Ashri Dror will carry the captain's armband for Ironi Kiryat Shmona's youth team this season, and the 16-year-old midfielder says the group arrives determined to put three difficult years behind it, ONE reports.
Dror travels roughly 20 kilometres to train and play, commuting from his hometown of Yesod HaMa'ala to represent the club he has grown up supporting locally in the Galilee panhandle.
He operates mainly in central midfield but has also filled in at the back when the team has needed him there, a versatility that has become part of his appeal to the club's coaching staff.
In his first season with the squad he scored seven goals and was a regular contributor to the team's play, form that earned him call-ups to train alongside Ironi Kiryat Shmona's senior squad, according to the report.
"The most important thing is to stay focused on the goal, and not let things around me affect me," Dror said, addressing the pressure that comes with wearing the captain's band as a teenager.
He was equally direct about what leadership means to him day to day: "I want to take responsibility and help the team, something that has followed me throughout my career."
ONE notes that the youth setup has endured three challenging seasons with limited access to home facilities, testing the group's patience before this campaign. Even so, the club won a cup under current coach Omer Levinson in the 2022/23 season, a marker the current squad is keen to build on.
Looking ahead, Dror was careful not to set himself apart from the collective effort. "I want to continue to progress, improve, and reach the highest levels I can," he said, framing his own development as tied to the team's fortunes rather than personal statistics.
For a club whose first team is preparing its own Israeli Premier League campaign, the emergence of a committed, locally rooted captain in the academy ranks is the kind of story Kiryat Shmona's supporters will want to follow through the season.
