Year 9 student Ella will follow her footballing father’s footsteps to Israel after being selected to play for Team Maccabi GB (MGB) at Jewish Olympics, The Maccabiah Games.
14-year-old Ella, who recently joined CHS’s football team and plays left-back for Altrincham Girls, has been playing since Year 5 and will compete as part of Team Maccabi GB U18s at the 20th Maccabiah Games this summer.
Taking place every 4 years in Israel, Ella and her team-mates will compete alongside 10,000 other Jewish athletes from 80 countries from July 4-18.
The squad, which is managed by the experienced coaching duo of Nicole Sawdaye and Liam Stein, sees a number of talented, young footballers selected – many with experience of playing at the JCC Maccabi Games in the USA.
Ella said: “My dad plays in the Over 45s team and has played at the games 17 times. He said I should just try out just for the experience so I was really surprised to be picked.”
Ella says she has attended the games before but this year will be the first time she and her dad attend as competitors together. She said:“I went once and it’s a really big event; this time will be a bit of a family occasion though with my mum and brother coming along too.”
Ella trains for the team most Saturdays and takes the train to MGB’s training centre in Watford. She said: “It’s quite a long day but there are four of us who travel down together so it isn’t that bad.”
MGB squad manager, Nicole Sawdaye said:“We are incredibly excited by the calibre of our squad and the dedication that all the girls have shown to the team. We are working incredibly hard to prepare for the tournament and it is our aim to go to Israel and impress on the football pitch. We have, by far, one of the strongest girls football teams to date.”
