Liga Eskwela: Futsal at the grassroots level
Team sports like futsal help build character. Photos by Geremy Pintolo
MANILA, Philippines — “In promoting football for young players in the public schools, the biggest challenge was to be able to get facilities at the community and barangay level where the games could be held," said Danny Moran, chairman of the Henry V. Moran Foundation (THVMF). "There are many Filipino children who want to regularly play football but don’t have access to places to play. Futsal cuts across such barriers.”
THVMF, together with the DepEd, Philippine Football Federation and La Salle Greenhill batch '73, recently held the 3rd Liga Eskwela Futsal Festival, an event that capped off several months of futsal development activities for public schools.
Liga Eskwela served as the culminating activity of the 2017-2018 Liga Eskwela Futsal Program, a long-term initiative that aims to promote and develop futsal primarily for public elementary school children.
There were over 300 public schools from 16 divisions throughout NCR that participated in the 2017-2018 Liga Eskwela futsal games.
Kicking to the future: Boys and girls between ages seven to 14 enjoy the game of futsal.
The final event gathered 750 participants representing the top 14 teams from 16 school divisions across Metro Manila.
Mandaluyong Schools Division Office (SDO) won the championship for both boys and girls ages 14 and under. Pasig SDO and Manila SDO won the girls 12 under and boys 12 under bracket, respectively. While Pasay SDO nabbed the title for the 10 under mixed-age bracket.
Moran, a former Philippine national team football player, has supported football development initiatives for underpriviledged groups for over 10 years through his foundation.
"Public schools play a big role in futsal development," added Moran. "We launched the program in 2016. Starting with just 11 schools through THVMF's networks, by 2017 the program grew to officially cover all 16 school Divisions in NCR, reaching roughly over 300 schools and over 10,000 kids.”
Liga Eskwela teams are composed of boys and girls from public schools. The teams are divided into three divisions — 14 under, 12 under, and 10 under.
"There is also a need to develop coaches for futsal," said Moran. "In 2017, we held five basic futsal coaching trainings for 292 teachers and a basic futsal referees seminar for 33 teachers."
At the awarding ceremonies of the 3rd Liga Eskwela are Alex Grenz, COO, Allianz Philippines; Rex Ado of the Department of Education; Ed Gastanes, general secretary, Philippine Football Federation; and Danny Moran, chairman of the Henry V. Moran Foundation.
This year, Allianz PNB Life Insurance Inc., through the company’s COO Alex Grenz, attended the event and pledged that the multinational insurance company will support futsal. As a sign of its commitment, Grenz donated a pair of futsal goals and futsal balls to every Metro Manila-based school division who participated in the Liga Eskwela Program.
The aim of Allianz is to help establish long-term hubs of futsal development where the trained teachers and mentors from the Liga Eskwela program can focus on sustainable futsal development within their respective school divisions.
“This is just the start. Together with the PFF, DepEd, LSGH Batch 73, Allianz and Toby’s Sports, we hope to develop stronger and more competitive national futsal teams," he added. "It is our goal to expand futsal to more areas, train more coaches and referees, and reach out to more children."
