Calamba football festival slated Aug. 11-12

By Carlo P. Gonzaga

Tuesday 10th of July 2012

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna, July 10 (PIA) -- The Calamba Football Festival JMC Cup 3 is scheduled on August 11-12 at "The Plaza" grounds in Calamba City, Laguna.

This will be the regional/national football invitationals for under nine years old, under 13, and under 17 teams from all over the country. A hundred teams from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao are expected to participate in the two-day activity.

The first level of the JMC CUP 1 and 2 was held Feb. 12 and June 9 in Calamba, with Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) vice president, Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan as special guest.

Aris Caslib, technical director of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) said, "Sustaining the success entails a lot of layers of responsibility, hard work, practice, and task."

Caslib said grassroots experts are needed in all 33 provincial football associations to ensure football activities are continuous with combinations of training, mind setting, practice, competitions, and festivals for the kids. At the same time, grassroots experts must be trained by experts not only from our country but also from AFC and FIFA.

Last year, the first batch of Filipinos took the AFC, a license level and resulted to seven potential A-licensed coaches in the country.

Alvin Carranza, the team manager under U16-U19 had a two-day selection at the University of the Philippines in Diliman last July 8 and 9 for teen Azkals, the future players of our national football pride Azkals.

Meanwhile, Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo has issued DILG Memorandum 2012-85 enjoining the participation of all local government units (LGUs) nationwide in this PFF-sanctioned grassroots program which is under the technical management of the Laguna Football Association (LFA).

Congressman Justin Marc Chipeco of the 2nd District of Laguna formed the “Calamba Puppies” with the hope of identifying and training young talents to boost the football development program of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF).

Winners in this event will qualify for the JMC Cup Level 4 at the International Football Invitationals to be held on December 8-9 in Calamba, with the support of DepEd Calamba and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

This competition will help identify talent for future national youth teams and the development of national youth teams in the country, Carranza added. (CPG/Grace Bondad-Nicolas,PIA4A)