Post by Usapang Football on Oct 20, 2011 6:58:10 GMT 8
sports.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view/20090513-204687/Not-enough-football-clubs-says-Spanish-coach
MANILA, Philippines - Filipino kids are "perfect" football players but do not develop further as athletes due to lack of football clubs, according to former professional player turned coach Tomas Lozano.
?You find yourself without a home after graduating from college. But when you join football clubs, you can be a member and play until you die,? said Lozano, who used to play professionally in Spain, current European champions.
He is a coach in the Alaska Football Summer Camp, which has attracted some 600 students from as young as three years old.
Training sessions are held in Ayala Alabang Country Club field, Army Ascom Field, and Nomads Field in Merville, Paranaque.
Lozano, who has been playing football for more than thirty years, noted that youth sports in the country is largely school-oriented.
Thus, when an athlete graduates, he or she usually stop playing as there are only a handful of football clubs in the country.
?In the 90 million population of the Philippines, the number of football clubs is less than 10 percent of that,? Lozano said in an interview with INQUIRER.net in-between training at Ayala Alabang.
Nonetheless, Lozano believes schools keep interest in sports alive.
?There are so many community football clubs abroad. The club system need to exist in the Philippines,? he noted.
Having lived in the country for about four decades now, Lozano agrees about the Philippines being a basketball-loving nation.
?My frustration is that Filipinos love basketball too much yet in football, you don?t need the height. We have the quantity and the talent,? said Lozano.
As founder and project director of the Makati Football School and the Alabang Football School, Lozano commits his time into teaching and enhancing the skills of young football players through summer camps and these football schools.
Lozano said Filipino kids are perfect for football because of being naturally friendly, making them excellent team players.
Every July, when it is summer in Europe, Lozano and his club send talented kids to play in international tournaments such as the Football World Cup for children.
?In fact, we can beat anybody in the world especially kids whose ages are 6-16 years old,? he said.
?I remember, in one tournament, the Philippines beat my own country, Spain,? he recalled. ?Kids here love football. Even the small ones can kick a ball."
MANILA, Philippines - Filipino kids are "perfect" football players but do not develop further as athletes due to lack of football clubs, according to former professional player turned coach Tomas Lozano.
?You find yourself without a home after graduating from college. But when you join football clubs, you can be a member and play until you die,? said Lozano, who used to play professionally in Spain, current European champions.
He is a coach in the Alaska Football Summer Camp, which has attracted some 600 students from as young as three years old.
Training sessions are held in Ayala Alabang Country Club field, Army Ascom Field, and Nomads Field in Merville, Paranaque.
Lozano, who has been playing football for more than thirty years, noted that youth sports in the country is largely school-oriented.
Thus, when an athlete graduates, he or she usually stop playing as there are only a handful of football clubs in the country.
?In the 90 million population of the Philippines, the number of football clubs is less than 10 percent of that,? Lozano said in an interview with INQUIRER.net in-between training at Ayala Alabang.
Nonetheless, Lozano believes schools keep interest in sports alive.
?There are so many community football clubs abroad. The club system need to exist in the Philippines,? he noted.
Having lived in the country for about four decades now, Lozano agrees about the Philippines being a basketball-loving nation.
?My frustration is that Filipinos love basketball too much yet in football, you don?t need the height. We have the quantity and the talent,? said Lozano.
As founder and project director of the Makati Football School and the Alabang Football School, Lozano commits his time into teaching and enhancing the skills of young football players through summer camps and these football schools.
Lozano said Filipino kids are perfect for football because of being naturally friendly, making them excellent team players.
Every July, when it is summer in Europe, Lozano and his club send talented kids to play in international tournaments such as the Football World Cup for children.
?In fact, we can beat anybody in the world especially kids whose ages are 6-16 years old,? he said.
?I remember, in one tournament, the Philippines beat my own country, Spain,? he recalled. ?Kids here love football. Even the small ones can kick a ball."