Post by cjeagle on May 10, 2018 15:54:09 GMT 8
It all started out three years ago with 20 kids and Mikki Cardenas, the Marketing Officer of Manila Jockey Club, as the coach. The youngsters were mostly shod in basketball shoes. The venue was the grassy parking field just off the race track.
The kids joined festivals and at first got clobbered. But eventually they began leveling up, and their numbers grew to around 50 registered players. The Manila Jockey Club’s football program is now a force to be reckoned with.
“We wanted to give the kids of our employees a fun activity and allow them to interact with each other,” says Eduardo Ramirez de Arellano, Manila Jockey’s VP for Marketing.
“But we were also glad when kids from neighboring communities came in as well.”
There are now regular training sessions every week and friendly pick-up games daily.
Now Manila Jockey Club, with an artificial football field at their disposal, is set to dream of bigger and better things. The football academy is one component of MJC’s drive to grow the Beautiful Game. Their Copa San Lazaro is growing from strength to strength.
CSC_0558.JPG
For the last three years MJC has taken interest in boosting grassroots football in the area and as a way to provide competition to the kids learning football, the Copa San Lazaro football festival was conceptualized and eventually held in the field within the racetrack. This year’s Copa took place on April 15 and attracted 55 squads. The first Copa in 2016 had only 24 teams while last year 39 participated. While the bulk of the teams came from south of Metro Manila, some participants also hailed from as far away as Pampanga, Olongapo and Bulacan.
Several age groups were represented in the 7-a-side festival including a girls division and a mixed open.
The tournament is held in conjunction with Alab FC from Los Baños, Laguna, and is under the auspices of both the Laguna Football Association and the Cavite Football Association.
Joan Corpuz, the president of Alab FC, is enthusiastic about the future of Copa San Lazaro.
“Ang laki ng potential ng venue. Ang dami pa namin gustong gawin. In every edition of this tournament we try to do something different.”
CSC_0559.JPG
This year the organizers squeezed more fields into the grass area and gave photo souvenirs to each participating squad. And unlike other festivals that sometimes give you only three short matches, Copa San Lazaro offers each team a substantial number of games. The Born 2002-2003, for example, had eight entrants. Rather than split them up into two groups, they were kept in one round-robin cluster, meaning each team got seven 12-minute matches.
The semis and finals of all the age groups were videotaped and were aired as highlights on Gametime TV, San Lazaro’s sports channel on Cignal TV.
CSC_0561
But the Manila Jockey Club has other plans for football as well.
Currently a youth football clinic is being held in the PFF Artificial Turf Pitch that began last April 21 and will conclude on May 13. Dozens of youth players have joined for a small fee for sessions during the week. AFC-licensed coaches have been sharpening their skills now for weeks.
Cyril Dofitas, the director of the National Training Center in SLLP, sees these youth football initiatives as part of a greater plan to boost the game. The Carmona training center is one of three PFF training centers in the country, the other two being in Bukidnon and Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.
He envisions a set curriculum that will be implemented for youth footballers in all three areas. This way a uniform methodology is developed that will help churn out youth national team footballers, all weaned on a unified system, that can perform at a high level.
The kids in the Carmona center will be the luckiest of the three centers, because they will have the PFF Artificial Turf Pitch in their backyard. Not only have the Women’s National Team and U15 girls national team trained there recently, but so have the Davao Aguilas of the Philippines Football League. Kids see world-class football training in the flesh.
“Parang may malaking TV sila ng football sa harap nila,” says Ramirez de Arellano.
But more than just giving the kids a fun and physically demanding workout, Ramirez de Arellano believes that football will also help them off the pitch.
“Sports builds camaraderie and confidence. That’s what we want to teach them here in the MJC Football Academy,” says Ramirez de Arellano.
For Cardenas, the satisfaction of mentoring young footballers is its own reward. The players in MJ FA are often kids of MJC’s employees and in the “kwadras” or stables, hence the team’s nickname, the Colts. They have yet to win a tournament but came close this year, finishing third in the Copa at the U14 level.
“The kids watch the Davao Aguilas train, and then they borrow a ball and cones and replicate what they see on their own. Naka-inspire ituloy ang program nito para sa bata,” says Cardenas.
