American Football for teenagers and peewees in Isarel

My name is Idan Dinovetsky and I am a resident of the city Netanya in Israel. I have founded a high school football team for the ages 14 to 18.

 What do we need?

In order to have a football team, we will need a donation of football equipment to varsities and peewees such as football helmets, football shoulder pads, cleats shoes, uniforms and footballs.

Our vision

Our vision is a truly pure and simple idea of building base to football in Netanya for children and youth to grow up in a better environment, to be educated in more fun and creative way. Football, I believe is the ultimate sport for youngsters because football teaches you honesty, sportsmanship, respect, and deals with failure and success along with how to use your full potential. As coach John Falvey, from Oklahoma, said: "Football is about kids, and Kids are the future". When coach John came to Israel for few months it was a dream come true, I continuing achieving his vision but I need someone to help me.

 Our background

My story, is quite unique and one of a kind and I would like to share it with you.

In the summer of 2011, a friend of mine casually asked me to come and play football with him on the beach. I was quite surprised and did not know what football was because it wasn’t popular here in Israel. After playing and experiencing the game on the beach that sadly ended with a broken finger, I decided not to let things go by and quickly became fascinated by the sport. I made some phone calls and looked around. I found out that there is an adult league here in Israel and a high school league that had been founded in 2010 (IFL – Israel football league, sponsored by Kraft Family the owners of NE Patriots). The ex-commissioner, Uriel Storm, gave me the information that was necessary in order to start a youth football team here in Netanya. I gathered my friends together and we made it happen. We had a very tough year; we were forced to shut down the team twice due to the lack of players (12 players was the maximum we got) and insufficient coaching (not having a coach at one point). Despite that, we had a great team in 2011/12, A coach from Oklahoma came to Israel and visited us twice, and taught me everything about football so I could coach my team until I could find a professional one. In June 2012, after I found a proper coach for the team, I approached the Netanya council asking for help with the team and the department of sports agreed to help me. They advertised us on the local newspapers and magazines and we were able to recruit 24 players with full equipment in the 2012/13 season. We are going to continue playing in 2013/14 season and seasons to come.

Why do we need help?

This is my story, and the reason I am approaching to you is that I have real problem financing our team independently and continuing recruit players. Last season the league was able to give us only 20 sets of football equipment and not one more. The price of buying one set of equipment is really high and fellow teammates can not afford it because they need to pay the monthly dues required for league insurance, transportation to games, fields renting, and coaching etc. They also need to buy their uniforms and cleats, and all of this can be extremely expensive. Last weak I was just announced that the league will not provide us football equipment for the seasons to come, we need to buy football equipment to the team use by our own.

I really don't know how we are going to be able to continue running this team if we will not be able to get assistance and donations. I have plans to start a peewee team, consisting of the ages 8 to 14, as well an adult team (ages 18+) and to develop football in Netanya as the main sport instead of soccer (which is the most popular sport in Israel). This is where I come to you with a request for help.

Costs

Youth (high schools team; age 14-18)

Helmets, Shoulder Pads, Bags, Mouth Guards

total price: 1100 NIS or 275$

Uniforms

Jerseys, pants, girdles

total price:600 NIS or 150$

Fixed price 450$ per kid

minimum 30 players in the team

estimate: 13,500$

Peewees (age 8-14)

Helmets, Shoulder Pads, Bags, Mouth Guards, Practice Jerseys, Pants+Girdles

Total price: 1100 NIS or 275$

Fixed price 300$ per kid

maximum 25 kids in a team.

Estimate: 7,500$

FOOTBALL IS ALL ABOUT KIDS, AND KIDS ARE THE FUTURE!