Nahum Halutzi, coach of a girls soccer team in Haifa: "If you want to reach equality, you have to be in everything and not only in what is convenient for us"
Towards the end of March - the month of women, we interviewed Nahum Halutzi, the coach of the only girls' soccer team in Haifa, which was founded about two years ago, at the beginning of the Corona crisis. "My ambition is that every girl in the city will be able to play soccer and know that she has a place to play."
At the beginning of 2020, before the first lockdown of the Corona virus, a girls' soccer team began to form in Haifa. This is what Nachum Halutzi, coach of a girls' soccer team in Haifa, belonging to the Neve Yosef club, tells Lahi Fe. Halutzi trains the soccer team together with Eitan Berkowitz.
"A lot of girls want to play soccer"
Many Haifa girls wanted to play soccer and couldn't find a frame. They played in a circle or in joint groups with boys. It is a completely legitimate thing for girls to have their own team in which they feel comfortable, and that any girl who wants to play soccer, will know that she has a shell and frame, just like there are boys. When there is a group, there is also a place to move forward and strive and a place to think about continuing.
Records in the Football Association
The team currently has 26 female trainees, ages 10-12, who are coached, as mentioned, by Nahum Halutzi and Eitan Berkowitz. "Our team is currently registered in the football association under the Neve Yosef football club - a girls' team," Halutzi says. "In the beginning we did not have a field with lighting that met the requirements of the football association and in order to register with the association we had to sort out this issue and in the end we succeeded. At the beginning the training sessions were in Haifa, but we played the games each time in a different place outside of Haifa, because of the lighting.
The girls' team games are in the middle of the week and especially during the winter time, there is a real need for lighting. Today, after the matter is settled, we host groups at Beit Nagler," he says.
"To break the stigma that football is 'only for boys'"
"There are many girls who want to play soccer," Halozzi shares, "and our goal is that every girl in Haifa who wants to play soccer will have a place and a framework to play. I have no doubt that there are girls who do want and love soccer, but it is more difficult to recruit them. I believe that more and more girls will play Football in the future.
By and large, our situation is fine because we belong to a club. There is a difficulty that we sometimes face, when girls want to play soccer, but their parents don't. We are trying to convince them to come and see. Sometimes the parent gives a chance and after he sees his daughter playing and having fun he is released. There is a barrier that needs to be broken, along with the stigma that so-called football is only for boys."
"Discipline, commitment, teamwork and dealing with losses and victories"
What is the state of girls'/women's soccer in Israel in general and in Haifa in particular?
"This branch is not developed in Israel, although I hope that in the coming years it will gain momentum. It's just a shame, because this branch can contribute to a girl who plays, it gives tools to deal with all kinds of important things.
As part of soccer, the girls are exposed to other girls, which increases their circle of friends. There are girls from different schools - Herzl Harieli and Neve Yosef, who if they hadn't played on the same team they wouldn't have met. There is discipline in this sport, there is commitment, you learn to work in a team, and this is just some of the advantages in this industry. Working in a team, doing things together, dealing with losses and victories, things that are not found elsewhere. These are things that really contribute to girls, it matures and consolidates.
A sports framework is a mandatory framework and it is mature, because it requires certain things such as arriving on time, arriving in training clothes, being part of a group, of something social and doing certain roles in the game, when everyone has to perform their role."
"The girls' game is less aggressive"
Is there a difference between coaching boys and coaching girls?
The boys' game is more aggressive, the girls' game is more delicate. But the discipline and commitment is the same for both sexes, both for boys and girls. The girls come to play and not to waste time and I feel their commitment. We gave them a tour of Sami Ofer not long ago and almost all of them came.
Impressive victories
Halutzi recounts with pride the many victories the team had: "We had many games and beautiful victories. We won against the Yokneam team and against the Sha'ab team, and against the Hoof Carmel, Hadera and Ra'anana teams, which are one of the best teams, we drew 2-2. We have girls who play well and beautifully." .
Do the girls who come to play come to play as a hobby or do they aspire to develop a career?
It depends. There are girls who dream and aspire to play in the national team and in the higher leagues, and there are those who see it as a hobby, just like the boys, there are both."
"That every girl who wants to play soccer will know that she has a place"
What is your vision?
"My ambition is that every girl in the city will be able to play soccer and know that if she wants to play soccer, she has a place to do it. I, on a personal level, would love for the girls to reach the academy, for national teams and beyond that, for every girl to reach and fulfill her dream, certainly if there is someone If you want to be professional and fulfill your dream, I will be the happiest in the world. But like everything, it is a process and there are difficulties that must be overcome. I believe it is possible."
Are there certain criteria to be accepted into the group?
"Anyone can come and start and get a chance. Today we give everyone a chance and take into account that there is an improvement graph," says Halutzi.
the right to choose
"To parents who are debating, I say, and this is just my opinion of course, that every girl and every boy should be given the right to choose. Just as there is an obligation to study and the children fulfill their obligation and go to school, they should also be given the right to choose what they want to do and be, so that they grow up to be adults good and independent and will not depend on their parents and when they reach the age of 25-26 they will have to ask their parents what to do with their lives. Of course there are all kinds of people, there are those who like to be involved in every little thing and there are those who really let the child choose and be independent. There was a parent who was skeptical At first, he wasn't thrilled that his daughter wanted to play soccer, but after seeing her progress and enjoy herself, he realized that sometimes you have to flow."
Equality in all areas
"I really hope that more girls will join and continue to play soccer and enjoy it. Beyond the fact that it is a sport and a team sport in particular contributes a lot. For me, if we are talking about the gender issue and want to achieve equality, then we should strive for equality in everything and not only in what we are comfortable with."
Where was it possible to register for the group and how?