the experience of Maccabiah and Israel, which we all understand, but the Israeli experience happened in our first 2 week here during pre-camp. Now the experience should turn to why they came to try-outs in the first place....to play the game of soccer at a high international level, which by the way, many will never get to do again. And, because in the first time in the 72 years of Maccabiah, this event has been sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee. I think enough said!

Tomorrow is another day and we will see how they handle a really good Israeli team. Will they back down and drop down to their level like we did aginst Canada, or will they play at the level they have been trained to play and let Israel rise to our level? Stay tuned!

Again, my apologies for the bluntness of this blog, but my level of frustration has peaked and I can only be honest with everyone. I think we will do much better tomorrow.

Best regards to all,
Preston and Sean from Israel

I thought I would share with everyone what a good friend of mine wrote to me via an email and I hope he does not mind me sharing this with everyone, but it meant so much to me and touched my heart. He is one of my dearest friends and I wanted to shre something that was meaningful to him as well as me. Again, I hope he does not mind! Armin, this meant so very much to me what your thoughts were and how it touched you and me as well, as I said above.

Preston

"Preston, thank you very much for your „tourbook“ of Israel. It was very interesting for me, how you described every day from the beginning at the airport until your final trip to the Druze Village. It was almost like I was there bymyself.Whenever you will finish your coaching career (hopefully not to soon…), you should start writing guide books about your travelling. Preston – I’m not Jewish (as you know, I don’t belong to any church), I am German. It was deeply impressing to read your thoughts about freedom and how hard it is to fight for it. You know, my generation was born in an very peaceful and comfortable environment and we don’t know how it is, to live like that and I am very grateful for this. As you said, it is always the Heart that should lead you. In countries like Israel every single day can be the last in peace and we all can not imagine how that is. Our people in former East Germany fought peaceful to tear down the wall after 40 years of communism and they won their fight. Hopefully the people of Israel and their neighbours will find a way, to live in peace as well. So, thank you very much again and I hope for you, Sean and the team, that they will win a medal at the Maccabiah Games. That leads me to my greatest experience I’ve ever had in my soccer career (incl. Bundesliga and games for the German Under 21). I took part in the German Soccer Team of the University Games 1993 in Buffalo and that was really not to top. You and 7.000 other athletes live and compete at one time and you make so many experiences, new friendships and you will capture emotions for the rest of your life. Good luck at the games (we won the Bronce medal at that time, please do it better!) ! By the way: Who is the “Gang of Five”?" Give my love to Sean and Aly, Armin
mit freundlichen Grüßen Armin Kraaz Eintracht Frankfurt e.V.

Saturday, July 11th:

We let our kids sleep in this morning and had a really light training session at a field really close to our hotel. So, we had no problems today with the buses as we walked. That is the best way. We jogged and had a small stretching session, then we worked on all our set pieces. It went really well and I think we are really close to being ready for our game tomorrow with Canada.

We will leave the hotel at 7:20 AM, so we can travel by bus to the Wingate field to start our warm-up at 8 AM and kick-off at 9 AM. I believe we are going to playe really well and surprise a lot of people. The guys seem to be itching to play, as training is training, but playing an actual game is what we came for.


Tonight we are going to walk to a mall that is about 15 minutes from our hotel and eat at Sbarro Pasta place. We need to get away for here for a short time and be by our selves and have a pre-game meal the night before.

Sorry, this is so short, but I will give full details after our game and hopefully, with some photos and a victory!

Oh, last night, Sean and I beat the youth coach (Adam Cooper) and Barry Kaplan (the jr. girls coach) in Spades 2 straight games!

