UA&P leads talk on setting a football roadmap for the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - There is a need to provide less-privileged students with greater access to football which can be used as a youth development tool, University of Asia & the Pacific Center for Research and Communication (UA&P-CRC) Director Bernardo Villegas said in a roundtable discussion about the football industry's roadmap in the country.

The roundtable discussion, organized by the UA&P-CRC, gathered various sports stakeholders and government officials to provide various perspectives on football and ideas on how to further develop the sport which recently became popular in the country.

"Some of the ideas that came up for further discussion are how to harmonize football in the K-12 curriculum with a scientific model for training youth athletes and how different elements of the sport can be combined into a value-creating industry," UA&P said.

The discussion was attended by representatives from the Alabang Football School, Alaska Milk Corporation, Brent International School, De La Salle University–Dasmariñas, Futbol Funatics, Futbol Hijos Pilipinas, Makati Football Club, Philippine Football Federation (PFF), Philippine Military Academy, Philippine Sports Commission, Strike & Spice Football Club, Team Socceroo, United Football League, and the Weekend Futbol League. 

Ambassador Roberto L. Mayorga of Chile, Ambassador George Ney De Souza Fernandes of Brazil, and Education Advisor Jose Fernando Zapico of the Embassy of Spain were also present in the discussion.

The discussion is first in the series of roundtable discussions on football sponsore by Bootcamp Football Shop, the Henry V. Moran Foundation and the office of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

Resource speakers included lawyer Ed Gastanes of PFF, Phillip Hagedorn of Football Alliance, Aljoe Clarino of the Little Boys Club, Danny Moran of the Henry V. Moran Foundation, Stella Marie Urbiztondo of the UA&P Department of Physical Education and Cecile Diaz de Rivera of the UA&P School of Management.