The drills and thrills of football

Talk about being in a time warp ...

That’s basically how I felt when I stepped onto the Gatorade-Chelsea Blue Pitch at the Ayala Circuit, where Gatorade set up various stations for members of the media to literally try out the drills football players go through in their daily regimen to hone and enhance their skills.

It was brilliant!

It brought me back to the days when I had to sweat through those very same drills in order to get better at the “beautiful game.”

The event was actually the launch of the new but limited edition of Gatorade “Green Fury!” 

Green Fury, with its Kiwi flavor, features one of the world’s topfootballers on the bottle, Argentina’s Lionel Messi. His likeness on the world-famous Gatorade bottle, that has featured such sporting icons as Michael Jordan and Dwayne Wade, translates that unreal performance demands real hydration.

The release of Green Fury is in concert with Gatorade’s worldwide football campaign â€œUnreal,” that conveys the benefits of hard work.

And you definitely couldn’t have launched it at a better time than right before the opening of the World Cup, the biggest stage in the sport of football.

“Green Fury is one way of showing Gatorade’s support for football,” said Pepsico marketing manager Mikey Rosales. “In fact, we support United Football League teams Loyola Meralco Sparks, Kaya, and Green Archers United that are some of the top sides in Philippine club football. We also count among our valued brand ambassadors the national players James and Phil Younghusband and Chieffy Caligdong who are also Filipino sports icons. These three Azkals have gotten to where they are not only because of their skill and drive but also because of their work ethic. That is the message that we want to drive at Gatorade — that with every ounce of work and sweat you, too, can turn in an unreal performance on the pitch.”

“Furthermore, for us to have football superstars Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Sergio Ramos, and David Luiz associated with the brand only means that in a demanding sport like football, these top athletes believe that Gatorade hydrates like no other,” added Rosales.

The limited-edition Green Fury is now available for a limited time only at all leading supermarkets and convenience stores.

 The event was supported by Chelsea FC Soccer School Philippines, Adidas, University of Sto. Tomas Center for Health Research and Movement Science, and the Sports Science Department.

It was a fun-filled night capped off by a scrimmage which combined members of the media with some of the top players in the land today.

It was definitely an original way to get their message across.

I can’t wait for what Gatorade will come up with next.

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Follow me on twitter and Instagram @anthonysuntay.