Friday, September 29, 2006

TAKING THE FUN OUT OF PLAY

by Maxi Maximo

The recent aboitiz-CebuFA National Football Festival, organized by Cebu Football Association (CebuFA) and sponsored by Aboitiz Group Foundation (AGFI), has been a joy to watch ever since the parents tag along their kids, some of them as young as 5 years old, and bring them to Cebu City Sports Center for the games.

I have been involved into organizing youth football tournaments and I have experienced different lessons, both on and off the field. Let me share with you some of them.

Parents of young football players play a very important role in their kid’s development in sport. Consider the following story about a parent and his son as they experience game day.

BEFORE THE GAME. On the way to the tournament, the dad starts to ask: “What position is coach going to play you today? “Take some shots; you don’t have to pass to your teammates all the time. Be tough on your tackles.”
Few minutes later they arrived at the venue. Dad continues with his advise. “Don’t forget to ask the coach to put you at forward.”

GAME TIME. The game begins and the child is not on the starting line-up. Dad is uneasy and started to talk to himself. “This coach doesn’t know what he is doing! I’m sure he will not let my son play forward.”
Then the kid finally gets to play as a left defender. More negative self-talk, but this time becoming louder. “What is the coach doing? My son cannot even kick a ball using his left foot!”
As the game continues, an opposing player dribbles straight at the kid. Dad’s negative “coaching” comments begin such that his son can now hear them: “Come on ... get that ball ... tackle him!”.
The child falls on the ground as the opponent dribbles past him, straight to the goal and a score is made. Dad is disappointed! His comments are now getting very vocal. “Get up, what are you doing? Hey ref., he knocked him down, isn’t it a foul? This is unfair.”
The game ends and his son’s team loses 1-0.

AFTER THE GAME. Dad gets into the car and tells the son to hurry up and get in. The “interview” continues. “Did you not ask coach if you could play forward? He does not know coaching anyway.”
Once they get home, the kid goes up straight to his room and ... decides to quit playing football!

Some Friendly Advise: I am sure that we, as parents of young kids, have experienced some of this parental behavior. Here are some suggestions that might help us make a positive change in our kid’s development in the game.

BEFORE THE GAME. Let’s make affirmative comments to our kid like “I’m so excited to watch your game. Let’s have some fun.” Let us assist them in getting the proper nutrition before the game.
It is important for our athletes to be mentally ready for the game via “positive self-talk”. The trip going to the game is a good chance for this. Some athletes like to listen to music, others want to talk ... but let them start the talk if they want to. It is difficult for them to mentally prepare if we are the one talking with our questions and advices!

GAME TIME. Let us cheer on the players... including the opposing team. The kids are trying their best and what we say on the field affects them, whether we are their parents or not.
Let’s try not to coach our kids or the other athletes. In football, there are a lot of things to think about, dribbling, passing and shooting. Let them focus.

AFTER THE GAME. After every match, it is the time for mental and physical recovery. Parents and the coach should have encouraging words about their efforts in the game. These explanations are very helpful and mean a lot to our kids. Let us not scrutinize the game or our child’s performance in the match. It is the job of the coach.
And lastly, let us enjoy watching our kids play. It will be much less stressful on us parents and, certainly, on our athletes.
See you in our next tourney.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome at pabolfc@yahoo.com, 0917-328-1588 or http://www.pabolfc.blogspot.com/

Sunday, September 24, 2006

2006 aboitiz NATIONAL FESTIVAL



2006 2nd ABOITIZ CEBUFA NATIONAL FOOTBALL FESTIVAL
GIRLS-12 (1994) DIVISION
September 23-24, 2007
Cebu City Sports Center, Cebu City

PaBol-A (above) captured the 1st Runner-Up title while sistem team PaBol-B (below)bagged the 2nd Runner-Up award.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

CESAFI BARS 18 FOOTBALLERS


Courtesy of Sun Star Newspaper (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/)
Thursday, September 07, 2006 issue
by Marian C. Baring, Correspondent

Can the University of the Visayas win the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) football championship again now that four of its players are barred from joining the year’s season, which is set to open at the Cebu City Sports Center today?