Have a great day and stay well,

Preston and Sean from Israel

Friday, July 10th:

Well, here we go with a very unique day in the life of our team. The day started off with a bang. Last night our Israeli Manager, who is a complete boob, told us at the meeting we would be training at 9 AM. So, I asked him what time the bus would take us to the fields and his answer was I will tell you at 10:30 PM. So, I thought (that was the wrong thing to do), that when he scheduled training times, he would have known the time. Wrong again! We waited in the lobby until he told us.....12:10 AM! This was to be the least of our problems for the day. We met at 8:20 AM (our prescribed time) to leave for the fields at Wingate. Little did we know, that the adventure was just beginning. We were told no one could ever leave without our guide/counselor being on the bus. Well, they decided not to go with us and we left anyway! Now the fun begins...we leave our hotel for a 10 minute bus ride to the field, only to have it turn into a 45 minute change of direction, Our driver did not even know which direction Wingate was and went the wrong way. The funny thing, was he was following the other bus that went the wrong way and he did a circle turn and changed his direction. Once we righted ourselves, he was lost going to Wingate, which is where Israel's National teams train. So, instead of 1 1/2 hour session (not training the last 2 days), we had a 1 hour and 10 minute session, as other teams were coming to train. We finished and returned with a new driver to our hotel for lunch.

At 3 PM the soccer coaches all went back to Wingate for a coaches technical meeting. Needless to say, no provision for return transportation was provide or thought about. The meeting, as I was told would be a fiasco with screaming and yelling at each other. There was little of that, but finally, the Israeli in charge (a very nice person) was quite dogmatic and allowed no discussion of rule changes. However, they handed all the coaches their rosters for each game, except, they only gave me 4 and we have 5 games in pool play. I asked them about it and they shrugged their shoulders and said make a copy! I guess I should have known that as well! We left the meeting and went to where the buses were parked to see about maybe getting on a bus. But, we waited 45 minutes while 3 buses and their drivers discussed it in great and intelligent detail. After waiting for 45 minutes, we finally got on a bus and thought we were finally going back to the hotel...wrong again! We were going out and stopped the bus and were told to get off and get on the original bus we were talking to in the beginning and those on that bus got off and got on ours....this is not organized chaos, but a disorganized nightmare in logistics and implementation of a plan or lack of a plan.

Well, we are finally back and getting ready for dinner and bedtime. I can't wait for tomorrow to come to see more of this planned chaos.

So, have a great week-end and laugh along with us, as the games are about to begin in our quest for Gold. Come along with the team as we try to make history for the USA.

Best regards to all,
Preston and Sean from Israel

Hello everyone! Today is Friday, July 10th and it is 12:50 AM. Today started out by all of us checking out of our hotels at 9:30 AM and loading our bags onto a truck for transport to our new accomodation center..Kibbutz Shefayim. This is avery large area and while it certainly is not what we became accustomed to at Kfar Maccabiah, but actually it is not so bad. The rooms are a little bit smaller, but still pretty nice. It is an area that can be monitored easily and controlled for our kids safety.

Once we arrived, all our bags were thrown on the ground in a very large pile with people from the hotel just watching them and waiting for them to be moved by the arriving guests...us! Seeing as though I am not a very laid back guy, like my son Sean is, I told them all what I thought in no uncertain terms. I do not think they liked it at all and just turned away from me. Some of our bags were broken at the handles and I really did not handle that well at all. But in the end it was all taken care of!

Today at 9 AM we will go to Wingate (where we will play all our games) for a training session. This must be a really good one, as it looks like we can not train on Saturday (due to the Sabbath,) but we are all trying hard to have a session as we need another day to prepare for Canada on Sunday.

We had a big meeting earlier about our schedules and bus transportation. I must tell you, the Israelis are not very organized and I guess we will have to play it by ear as to when we will board the bust to go to training and games. I would organize them in 5 minutes and have everything running smoother than silk. But, I believe they like it this way. It is very hard for me to understand and be patient with this type of organized disorganization! I will try and I am sure Sean will try to keep me in line!

So, not much to write about until after our training session is over later this morning. I hope to be able to report a great training session tgook place!

Take care, stay well and have a good night. Oh, for those who do not know who my "Gang of Five" is, it is Satch, Cassie, Max, Kol and Kippi, our Golden Retrievers.

Best regards to all our readers,
Preston and Sean from Israel

Thursday morning, July 9th, 12:05 AM:

We just returned from our final tour. We also did not train today and I wanted them to at least get a few extra hours of sleep, before we left for our final tour. What I will try to do is explain where we wnet today and what we did. Then I will leave this portion of the blog with my personal thoughts about the past 5 days of touring. I hope you will enjoy it and not take offense to anything I may say.

