GTZ World Cup Football Festival

It was scorching hot last Sunday, but the 3 thousand or so people at the San Roque Parish field in Subangdaku, Mandaue City did not seem to have minded too much.

Well, many of course tried to seek shelter under the trees and the few tents that were set up around the area, but most seemed to have enjoyed basking under the sun for the GTZ World Cup Football Festival.

These tournaments are becoming very popular in Cebu and I'm sure the football community is looking forward to more festivals in the future.

However, let me go back to a point that I have driven last week, our need for more coaches to sustain this rapid growth of football in our province.

This is something that not only our leaders, but all of us in the community, have to act quickly on.

I'd also hope to see the kids from the towns farther away from the city also playing the game. I sincerely hope our dear Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who has done a very admirable job at Capitol, can help sow the seed of football development in the municipalities.

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Manfred Schuwerk, a German national who resides in Cebu, told me last Sunday that he has some materials that can be useful for coaches and he plans to give them out to the clubs once he gets them converted to VCD or DVD.

Manfred is one of the many expatriates, who have made Cebu their home that have also been very concerned about the development of the sport.

Aside from my German friend, there are also Japanese nationals - Harou Iwanaga of Hiroshi, Yamato Hayabe of Crazy Horse, and Satoro Nakano of Exas Phils., who have all been very supportive to football development.

I hope to see more of these kind of people supporting football and more of our brother Filipinos playing the world's most popular sport.

In a little over two weeks, the 2006 World Cup will open in Germany. With this biggest football event of the world, we shall see a lot more interest generated for the sport.

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Many of my friends have commented that I seem to be writing much about football the past few weeks.

They seem to notice much including my skin color, which has again turned much darker especially after Sunday's GTZ festival. There, I was not just a football dad (which means helping my son get ready for games, taking pictures, providing drinks, being the driver, and doing some coaching and cheering on the sidelines) but also as goalkeeper for the Queen City United Football Club-B in the 36-above category.

It's just sad that I did not see my son's team, Don Bosco-Blue, win more games in the Players-10 category, but the consolation is probably that my team won the title of our category. I would have relished it more had I been able to finish the tournament, but duty called and I had to rush to the office after three games.

One thing that I like about having tournaments is not just the chance to meet other people involved in the sport in various capacities, but also having a lot of learning experiences that can be used in future events.

We're not perfect, so instead of riling organizers, the best thing to do is to help improve what has been done.

We have so much more to do to reach our lofty goals, so let us walk together, if not run, towards it.

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