October 11 and October 12, 2014 were two days’ worth of football games because of Football for Life (F4L) Tacloban’s much-anticipated Leyte Football Festival. Football teams from around Region 8 and even newbie football players enrolled in the Football for Life Program went to the Leyte Sports Development Centre to join in the games. “The activity somehow gives a sense of normalcy for us football players. Especially that this is the first major football tournament after the supertyphoon”, remarked one of the participants.
The categories of the football festival included Boys (Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15) and Girls (Under 15) which were free of registration and Men’s Open and Women’s Open (both with registration fees). There were forty total number of teams that registered for the event.
Palo Football Club won in the U10 Boys Category. Global Kids United came in first in the U12 Category and STEFTI A won the top spot for the U15 Boys while Borongan bested four other teams in the U15 Girls Category. The Boys U10, U12 and Girls U15 games were played on the afternoon of the first day of the event. While the Boys U15, Men’s Open and Women’s Open games were played on the second day where Los Miembros A grabbed first place in the Men’s Category and Borongan won in the Women’s category with an undefeated standing in all their three games plus the championship game against Cirilo Roy Montejo National High School Football Angels.
Aside from the Leyte Football Festival, Football for Life through ASSIST, FundLife and UNICEF donated lights to RTR Plaza to provide safe space for the children of Tacloban to play. For the past four months, the F4L team has been giving free football/futsal sessions in different venues in Tacloban to provide psychosocial therapy to Yolanda-affected children.
The event held last December 2, gathered around 250 kids from all over the venues in a prelude to Christmas program with special guest, and former Azkals Philippine National Football player Chieffy Caligdong, treats like burgers from Jollibee and ice cream, as well as futsal drills and games.
Special thanks to Leyte Football Association coaches and to everyone who made the event possible. And our heartfelt gratitude to the Provincial Government of Leyte through Board Member Bob Abellanosa and the City Government of Tacloban through Councilors Raissa Villasin and Jerry Uy and ABS-CBN Tacloban’s Ranulfo Docdocan for showing their support by gracing our event.
Football for Life is a one-year project in Tacloban that aims to help young Haiyan survivors rebuild their lives through sport. Football for Life is fulfilling its mission of “bringing life back to Tacloban”.
For project updates and upcoming events, find us on facebook and like our page: https://www.facebook.com/F4LCF