We left the hotel at 12:30 PM for a village about 1 hour north of us. It was a Druze Village, where we had the most wonderful lunch that was prepared by an old woman outside in a fire oven. You may ask, what is a Druze Village and why did we go there. I asked the same thing. The Druze people is a religious group that began in the 11th Century in Egypt, where it was tied to Islam. They (Druze) broke away for Islam and started their own beliefs. They are Arabic and live in Israel and are citizens of Israel and only the men serve in the Israeli Army. The women must do some type od social service to the country. Inside the family, there is a Secular and Religious person. It might be that the woman is religious and the man secular or vice versa. What is very important to know, is that both women and men are equal. The other important part is that they beieve in re-incarnation and only being re-incarnated as another human being inside the Druze and because of this true belief, they never visit the cemetery. I asked our host (a young Druze woman) if she knew about the religion and she said not at all as she is secular. So, even inside the family, there is no discussion of religion. There is never any conversion to becoming a Druze. You must be born in to it with both parents being a Druze. It is a very mystical religion and their belief is that there is only one supreme being who rules over them and no belief in the trinity. They are truly monotheistic in their belief. This was truly a highlight for me. I got some great photos here and can't wait to see them after getting them developed!

After this, we headed to the Sea of Galilee for relaxation and fun. The team enjoyed this as well. After swimming an such, we had dinner there. The Sea of Galilee empties into the Jordan River. the importance of the sea for Israel, is that their entire water supply come from it.

The day was terrific and quite enjoyable.

I would like to share my thoughts and perspective on what we have seen and how it has touched us all and especially me. Here we go, so please bear with me as I put my thoughts down on this blog. For me, Israel is really not about religion, but rather about a people that is continuing to fight for it's freedom and very existence. Traveling and seeing Israel, I do not see it as a pretty country. But, as I wander in my own thoughts and perspectives, I do find Israel's Heart to be as beautiful and captivating as any country I have ever visited. As we were traveling all over, a unique thought entered my head. I looked out the bus window and saw barbed wire fences almost everywhere and thought about our trip to Germany in 1987 and having to go through the former East Germany to get to West Berlin at the time and all we saw was miles and miles of barbed wire fence. I thought we were in a democratic state and I am still seeing this type of fence?! It further re-inforced what I was truly feeling about this journey in to Israel's heartland. It may be democratic, but it is still fighting for it's freedom! This is a word we take for granted in our country and here, they just want to be free, just as they did at Masada, when they took their own lives rather than being captured by the Romans. This is quite poignant to me, in that freedom should be for everyone who desires it and not have to fear living, just to maintain it.

The Heart I am talking about is not that Israel made me more religious or more reverent, but that it made me think about my own parents (may they rest in peace), who taught me about how I should live my life. They taught me to always stand up straight, plant my feet firmly on the ground, know who I am and where I came from and I would always find my way. I really did not understand that until now. I now know these things my parents were talking about. It was not about being Jewish, it was about my Heritage and how we got to where we are today and at what cost and how many lives have been taken because of this very freedom that Israel is fighting for everyday of it's life, now and in the past. You see, you do not have to wear your religion on your sleeve, as long as you know who you are and where you came from, you will always find your way.......in your own Heart!

I apologize for the length and depth of this blog, but I needed to relate my personal thoughts, because it has finally come to me, after all these years, just exactly what my parents tried to teach me at a very young age and that happened in these past 5 glorious days, in a journey into my own Heart! I know Sean is having a similar experience as well and my hope is that Aly will also. I know when I come back with my wonderful wife, she too, will experience this, exactly as I have tried to describe.

So good night and stay well. We miss and love you all, especially Marie and my "Gang of Five".

Preston and Sean from Israel

Wednesday, July 8th at 12:30 AM:



We just returned from the most spectacular day thus far of our tours. Each previous day had 1 or 2 wonderful, history filled sites that we visited and certainly filled with emotion and heritage. But, today was like no other and probably will never be, as far as we (Sean, Aly and I) are concerned. So, get ready for some exciting details. However let me start with our last training session of pre-camp.



