How it all began?
From a struggling student to Israel’s champion.
When their son was 8 years old, Raz and Galia realized that in order to grow and flourish he needed to follow his own individual path.
Alongside the innate difficulties he faced, they recognized his greatest gift, and chose to nurture it.
They provided him with the motor space, a motorcycle, the professional people and the wide shell that helped him turn from the most difficult student in the class, to a national champion in the motorcycle motocross league.
It was there that the dream was born and took off.
Raz and Galia, in cooperation with people from the surrounding Gaza strip area, founded the "Ofek La’Otef" association, with the aim of helping more children, who are facing mental and emotional challenges, develop the personal resilience and the solid foundation required for growth and success.
In their memory:
The late Aviv Atzili and the late Tal Shalev from Kibbutz Nir Oz were among the leaders in establishing the "Ofek La’Otef" association. On the Black Sabbath, October 7, 2023, they were both murdered while fighting to protect their homes.
We invite you to continue Aviv and Tal’s path, to make their dream a reality and to take part in the restoration of the community surrounding the Gaza strip, in securing a place of hope for children and youth who have difficulties in emotional and sensory regulation, through a comprehensive professional response, the core of which is motor sports.
Our vision:
The establishment of “Ofek La'Otef” as a unique association of its kind in Israel, which provides emotional and sensory solutions for children and youth.
The Association will operate as an informal education system, focusing on children and youth encountering difficulties.
Combination of an emotional response that allows the child to find a place where they can lead and direct themselves through experiences and successes, from a place of difficulty and a feeling of frustration, to a feeling of competence and success.
Motor sports have numerous research-proven advantages in promotion, improvement, and rehabilitation of children and youth.
These children will become teachers for us and for others:
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The trainees will teach themselves and turn from responders to managers
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The graduates will educate and lead others
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In the future - their points of weakness and differences will become points of strengths and advantages
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The trainees will continue the Association's path while integrating and influencing other systems
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The Association will be part of the restoration and cultural environment of the surrounding Gaza strip area
Our beliefs:
All a child needs are a pair of wheels and someone to believe in them!
We believe that children with emotional and mental difficulties, who do not receive the right tools adapted to their individual needs, may one day find themselves defined as "youth at risk" and on the fringes of society.
It is important for us to help them turn into adults who develop and fulfill themselves, leaders in their field and as such - making a meaningful contribution to society.
Our goal:
To establish an informal education system intended for children and youth with difficulties, through a facility for motor sports/off-road motorcycles (moto-cross and enduro) which will also form a community center and will take part in the rehabilitation of the Gaza strip surrounding area.
Target audience:
Children and youth who are diagnosed as having difficulty in sensory and emotional regulation and who, in addition, may encounter the following difficulties:
● Learning disabilities
● Impulsivity
● Difficulty in delaying gratification
● Procrastination
Due to years of a complex security situation and especially today, in light of the horrific events of 7.10, other objective difficulties may have been added:
● Fears
● Anxieties
● Loss of control
● Tantrums
● Depression
● Lack of trust
● Post trauma
● and more
Means of action:
Motor sports form the main tool of treatment, combined with a wide therapeutic framework, which supports and advances the trainees. The therapeutic system provides tools and practices skills that support optimal functioning and assists in dealing with numerous difficulties.
The Association operates as a permanent informal education framework, on Sunday-Thursday from noon to evening, where the children arrive at the end of the school day.
As part of the Association's activities and in addition to the sports riding, the trainees receive meals, professional training, emotional therapies, personal coaching, family therapies, parental guidance, group and enrichment activities.
In addition, the children will be given the space and time to complete school assignments, with the assistance of a remedial teacher.
The trainees will be accompanied by instructors who mediate, guide and instill the Association’s values - responsibility, commitment, diligence, success, discipline, fulfillment, love for their home and country, and more.
Alongside the practical riding, the trainees will also become familiar with the mechanical side of motorcycle maintenance, and the laws and safety rules, including the use of equipment and protective clothing.
The Association's facilities will open about three times a week for the benefit of the Gaza strip surrounding area’s residents (aa well as others), and the trainees will integrate and assist in the operation of the center as part of the program.