To join the youth football camp or to book the fields in SLLP, contact Jeng Arrazola at 09167766377 or Mikki Cardenas at 09178829312, 02-687-9889 local 410. The next Copa San Lazaro will be held on October 15.
bobguerreroph.wordpress.com/2018/05/08/manila-jockey-club-boosts-youth-football-development/
The kids joined festivals and at first got clobbered. But eventually they began leveling up, and their numbers grew to around 50 registered players. The Manila Jockey Club’s football program is now a force to be reckoned with.
“We wanted to give the kids of our employees a fun activity and allow them to interact with each other,” says Eduardo Ramirez de Arellano, Manila Jockey’s VP for Marketing.
“But we were also glad when kids from neighboring communities came in as well.”
There are now regular training sessions every week and friendly pick-up games daily.
Now Manila Jockey Club, with an artificial football field at their disposal, is set to dream of bigger and better things. The football academy is one component of MJC’s drive to grow the Beautiful Game. Their Copa San Lazaro is growing from strength to strength.
CSC_0558.JPG
For the last three years MJC has taken interest in boosting grassroots football in the area and as a way to provide competition to the kids learning football, the Copa San Lazaro football festival was conceptualized and eventually held in the field within the racetrack. This year’s Copa took place on April 15 and attracted 55 squads. The first Copa in 2016 had only 24 teams while last year 39 participated. While the bulk of the teams came from south of Metro Manila, some participants also hailed from as far away as Pampanga, Olongapo and Bulacan.
Several age groups were represented in the 7-a-side festival including a girls division and a mixed open.
The tournament is held in conjunction with Alab FC from Los Baños, Laguna, and is under the auspices of both the Laguna Football Association and the Cavite Football Association.
Joan Corpuz, the president of Alab FC, is enthusiastic about the future of Copa San Lazaro.
“Ang laki ng potential ng venue. Ang dami pa namin gustong gawin. In every edition of this tournament we try to do something different.”
CSC_0559.JPG
This year the organizers squeezed more fields into the grass area and gave photo souvenirs to each participating squad. And unlike other festivals that sometimes give you only three short matches, Copa San Lazaro offers each team a substantial number of games. The Born 2002-2003, for example, had eight entrants. Rather than split them up into two groups, they were kept in one round-robin cluster, meaning each team got seven 12-minute matches.
The semis and finals of all the age groups were videotaped and were aired as highlights on Gametime TV, San Lazaro’s sports channel on Cignal TV.
CSC_0561
But the Manila Jockey Club has other plans for football as well.
Currently a youth football clinic is being held in the PFF Artificial Turf Pitch that began last April 21 and will conclude on May 13. Dozens of youth players have joined for a small fee for sessions during the week. AFC-licensed coaches have been sharpening their skills now for weeks.
Cyril Dofitas, the director of the National Training Center in SLLP, sees these youth football initiatives as part of a greater plan to boost the game. The Carmona training center is one of three PFF training centers in the country, the other two being in Bukidnon and Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo.
He envisions a set curriculum that will be implemented for youth footballers in all three areas. This way a uniform methodology is developed that will help churn out youth national team footballers, all weaned on a unified system, that can perform at a high level.
The kids in the Carmona center will be the luckiest of the three centers, because they will have the PFF Artificial Turf Pitch in their backyard. Not only have the Women’s National Team and U15 girls national team trained there recently, but so have the Davao Aguilas of the Philippines Football League. Kids see world-class football training in the flesh.
“Parang may malaking TV sila ng football sa harap nila,” says Ramirez de Arellano.
But more than just giving the kids a fun and physically demanding workout, Ramirez de Arellano believes that football will also help them off the pitch.
“Sports builds camaraderie and confidence. That’s what we want to teach them here in the MJC Football Academy,” says Ramirez de Arellano.
For Cardenas, the satisfaction of mentoring young footballers is its own reward. The players in MJ FA are often kids of MJC’s employees and in the “kwadras” or stables, hence the team’s nickname, the Colts. They have yet to win a tournament but came close this year, finishing third in the Copa at the U14 level.
“The kids watch the Davao Aguilas train, and then they borrow a ball and cones and replicate what they see on their own. Naka-inspire ituloy ang program nito para sa bata,” says Cardenas.
To join the youth football camp or to book the fields in SLLP, contact Jeng Arrazola at 09167766377 or Mikki Cardenas at 09178829312, 02-687-9889 local 410. The next Copa San Lazaro will be held on October 15.
bobguerreroph.wordpress.com/2018/05/08/manila-jockey-club-boosts-youth-football-development/