We left the hotel at 6:30 AM and began training at 6:50 and finished at 8 AM. It was a very tactical session that started with a 10 vs 10 keep away game with limited touch (first 3 touches allowed and then only 2 touches allowed). What that means is, they must pass the ball on or before the touch limitation. What we are trying to get across to them is playing quickly with our mind and allow the ball to do all the work for us. The reason is, the defense can never move as fast as the ball, thus setting ourselves up for the next pass without much tiresome running and dribbling. This is what we have been working on since our arrival. They are finally starting to do the impossible.......think on and off the ball. It went very well. We then played 9 vs 9 on half field and we also would stop play and work on our free kicks, which we are finally starting to execute and understand.

So the day started off in a great way and it was now time to begin our most memorable and exciting journey!



We left the hotel at 12:15 PM for the Dead Sea (the lowest point on earth). Once we arrived we all went in and it was the most incredible experience. It was like floating on raft, with no fear of sinking or falling off. It was very enjoyable (except for the stones in the bottom). We moved just around the area and put hot mud all over our bodies. Our skin has never felt better.

I loved being in the Dead Sea as did everyone! We stayed here for 2.5 hours and then left for Masada!



This was, without question the most intense heat I have ever felt, being on top of Masada. I actually wore a hat! How about that! Masada was a fortress built to defend against the Romans. It worked for some time, but eventually, due to the sheer numbers of the Romans, it would be overthrown. However, instead of allowing the Romans to take away their freedom, the Jews decide to take their own lives, thus preventing the Romans the pleasure of killing them and taking them prisoners. This was pivotal in our Jewish Heritage. (Sean will upload some photos tomorrow showing these places). This was a great lesson for us all inm never giving up our freedom, no matter what the cost.



Next, we traveled to the most wonderful place for dinner.....a Bedouin dinner, where we got to see and spend time with Aly once again. The Bedouins are a nomadic people that live in the desert in tents. They are Arabs, but Israeli Arabs and do support Israel. This dinner was complete with music and belly dancers. I have never witnessed anything quite like this. We sat at tables on the dirt floor (on mats) and were served every kind of Arabic food you could imagine. For instrance, we had Kibbi, lamb, kabobs, pita and falafel, just to mention a few. It was delicious, entertaining and a lot of fun. There was also a Camel in attendance as well, just to make it authetic!!



We are all very tired, but experiencing a lifetime of dreams and fulfillment! I can't wait to get my photos developed back home and yes, I still love using film rather than digital!



Tomorrow, rather today, we will travel south and have lunch at a village, then go to a beach for a BBQ dinner. This will be our last day of touring and then it will be time to get down to the business at hand........winning Gold!



Take care, stay well and we will write and post photos later today.



All the best to everyone and especially Marie and our "gang of five". We love you and miss you very much,



Preston and Sean from Israel

Hello again from Israel! Today is still July 5th and what a day we all had. I will get to that in a just a second. But first, let's discuss soccer a little... Today, we trained from 6:45 Am till 8:15 AM. Guess what? We had 9 balls miraculously appear at training and we would have had 10, if one of our players had decided to pump up his ball, which he has never even brought once! I thought I had seen everything in the game of soccer, but I was wrong! Bringing a ball that is totally deflated for the flight over and not having it pumped, was one for the books! Oh well, we survived, but still could not do the drill I wanted to do, as we still needed at least 10 balls to complete the drill. Maybe tomorrow?? We shall see!!

Training went pretty well, but still not there yet! We are making some progress and I am positive we will be there when it counts most...July 12th against Canada.

We will take Wednesday off as well as Thursday, as we transfer on Thursday to our permanent lodging for the games. We are off Wednesday, because we will get back after Midnight from our tours and they actually could use 1 or 2 days off, so we decided to take the latter.

Today, we started our tour by going to Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum). What a beautiful tribute to the 6 million who perished during thsi time. The building was shaped like a Pyramid, because the Great Pyramids of Egypt, were Burial sites and this was a tribute to those that had no Burial Site and it was simply stark and stunning in design and affect! The most amazing part was being able to look on computer for all that had persihed. I looked up "Goldfarb" and found well over 40 names, most from Poland, but 3 from Central Germany (Dusseldorf and Essen) and one from Lithuania. I could not locate anyone that had a listing of sons or daugters, therefore, it was difficult to pinpoint exactly which might have been related to our Grandfather. I also saw my mothers family name (Shapiro) listed as well and most of those from Ukraine and again, I could not pinpoint anyone. I think it was very important to know that at least there were Goldfarb's and Shapiro's who perished in the great atrocity. I was quite moved by this!