UV, which ousted four-time defending champion University of San Jose-Recoletos last year, lost key defenders in former Carmen National School booters Josaphat Sacil and Ivan Dimco as well as Dominic Villamor and Freddie Rica.

The four are among the 18 players barred by tournament director and Cebu Football Association president Jonathan Maximo for failing to pass Cesafi eligibility requirements.

Maximo refused to give the names of the 18 players, but Sun.Star got a few names from other sources.

Under Cesafi rules, athletes need to be enrolled in school in order to play. They must take up at least 14 academic units and pass a majority of their subject .

The maximum age of an athlete is 25 years by June 30.

Of the 18, six can still play this year once they get authenticated documents from the National Statistics Office. The rest, however, will have to sit this season out.

Holdovers

UV head coach Eddie Buot said that with the loss of some first stringers, he will be banking on the holdovers, Frederick Alazas, Junard Aguilar and Julius Acre. He also intends to lean on newcomer Benjor Gomora to man the defense. Aguilar is one of the top strikers in Cesafi while Alazas is excellent both as a field player and as a goalkeeper.

For his part, Maximo said they are implementing stricter rules as directed by the new officials of Cesafi.

“We have been given specific instructions to implement the rules and regulations to the fullest,” said Maximo.

The University of Southern Philippines-Foundation and USJ-R lost two players each to disqualification, while the University of San Carlos lost three .

One of the players USP-F lost was its trusted striker, Rene Menchavez, who has maximized his playing years in the Cesafi.

Today, Eleazar Toledo and the USP-F will face a tall order when it takes on USJ-R in the curtain raiser at 1 p.m., while USC will face the University of Cebu at 2:30 p.m.

Friday, September 01, 2006

222 SOCCER TEAMS WANT TO JOIN ABOITIZ FESTIVAL


Courtesy of Sun Star Newspaper (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/)
Friday, September 01, 2006 issue
by Mike Limpag Sun.Star Staff Reporter

Cebu's traditional powers Cebu International School, Don Bosco College and Paref-Springdale will have their hands full in the 2nd Aboitiz Football Festival, as some of the country's best footballers are set to join the P12 bracket in the two-day event set Sept. 23 and 24.

Cebu Football Association president Jonathan Maximo has asked the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) to make the Aboitiz festival as part of its talent identification program for the national team and has invited PFF's Vince Santos and national coach John Carmona to watch the event.

Carmona is the coach of the youth national teams, while Santos is in charge of the countries Center for Football Excellence. Each CFE is in charge of training elite players in the 1992 age-group, the players groomed to win the gold in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games.

"We have also sent an invitation to each FA to send their elite P12 players for the festival," Maximo said.

Participation in the Aboitiz Festival is set to break local records as 222 teams have signified their intention to join the event. "Labad ni sa ulo," Maximo said.

"We also have an option to hold games at night, but with 222 teams, we might have to hold games until midnight," said Maximo.

To address the problem, only 180 teams will be accepted, depending on who pays the registration fees first, said Maximo in a text message to Sun.Star Cebu.

As to the P12 group, Maximo said it is not sure whether Cebu will form an elite team in the bracket.

"We're not sure if the coaches will release their best players," Maximo said.

Mario Ceniza, who coaches Springdale, is in charge of Cebu CFE.

Aside from the local teams and the P12 teams, the football associations of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, San Carlos CIty, Iloilo, Dumaguete will also send delegations.

"Mark Bretherton (CebuFA board member) is also inviting teams from Manila," Maximo said.

To accommodate the entries, CebuFA has designated the Cebu City Sports Center as the venue for the event, which houses the biggest football field in Cebu.