If you want your kids to learn and experience football under Italian coaches and at the same time help another kid get introduced to the sport, you might want your kid to try Giuseppe Football Club’s (GFC) “Adopt A Player Football Clinic” happening on Aug. 2 and 3 at the football field located beside the Banilad Sports Center, the old Sandtrap.
The clinic will be handled by Italian coaches Nicolo Ferrante and Marco Cumbo of the A.S.D Panormus in Palermo, Italy and the coaching staff of the GFC—Oliver “Bingbing” Colina, Adonis C. Quitoy and John Martin Ferrer.
Also assisting in the clinic is Eleazar Toledo, whose Subangdaku Football Club, Inc. (SFC) is one of the beneficiaries of the clinic along with the Banilad Elementary School (BES).
Registration fee is pegged at P500 and for every paying participant, he or she will enable one child from either SFC or BES to join the clinic for free. Participants will get a Giuseppe FC club t-shirt and a certificate.
Kids aged five to 12 years old will be handled on Aug. 2 while the clinic for the 13 to 17 years old is scheduled on Aug. 3. Both clinics will start at 8 a.m. and end at 11 a.m.
Those interested may call Colina at 09223548950 or Rufina Micutuan at 09176243129.
GIUSEPPE FC
The GFC was formed in 2005 by Rachel Genco, also a coach of the A.S.D Panormus, and Mylene Suarez, in support of their kids who love the sport.
Both mothers dedication to football did not wane even if their sons have moved on to the secondary level of their education with the club continuing to teach and train kids aged four to 15 years old. Currently, the club has about 80 members.
Not only has its teams won titles in local tournaments but the club has also produced national players such as Lloyd Soco, Lorenzo Genco and Carmelo Genco.
The club has also endeavored to bring football to all kids by training BES students who show potential for the sport. The club has been in partnership with the school for four years now and is working on adding the OPRRA Elementary School as part of its outreach program.
The club is stepping up its football program by tying up with Ferrante’s football school in Italy.
This was made possible with Genco going back and forth between the Philippines and Italy as her sons study in Italy wherein they also go to a football school.
Under the program, two Italian football coaches will come here and conduct clinics. The clinic next weekend will be the first under the program.
While the Giuseppe family will host the coaches, the coaches themselves will be spending for their travel. GFC is also rehabilitating two football fields to be used for the program.
FOOTBALL WITH DISCIPLINE, FOOTBALL WITH COMMITMENT
Ferrante said they are doing this because they see a lot of potential among the sheer number of Filipino kids. Aside from teaching the fundamentals of the sport, more importantly Ferrante said they want to impart a football with discipline and a football with commitment.
It is the first time for Ferrante and Cumbo to see Filipino kids playing football and both coaches said they are impressed with their eagerness to learn that not even the language barrier can stop them.
Ferrante clarified that they do not want to change whatever the kids have learned earlier about the sport but they just want to share their knowledge and complement what they already know for further development and give these kids a chance to join professional clubs.
Colina, for his part, said that the club is also doing this to help kids get scholarships, nurture their dreams and change their lives for the better.
According to Cumbo, football players are not born good but they become good because they train everyday and the more they practice, the more they become good. He emphasized the need to start training them at a young age.
Cumbo said the kids here show the passion for the sport and one can just imagine what will happen if they have the proper structure of football. The coaches also want to bring back fun into football for these kids.
Just as they sustained the club even if their sons have already grown, Genco and Suarez said that they plan to sustain the project—the Italian football school tie-up, as continuity is important for the grassroots.