Next, we traveled to Mt. Herzel. This is a Burial site for all the famous people of Israel, like Theodore Herzel, who had a vision in the late 1800's and early 1900's to create a state of Israel. Unfortunately, he died before 1910 and never saw his dream come to reality. We saw Yitzak Rabin's grave as well as Golda Meir. We also saw the soldiers site, just like our Arlington National Cemetery.

Next, we went to an overlook and saw below us the city of Bethleham. We then went to Hebrew University for a Bar and Bat Mitzvah Ceremony where everyone participated during the 3 Aliyah's. It was a great and moving ceremony for all, with lots of singing and clapping. We also got to be with Aly and then we all had dinner on the patio of Hebrew University, which was very good. There was security everywhere around us. That was very comforting.

Tomorrow we have in store a very long day. We are going to the Dead Sea and Masada, where we will take the Cable Car up and them walk down. That night we will have a true Bedouin Dinner. We should return at midnight, after quite a day. Tomorrow and Wednesday are our last 2 days for touring and truthfully, we are all very tired, but happy and excited about tracing our heritage to the fullest!

Sean will upload some photos for you to view from today's journey. We hope you like them, and you are still getting quite a "Kick" from our blog! I know, for me, this is giving me so much enjoyment, just getting to tell about our times here in Israel

So, good night, stay well and continue along with our fantastic journey in Israel,

Preston and Sean from Israel

Today is Sunday, July 5th and we just returned a few minutes ago from our second day of touring. First things first and that is we a fitness training session this morning. The guys only have 6 balls remaining, as 3 did not even bring their balls to Israel, as we instructed numerous times before leaving the US. The other 11 balls have been launched over the fence into a locked area that so far is not accessible. It is really hard to do training properly without an adequate number of balls and that is the position we now find ourselves. We ended training after 1 hour and 15 minutes, so we could get back to have breakfast before we left at 12:15 for Ancient Jerusalem.



What and incredible experience we had today. We started the tour by going to the Haas Promenade, which overlooks Ancient Jerusalem. What a sight to see! We then got back on our bus for our short journey to the Western Wall. This was perhaps one of the most moving experiences I have had, short of seeing Dachau, just outside Munich, Germany, which actually brought me to tears. We all wrote notes and placed them in the cracks in the wall. We took lots of photos of everyone and especially of Sean and me against the wall. I also said the Kaddish in honor of my parents. I was touched very deeply to be at the holy sight and be able to honor my parents and family in such a reverent way. Most of the kids put Tefillin on and went to the wall for their prayers. It is very hard to put in to words what this meant to all of us. I only wish my wife were here with us, although she would have gone to a separate part.



After leaving the wall, we went to the South Wall and then to the steps where over 2000 years ago, our ancesters walked. After that we went to Hezekiah's Tunnel. This took 45 minutes to complete. This tunnel is filled with water and very a long, low and narrow path. King Hezekiah was the one who attacked through this passage. It was very interesting, but actually walking through this could have been better, if it lasted maybe 5 minutes instead of 45! Oh well, we all made it through and left Jerusalem for our hotel. What a day to remember!



Tomorrow, we will train at 7 AM and then depart at 12 noon for Modern Jerusalem and Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Memorial). We will then go to Hebrew University for a Bar and Bat Mitzvah, for those that wish to participate, after which we will have dinner and then return home to our hotel. Sean will post some photos after we train Monday morning.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope everyone is enjoying it. I am trying very hard to re-capture what we did through facts and not necessarily through any type of story.

