NewsRecord Weekly Publication

No Baby Talk

Georgene Rhena P. Quilaton-Tambiga

Football for breakfast

"Football is life."

I had never met people whose professed devotion and dedication to a sport spill out of the playing field until June 4. It was when I met the Scottish football coach Leigh Manson, Mexican coaches Jorge Kuriyama and Diego Angel Sandoval Vera.

Future. Leigh Manson, Total Football Inc. President talks to kids on San Carlos streets as he distributes Nike stickers.                                                                                                      Photo Source: Leigh Manson  The three had been commissioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) to help train the rookie Philippine U-22 Football Team, better known as the Junior Azkals, that trained here last May 21 to June 5. Thanks to the unpredictability of Philippine schedule, however, the group of three was left with a few days off the field before they were to meet with the boys. That precious time they then spent going around the city to campaign for the sport they consider their "life" and to educate grassroots coaches from all over the Visayas.

Philippine U-22 Football Team with the coaching staff and Total Football Inc.

"When we arrived here (May 28) the U-22 program was changed. We ended up with a few days free. We decided to work with grassroots coaches. Some came from as far as Leyte. And we had been driving around San Carlos and we saw grassroots children playing football on the streets," Manson recounted over two huge pancakes for breakfast. He went on to describe that the children to whom they gave away about 400 Nike football stickers were all aspiring football players and athletes. And the three saw in them the sheer love for the game.

Manson, Kuriyama and Sandoval Vera are all working for Nike, one of the world's largest sports apparel, shoes and equipment brand that most grassroots Filipino athletes only dream of possessing and only afford if they are sold in ukay-ukay or if they are actually imitation items. But those three, oh they wear Nike like I wear my worn old jeans! Their company, Total Football Inc. based in Tokyo, Japan, is helping Nike to pick the best of the best Japanese football players that will join an international U-22 team. This team made of the world's best booters will then be trained and will play friendly exposure matches against the world's best teams including Manchester United. Talk about the best!

Manson, Kuriyama, Sandoval Vera and the kids to got Nike football stickers.

It is not only their work and clothes that can actually draw attention but also their promise of coming back to San Carlos, most ideally within the year, with as many footballs as can be imagined. The idea came when they got struck with the sight of San Carlos kids kicking empty cans or deflated rubber balls instead of real leather footballs.

"We kind of fallen in love with San Carlos. We would like help, not just work with the PFF. We'd also like to support San Carlos at all levels, especially when it comes to football. Any work we can help with the kids is a privilege," Manson, the most vocal of the three, said.

They also talked of setting up a training day not with selected San Carlos football players but with all boys who are into the sport. They would like to make them run into the field and just train.  Deep into the interview the Scottish coach almost threw me off guard by asking me a question.

"What do you think football players here need?"

In a jiffy, I put my thinking cap on and thought about my student days when I was a badminton player who detested being forced to play football during intramurals. I told him what most Filipino athletes, including myself, outside Manila experience: no proper training equipment, no proper uniform and apparel, and, for football, no spike shoes and the balls are too worn out.

He nodded and I imagined he must have written those items in his head.

"We encourage kids to sports but football is most important to us because it's what we do. It's a life," Kuriyama gave his piece as a huge breakfast burrito awaited my first bite. He has 10 years of professional football with Mexico's national team.

He and Manson went on to discuss the city's potential as a football capital. "Your facilities at the field are amazing. If you want to attract the world's best teams to come here you need to make sure that the facilities off the pitch match what's on the pitch."

When we parted, one statement left an indelible mark not on my notebook but on my thought-that it is football that gave them everything they have now, that it is football that gave them a lifelong education and opportunity to learn great things every day, that it is football that taught them RESPECT and DISCIPLINE.

These are the things they want to impart to our kids more than football techniques.