Magnificnet

Shelly lives, breathes and thinks about soccer 24 hours a day (including in her dreams).

The passion for soccer burns in her from the age of zero, probably thanks to genetics. Shelley is the only granddaughter of Shmuel “Checha” Romano, a bench player for Maccabi Jaffa ( a local team) in the early seventies who never managed to play more than twenty minutes and today, the owner of “Shmuel’s Borax”, the most sporting meeting place in Migdal Ha’Emek 9a suburb at the north of Israel). As in many other cases, the genetic predisposition jumped a generation because Shelly’s father, Checha’s son, was never interested in soccer and chose instead to become a lawyer. A big disappointment for Checha, whose smile returned to his face when he realized that his granddaughter was continuing the family after all.

While grandparents read kids’ stories to their grandchildren, Checha would tell her about soccer legends. They would watch together with classic games and he would explain to her in great detail everything that happened on the field, including tactical analyzes and great details of the abilities and skills of the players. No wonder Shelley became a soccer expert while her classmates learned to read first.But beyond her deep understanding of the game, Shelly proved to be a great talent on the court as well. As a Kishore actress of course. One who sees a game, guesses three moves ahead, sends accurate passes to her friends to the team and kicks accurate penalty kicks for connections. A kind of coach on the field. The only problem is that she didn’t always have someone to play with. Most of the boys felt threatened by her talent that overshadowed them (she would also explain their mistakes to them and this is of course not something that boys like to hear from girls) and did not include her in the games. Since in her place of residence there was no group of girls to join her, Shelley remained in the stands, watching, analyzing to herself and a little lonely.All this is about to change when Shelly hears about an exciting new initiative by the soccer association:The Children’s League – a league for amateur children from all over the country aged 12-14, boys and girls who are not registered in official teams. A real league, in the end of which the champion of the country will be determined! The magic of the league is clear – who wouldn’t want to be part of a real team with uniforms, travel to games all over the country and drama, competitiveness and dreams of lifting a national championship trophy? Such a league is an opportunity for every boy and girl who are dying to be a part of such an excitement but are not really talented enough to be accepted into the children’s teams of the big clubs.How It Works? Groups of children from all over the country who want to compete must register in their area of ​​residence and each group must have a child manager and a responsible adult to accompany it. For children managers who want to start a team from scratch, local “recruitment days” will be held, in which potential players will come, and the team managers will select their squad players based on abilities, personal connection, etc. All the teams that register in time will compete in a knock out tournament, at the end of which there will be 64 teams that will be divided into districts and compete for the national championship. After an exciting night without sleep and full of thoughts, Shelley realizes that this is her chance to fulfill her life’s dream: establishing a mixed team that she will train, manage and even play in! She registers as a team manager and excitedly prepares for the player recruitment day at the local community center.

Everything is working perfectly for the event until about half an hour before it starts, the plumbing in Shmuel’s Burks explodes. Shelley, who immediately came to help her grandfather with all the crazy chaos in the place, is late and arrives at the community center late just to see that the only players remain in the place, are the ones no other manager wanted for various reasons:

Eden, who believes he is the Israeli Ronaldo (he really isn’t) and that he can achieve anything with his melting smile, Healy, the younger sister of four brothers – who must prove herself and always win in everything, Michael, the son of immigrants from Russia – a gifted ballet dancer who escapes to soccer to feel less unusual , Badra, a boy from a nearby Arab village – who is looking for belonging and acceptance, Nawa and Aya, a couple in love until they become brides who do everything together, including joining a soccer team and need to learn to give each other a good time. Tsadik, who will later join them – the lazy son of the team’s sponsor who needs to learn to win things on his own merits and not just because dad arranges.Shelly knows some of them from school and the neighborhood and some are strangers. None of them is a great soccer talent. But this is what there is, and with this she will win.  The stories of the seasonThe season will consist of two layers that will integrate and overlap each other:1 – The story of the “Aryot Ha’emek” group. The group that Shelly founded and manages (five boys and three girls). The way she manages, thanks to her talent, wisdom and sensitivity, to bring out the best in her players and transform them socially and personally into a cohesive team. A team that will start out as a classic underdog and end up, against all odds, in the big championship game.2 – The personal stories of Shelly and her players, their relationships with each other and with their parents and the world of Young adults – Love stories, friendships, interpersonal conflicts and gender stereotypes that need shaking up. Stories that will bring to light the many challenges of growing up, of cooperation between children who come from completely different backgrounds and their way of discovering themselves.The connection between these two levels – which will take place on the training field, before, during and after games, in schools, community centers, on the streets of Migdal Ha’Emek and its surroundings, and in the homes of our heroes – starts from the premise that a team sport like soccer puts us in a real mirror in the face, forces us to face with ourselves, with others, with difficulties and disappointments and leads us to an understanding of who we want to be.”Shelly” will tell the story of one special and rare girl with inner strengths and flight of emotion who follows her dream and destiny against all odds and does what is not obvious socially, gender and sports.It is also a story about relationships between children against the background of the buds of adolescence, questions of gender and the power structures between boys and girls, dealing with difficulties and challenges and the difficulty of getting the best out of yourself despite everything, about a special bond between a girl and her grandfather and her way of accomplishing what he never managed And of course, a story Engaging and exciting sports in the tradition of classic sports movies such as “Field of Dreams”, “A League of Their Own” and “Play it Like Beckham”.Equally important is the world in which the series takes place – Migdal Ha’Emek and the area around it. A special, vibrant and beautiful place that can be a wonderful background for an uplifting story about self-fulfillment and the fulfillment of dreams. The town, for its human diversity, will be the heroine of the series no less than the characters themselves.