Take care and stay well,

Preston and Sean from Israel

Saturday, July 4th! Well, today we had a training session that concentrated on our attack and then on our defense and getting a better understanding of our system. We spent perhaps 30 minutes working on these tactics today and also spent about 40 minutes working on our first touch in a limited possession type game. At the end of training we put them through a very tough fitness session. They handled it fairly well, but not as we expected or hoped. This training session did not get off to a great start, due to the fact that 7 players were very late arriving. That will not happen ever again! Tomorrow we will train at 7 AM and continue our tactical training as well as some more difficult conditioning and fitness. After training, we all came back together for breakfast and then a very short rest before we began our pre-camp touring. As I mentioned yesterday, we were going to Beit Guvrim and then to Latrun. It was a terrific day. We first visited Beit Guvrim and went into the caves and had to crawl around a bit on our stomachs, just to get through some of the openings...not what I enjoyed, but Sean loved it, as did the entire team. This was the foundations that the houses were built from in this area. We also visited two more caves where you could actually walk normally and see everything. One was the burial sites for the tombs and it was absolutely fascinating. The other was a "bell shaped" cave, where they started from the top and dug down and around to take this material to make more houses. It was extremly large. Next, we traveled to Latrun. This was an Armor division base for the military, where all the different types of tanks that have ever been used in battle and those that were captured were on display. I loved this the best, since I was a former Armor Officer. From the top, we could see the one road leading to Jerusalem in the distance. There was also a very large Memorial Wall with all the soldiers that had been killed in battle in the armor division. We will also have our Closing ceremony here as well on July, 23rd. Sean and I saw Aly here at Latrun for the first time since she arrived yesterday. It was a great "hug and kiss" for me. I was hoping, but not expecting to see her until our 4th of July celebration here at our hotel. We had a bbq and fireworks. It was a wonderful day, with a great ending. the only thing missing was my wife, Marie! I sure do miss her! After training tomorrow, we will travel to Jerusalem. I am not sure if we will visit Ancient Jerusalem or modern Jerusalem tomorrow. Which ever one we visit tomorrow, we will visit the other one on Monday. I am looking forward to this and I know it will be the highlight of our touring days. Every bus has a Security guard, complete with weapons and ammunition. Nothing here is ever left to chance. I made friends with our guard who was a 26 year veteran of the Israeli Army. I can't wait to write about our Jerusalem visits. Hopefully, we will have some more photos to display. We wish all you a wonderful conclusion to the 4th of July. With our very best regards, Preston and Sean from Israel

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing terrific and getting ready for the best 4th of July ever.



Today is Friday, July 3rd and we just finished having our lunch (the food here is really good). The breakfast in my opinion is the best, as it is just like breakfast in Germany (eggs and hard brotchen(bread that is hard on outside and soft as butter in the inside) and fruit. What a way to start the day! Couldn't be better.



After breakfast at 7 AM, we went to the field at 9 Am for our 3rd game this week and back to back games for the first time, just like we will play in the tournament. As I said yesterday, we were playing our Youth Team (U-19) and our team did not disappoint themselves. We tied the game 1:1 and their goal was unfortunately an own goal in the 5th minute of the game. Late in the 1st half, we had a great counter-attack down the right side and then crossed it in for a goal by our striker (they claimed we were offsides (no referees at any of our games), but their coach was directly in line with the play and said it was a goal for sure. The half ended 1:1. However, we had almost all the possession and certainly the most shots on goal. We were playing very well and finally starting to grasp what we have been teaching the last 4 days. However, we are still dribling way too much and our speed of play si still a bit slow. Early in the 2nd half we had another great counter-attack and played a terrific through ball, but missed a golden opportunity to go ahead in the game. We came right back with a terrific point of attack change to the opposite side, but our striker just missed getting his foot on it and that, too, would surely have been the clincher.



So, what a good way to continue our building process and getting them to finally believe in themselves and the system and to really start "believing they should win all the time and stop just hoping to win." We are trying to develop in them, a sense of arrogant confidence, without truly being arrogant. In a better sense "confidence with a pinch of flair."



We will have a warmdown session at 4 PM this afternoon, with a Shabbat Dinner at 7:30 PM. Tomorrow, July 4th, we will have a hard training session (we now only have 1 training session per day) at 7 AM and then at 12 PM we will begin our tour. We will share a bus with the Junior Girls soccer team. We will go to Beit Guvrim (a cavern of sorts) and Latrun (a fortress). We will then return to Kfar Maccabiah (our hotel) and have a giant 4th of July celebration and guess what....my daughter Aly will come to our hotel from Shefayim (her hotel for this pre-camp) for this celebration. I am so excited to get to see her, as is Sean! It is going to be fun for sure. They will have a BBQ and fireworks at the Country Club adjacent to our hotel by the pool.



