Polonnaruwa football girls receive timely support
The 60 plus students of Polonnaruwa Girls’ Football Academy were given a boost for their untiring efforts in fighting the odds to reach limelight when counterparts from Renown Football Academy, the training arm of Renown Sports Club.
After following the progress and interest shown by the Polonnaruwa Girls’ Football Academy, inspired by its Head Coach Pubudu Saman Paranagama during the recent years, and some skill-related video clips of the young girls of the academy in the social media, Renown FA has stepped forward to support these kids from the north central part of the country.
“We have been helping the Polonnaruwa Girls Football Academy (PGFA) whenever we can as the girls are really talented and the management team led by Pubudu Saman Paranagama are well organised and care about the kids. In fact once we posted a keep up video of their kids which was retweeted by Manchester City FC and became viral. After seeing the recent article in the Sunday Times newspaper, the President of our Academy, Vincent Sritharan Peiris felt it was our duty to give our fullest support to this noble cause especially as the young girls deserve it,” a statement issued by the Renown FA said.
As a result, the Polonnaruwa GFA has been offered with 70 kits, which includes a short, a jersey and a pair of stockings, 30 balls, 40 cones, 10 flag sticks and two sets of markers. In addition they have been provided with six full kits for coaches of Polonnaruwa GFA, who are voluntarily doing a great effort to groom these lasses.
“Renown FA has pledged their continuous support and they encouraged us to continue our good work. With all these, presently we are getting inquiries on a daily basis for new students. Now the interest and momentum has gathered among young girls from the area with the support of their parents, which indeed is a great development,” Paranagama, the PGFA Head Coach, stated.
It all began after a video clip started circulating in the social media of a young girl dribbling and juggling the football, which became a sensation. Following, there were more video clips of girls from the same academy doing skill enhancing exercises during the time when the country was in a standstill due to the pandemic.
What Paranagama related was about his initiative of 2017, was more appealing, encouraging and at the same time heartbreaking. Paranagama, a Physical Training Instructor attached to Bandiwewa MV since 2012, developed a penchant to coach football and by today the academy has become the talk of the town.
It took some months for him to plan out matters, but in 2017 Paranagama was able to initiate the Polonnaruwa Girls’ Football Academy, one of the 14 dedicated for girls football in the country and the only one available in the region. But the specialty of his academy is neither the coaches are paid, nor are the children charged.
And with this background and settings, the Polonnaruwa Girls Football Academy has been able to nurture while becoming a developed team that went on to win All-Island and Invitational competitions. With time the girls were in the limelight among the football fraternity, but they still had many setbacks and challenges to overcome.
“The Polonnaruwa GFA will be brought into our ‘Unity Through Football’ programme but will retain its identity. Initially we will be giving the playing kits, balls and all required training equipments. We will share our training programme which we have obtained under license from a leading international academy. We will train their coaches and our coaches will regularly visit Polonnaruwa to check on their progress. Likewise we will get their coaches as well as the kids to Colombo regularly so that they can participate in our workshops and tournaments,” the long term plan laid out by Renown FA read.
The long term goal for the Polonnaruwa Academy as well as for other academies through Renown FA’s ‘Unity Through Football’ programme is to create a pathway for the kids so that they have a future even if they don’t succeed through football. The next phase of the project will be to build a small Futsal court in Polonnaruwa with its own classrooms, where the kids can be taught Information Technology (IT) and English.
“We have to make sure that the kids continue their education while playing football and that they pass their O/Ls and A/Ls. Then the qualified kids can enter universities whereas others can be employed through football or in establishments in Polonnaruwa. Thus the kids can be a role model for the next generation of kids,” Renown FA’s statement goes on to say. In addition it is understood that after seeing the newspaper article, a leading businessman from Polonnaruwa has also expressed his interest to support the academy and the kids.
“They showed their interest soon after seeing the news. But due to certain restrictions, there was a delay in many ways. Now that we have got the support from Renown FA for kits and basic training equipments, we are planning to send a proposal to him to assist us with nutrition supplements,” Paranagama added.
Already some international players have expressed their interest to support the ‘Unity Through Football’ programme of Renown FA. More than monetary reasons their support and voice for the programme will attract sponsors to come forward to support such projects.
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