Real Madrid coaches to hold clinic

MANILA, Philippines - Pinoy youngsters will get a feel of how 10-time Euro champ Real Madrid trains with the staging of the Fundacion Real Madrid Football Clinic from Dec. 12-17 at the Alabang Country Club in Muntinlupa.

Made possible by the partnership among the Makati Football Club (MFC), the ICTSI Foundation, Inc., and the Spanish Embassy in Manila, the clinics will bring two youth coaches from Fundacion Real Madrid to hold six-hour daily sessions for 150 youngsters aged seven to 17, teaching not only football fundamentals but also values.

The clinics were launched yesterday with ICTSI head of Asia Pacific Region and Foundation board director and trustee Christian Razon Gonzalez, MFC president Tomas Lozano, Real Madrid Foundation’s Manuel Parreno Rodriguez and Pablo Gomez Revenga, Spanish Embassy representative Vicente Selles, MAPRE Insurance’s Pablo Ochoa and Philippine Football Federation president Nonong Araneta in attendance.

Some of the 150 participants from the MFC as well as the marginalized sector were also on hand.

“We are excited to partner with the Makati Football Club and the Spanish Embassy to bring to Manila the youth football camp of the best football club of our generation. Real Madrid’s heart for the marginalized youth is synonymous with the focus of the ICTSI Foundation,” said Gonzalez. “The youth is ICTSI’s core advocacy with sports as one of three pillars, and football is one sport that we want to help develop in the country.”

According to Lozano, the clinics will not only teach the methodology and techniques of the Real Madrid FC, but also present experiential activities aimed at inculcating the values conveyed by the Real Madrid brand – respect, leadership, hard work, self-control and teamwork – values integral to the holistic development of children and young athletes.

“The Real Madrid Football clinic will be an experience of a lifetime especially for the youth, and to give this opportunity to the underprivileged children will be a milestone for the Makati Football Club. We hope to do this again next year and to invite more kids from the marginal sector,” he said.

“It’s a cool experience. Everyone likes Real Madrid, so we’re excited,” said MFC’s Antoine Bontaine, one of the participants in the clinics.

Kids from the MFC will be joined by 80 participants from Nayon ng Kabataan, Tuloy Foundation, Gawad Kalinga, Unang Hakbang Foundation and players from Pangasinan and Camarines Sur.

PFF boss Araneta lauded the holding of the Real Madrid clinics.

“Real Madrid is probably the best team in the world and any transfer of technology from their coaches will be welcome,” he said, adding that with such endeavors and initiatives from various foundations, “there’s great hope that Philippine football will grow some more.”