On Sunday, we will go to Ancient Jerusalem and Haas Promenade (observation point) and then to Shefayim for another BBQ and another visit with Aly! I will continue to post this blog each day after the tour ends, so I can tell you all about this wonderful experience.



Take care and have a safe and happy 4th!



Warmest regards from Israel,

Preston and Sean

Hello from Israel,

Today is Thursday, July 2nd and we just played our 2nd friendly game. This time it was against an Under 16 team (Gadna Yahuda) just outside Tel Aviv. We tied 1:1. We played ok today, but we are still doing way too many fancy things and dribbling way too much. Once we can get them to understand that soccer is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread and not caviar, we will be pretty good. They are still trying to do way too much on the ball instaed of 1 or 2 touches and then pass and move off of it for the return pass. They must understand it is the simple type of play that will win games and not the complicated things. For you see soccer is really a simple game! Everyone played today and most of the starters only played the first half with the reserves playing all of the 2nd half. The score was 0:0 at the half with us having almost all the play, but just could not score. In the 2nd half, we made a very bad mistake and they counter attacked us with numbers and scored to make it 0:1. Late in the 2nd half we had a corner kick and we scored off it to tie the game.

All in all it was a pretty good performance, knowing that this was only the 3rd day this team has played or trained together.

Tomorrow morning, we will play the Under 19 team again at 9 AM. Hopefully, we will show better this time. At 4 PM we will have another training session to warmdown. Starting Saturday, we will only have 1 training session per day, as we will begin our touring of Israel and all the historical places that we are anxiously waiting to see and enjoy.

We will post again tomorrow after our morning game. I hope everyone is doing well.

So, from Israel, good-night,

Preston and Sean

Wednesday, July 1st....had our first scrimmage game this morning against the U-19 team. This was our first time to play together as a complete team and the first time to try and understand our system of play. We eventually lost 0:3, but for the first 25-30 minutes of the game we played exceptionally well (the game was 35 minute each half), actually controlling the posession. We had a few good chances to score, but we dribbled to far inside the box and never could get the shot off. In the 27th minute, they scored off a corner kick that deflected off a player to another player in front of the goal for their first goal. We played everyone in each half and they all played reasonably well off the bench.



Our starting team is very good and the more they play together the better they will be as a team. We told them, they must believe in themselves and trust their ability and be totally dedicated to our philosophy of how we will play. They must also start to believe that they are good enough to win and stop just hoping to maybe win! Once they do that, they will be fine. The best comment by one of our players was delivered by our sweeper late in the game when we had a free kick just outside the box with the score 0:2 and we had worked on this play the day before and I had asked everyone if they understood it and of course everyone said they did. Well one of our substitute players forgot the play and our sweeper yelled at him that "you had the same (deleted word) book we all had and should have read it." I laughed very loud at that comment. He was correct of course, as I had given each and every player a copy of our system to study and all our free kicks and corner kick plays. I know he now understands the importance of the playbook.



We have another training session at 4:30 PM and it will be a warmdown session, plus working on free kicks, corner kicks and trying to understand our system better with a walk-through showing where they should be in relation to both the defensive and offensive positioning. It will last maybe 1 hour and 15 minutes.



Tomorrow, we will train at 7 AM and then play a local club team (very good Under 16 team) at 5 PM. We will depart by bus from our hotel at 4 PM for the game in Or Yahuda. Should be a better game for us.



On Saturday morning we will again scrimmage the Under 19 team. I know we will do better. We are trying to get in as many friendly games as possible before the tournament begins on July 12th. We hope to have at least 5 games before the tournament.



Sean has done a great job with these young kids in getting them to understand how to play our system. He also did great in managing our subs and their positions. He is a tremendous help to me and has such a great eye for the game. i am really glad he is here with me.



So, until tomorrow, we will say good bye and hope everyone is doing great and getting ready for a great 4th of July.



Best regards from Israel,

Preston and Sean