Aid for soccer kids

Last Friday’s column on the plight of 18 soccer kids in Iloilo, related by reader Pio Martinez, drew quick response from several individuals–bless their hearts.

Anil Buxani of Sonia Trading phoned early morning after his father, Kay Sham, read the column and said he would contact Martinez who wrote the letter to The Star about the kids, nine to 12 years old, playing football for the love of the game with little support from anyone.

Anil said Sonia Trading would send soccer balls and shoes to the kids.

Then, Nike sports marketing services manager Auty Villarama called.

Auty said Nike communications manager Rely San Agustin, a former national team goalkeeper from Ateneo, read the column and brought it to his attention. Auty promised Nike would help.

La Salle Sports Hall of Famer and former Philippine Sports Commission consultant Albert Garcia texted his reaction:

"Ur Star artikel 2day touch me. M hapi 2 give d kids football gear. I shud give sumting back 2 kids n futbol. How do I go about this? Cheers mate."

Martinez may be contacted via his land line 033-3212432 or cell 0917-2431274.

A reader, Engineer Aniceto (Chito) Malabanan of the Department of Health Regional Office in Davao City, sent this e-mail:

"I was touched by your column about the sad state of the young soccer players in Iloilo. I am presently the vice president of the Rotary Club of North Davao and also its sports coordinator. This year, one of our projects is in helping develop youngsters involved in sports, particularly soccer. We can provide instantly five soccer balls for these enthusiastic kids. Thanks and mabuhay ka for your golden heart."

Martinez, meanwhile, wrote an update on the soccer kids after reading Friday’s column. Here are excerpts from his letter:

"This morning, I got a surprise call from my brother and sister based in New York City informing me of your article for today under Philippine STAR’s ‘Sporting Chance.’ My younger brother, who is a surgeon in a big Brooklyn hospital, regularly opens his internet service to check on Philippine STAR particularly your articles. This is the first thing he does after arriving from his clinical duties–evening time in New York.

"It is unfortunate that I have to get the news from New York since I have been looking forward to receiving a reply from you via letter not anticipating that you will take the time to call long distance. For this alone, I am grateful.

"Our soccer kids are from the Mandurriao Football Club (MFC) and they will represent our community in various tournaments this May. Our soccer field is part of the plaza of NHA here in Mandurriao and the MFC has been developing good players since the early ’90s.

"About the kids, I noticed a lot of changes lately. From an all-boys team, there is now an additional young girl of nine who is in Grade 3 and a classmate of one of the original players of the rag-tag band. She studies at WVSU Laboratory school in Iloilo City. From thick-soled floral-designed rubber shoes, some of the boys have graduated to spikes–the second-hand or slightly-used ones you can get from ukay-ukay shops brought in from Korea for P80 to 100 a pair.

"They will play in the 10th Monfort Cup at Barotac Nuevo in the 9-and-below and 12-and-below levels from the first to the second week of May, the Iloilo City Summer Olympics and the La Paz District Annual Football Tournament (12-and-below) in the third week of May. In between the tournaments, the boys plus one girl will play tune-up matches against their elders in the 18-and-below and some teams from other barangays.

"Since we really lack resources, I proposed to the coaching staff to solicit help from within the barangay and Mandurriao district, to look for individual sponsors for uniforms, to tap corporate sponsors with regional presence like Coca-Cola, San Miguel Corp. or Pepsi-Cola and to conduct a newspaper drive among players to raise funds.

"We may never get the services of coaches conducting football clinics in Manila like the Alaska Camp, Ateneo Football Club or San Agustin Football Club but we are dreamers and we will continue dreaming."

Perhaps, there are more sports benefactors out there willing to lend a helping hand for these soccer kids.