* All motor activity at the center will be conducted in accordance with the law and subject to the instructions and guidelines of the Motor Sports Association.
A support system:
Off-road riding - handling obstacle courses teaches and practices self-control, focus, resistance to pressure, decision-making, determination, perseverance, time management and more. The instructors will integrate what is learned in the field with the trainees’ day-to-day reality and routine.
Personal coaching - a goal-oriented process in which the coach accompanies the trainee through regular individual meetings that take place once a week. The trainees learn about themselves, discover their strengths and becomes the best version of themselves, a process that enhances personal image and self-esteem and increases self-confidence.
The sessions will partly focus on empowerment alongside a goal chosen by the trainee, while identifying paradigms, blockages, difficulties and other obstacles. The coach directs and assists in the various confrontations and the realization of what is desired versus existing reality, as well as setting goals and building action plans for the chosen goal.
Emotional therapy - each trainee meets with a therapist once a week. In these sessions, difficulties, failures, frustrations, successes and struggles will be processed, and the therapist will also assist in identifying and processing emotions.
The process is designed to create mental resilience, commitment, a sense of ability and means of dealing with difficulties in general. Coaching and treatment complement each other – the one strengthens the spirit and soul while the other creates a change in thinking, builds tools and produces successes, confidence, self-image, responsibility, anger control and more...
Occupational therapy - each trainee meets with an occupational therapist once a week, where they will practice and receive tools for sensory regulation. The goal of the treatment is gradual exposure to different textures, touch, tastes, smells and sensations, until achieving full adaptation.
Personal coaching sessions in groups - identifying the challenges in various and different worlds of content encountered throughout the program, acquiring tools and learning ways and means of dealing with them, forming a peer group and practicing social skills.
Therapeutic gardening - therapeutic gardening is a method of treatment that uses plants and activities related to gardening to improve the trainee’s physical and mental well-being. Therapeutic gardening addresses social, mental, physical, emotional and behavioral aspects, and forms an excellent tool for treating sensory regulation.
Dog training / handling - dogs are considered to be excellent caregivers. They are gifted with the ability to communicate, evoke emotions and remove emotional barriers. The encounter with dogs yields wonderful results.
In group work, the dog helps to reach the patient's heart, strengthen their self-image and self-esteem, learn to deal with difficulties and fears, impart the ability to build positive relationships for the purpose of creating a safety net, and learn the processes of giving and receiving. The satisfaction, the love and the feeling of self-worthiness are already felt following the first meeting with the dog. Exposure to different types of fur helps to treat sensory regulation.
Association's Staff
Association’s leading team:
Eran Pauker, colonel, leader of the Association - owner of a private company for entrepreneurship and agriculture, has a master's degree in law. A member of Kibbutz Nir Oz and lives in Ein Habsor.
Sigal Pauker Skornik, leader of a support system (informal education) - senior facilitator, head of attention and concentration and children and youth fields at Yozmot College, a project manager at the Israel Prison Service and pre-military training school, a personal coach specializing in training of families, parenting and individuals with special needs. Lives in Ein Habsor.
David Furmanov, chief rider - owner of a school for off-road riding instruction, has many years of experience working with children and youth.
Advocate Omar Price - a board member, from Sderot.
Eliran Hillel – a board member and a field bike rider, from Sderot.
Galia Pauker - Mother of David and Ofek Leofet initiativ fromf Kibbutz Tze’elim.
Gad Mimoni - veteran field bike rider, expert in the world of motor mechanics, from Ashkelon.
Ronen Atzili – a member of Kibbutz Nir Oz, from Ramat Zvi.
Adva Adar Mizrahi - attorney specializing in children and youth at risk.
Avner Peretz - veteran field motorcycle rider, horseback riding instructor for children and youth, from Talemy Yosef.
Association’s members:
Contact Us
In preparation for the long-awaited return of the children of the Gaza strip surrounding area to their homes, we call upon you to join us and assist in contributing to their personal rehabilitation, which is also forms an integral part of the rehabilitation of Israeli society as a whole.