Alaska Summer Football Festival sets pace for youth’s football dreams
Siblings Diego, 14, and Robert San Pedro, 12, regularly join the Alaska Football Power Camps because it is their best way to enjoy the summertime. During Alaska Summer Football Festivals, they get the chance to meet participants from other football camps and other schools. More than learning or honing their skills in football during the camp and festival, their best experience is meeting new friends and seeing them again summer after summer.
The months of April and May witnessed the excitement at the Alaska Football Power Camps held in three training areas — Makati, Alabang and Bonifacio Global City. Recently, a one-day culminating event, the Alaska Summer Football Festival, gathered around 600 Alaska Football Power Camp graduates at the Alabang Country Club in Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa City.
In 1995, Alaska Power Camp partnered with former professional international football player Tomas Lozano to create the first Alaska Football Cup, which is the biggest amateur football tournament in the country to date. The next year, the team formed the Alaska Summer Football Festival, which has been held every May.
“Alaska Milk Corp. has been a wonderful partner for 19 years now,” says Coach Lozano, now president of the Makati Football Club.
The Alaska Football Power Camps train children from three to 18 years old. In foreign countries like Spain, which has the No. 1 football team, children should be at least five years old to join a football school or club.
The first half of the Alaska Summer Football Festival had the big boys and girls (10 to 18 years old) with five different tournaments (by age group) while the afternoon gave way for the little ones, who were three to nine years old. The Alabang Country Club ground turned into nine football fields filled with children from Makati Football School, Alabang Football School and several schools all over the country.
“The aim of the festival is to put together the children and let them apply the learning in the camp and just enjoy themselves,” says Coach Lozano.
The coach has been teaching Filipino children for decades already and so, he admires the ability and exuberance of Filipino children. He points to a group of smiling children and quips, “When you have a kid that’s smiling, it’s easy to teach. That means they listen, they want to learn.”
Every year, Coach Lozano also selects an elite group of 50-60 kids, which he brings to the World Youth Cup in Sweden, the world’s largest football tournament with 1,600 teams and 35,000 players, three times bigger than the Olympics. The one-week trip to Europe exposes the children to “real” football balanced with a holiday tour that, again, centers on children’s enjoyment.
According to the seventh National Nutrition Survey done by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute and the Department of Science and Technology in 2008, about two out of 10 children aged zero to 10 years old are overweight (base on weight-for-age) while three out 10 children remain to be undernourished (based on weight-for-age and height-for-age).
For adolescents aged 11 to 19 years old, “underweight is nearly two out of 10 (based on BMI-for-age), with males being more at risk than females.” It also says that undernutrition among this age group has significantly increased between 2005 and 2008.
Various forms of malnutrition continue to afflict Filipino children. These are protein-energy malnutrition, iron-deficiency anemia, Vitamin A-deficiency and iodinedeficiency disorders.
Proper nutrition plays an important role in the growth and development of young children and this affects their wellbeing later in life. We can prevent malnutrition by giving the children the right kinds and amounts of foods. A good breakfast includes a glass of milk; rice, bread or cereals; egg or other protein-rich food; and vitamin C-rich fruits.
Another problem among young children is overnutrition, which causes overweight and obesity. Over the years, the number of overweight Filipino children continue to rise due to inactive lifestyle. This means that good nutrition should be balanced with physical activities like walking, running, dancing, swimming, housework and engaging in sports in and out of school.
“Because of football, my children do not spend much time playing videogames or watching TV,” says Rina Cinco-San Pedro, the mother of Diego and Robert, and one of the very supportive parents who first-handedly accompanied their children in the Alaska Summer Football Festival.
“They attend camps because I feel that it makes them generally fit and well-rounded,” she adds.
Eliza Romualdez-Valtos is very in depth in preparing her son, William, 12, before and after each training or actual game. “We asked a physical therapist to help him to get into the whole discipline of stretching,” she shares. “I also asked a trainer to prepare his muscles, to make sure that he prevents injuries and, in the long-term, train him how to take care of himself.”
Being a football varsity player at British School Manila, William spends much of his time practicing — four hours a day at times. He has a younger brother, Ian, 6, who has also acquired fondness for playing football and was also an attendee of this summer’s Alaska Football Power Camp.
At the camp, children of all ages had equal chances of enjoying football. There were boys who were so great and those who were not so good, yet everyone was very happy. There were also little ones who could not even run or score a goal but were happily enjoying the festival just the same. Win or lose, every child went home happy.
“Overall, it’s a fantastic experience,” says Valtos. “We’ve been here at Alaska Summer Football Festival for many years already, and it’s always fun. We also try to get to know other parents,” she says, stressing the importance of parents’ presence in such activities.
At the Alaska Summer Football Festival, we witnessed two mothers who were actually two old friends cheering on their next generation of girls. Lea Jusi and Lilac Arcos were college classmates in Cebu. Both got married, lived abroad, and now, both have teenage daughters — Kylie Jusi, 13, and Rianna Arcos, 14 — enrolled at the Alabang Football School.
Lilac Arcos also brought her two other athletic children — Enrico, 11, and Lorenzo, 7, whom she takes pride in. “They’re very active and they try to live a very healthy lifestyle. To me, that’s the greatest gain, because even if they don’t pursue an athletic career, that’s something they can benefit from for the rest of their lives,” she smiles.
Alaska believes that a combination of proper nutrition, action/training, and the right attitude/values will help children develop into champions.
This year’s Alaska Football Power Camp and Summer Football Festival are a first for Nicolas Bantoc, 12, but this did not stop his team from winning the championship for the Under-14 category. He hails from Los Baños, Laguna and studies at South Hill School, Inc.
Together with his sisters Keana, 15, and Nica, 11, he joined the summer camp to experience the Alaska football event. He simply wanted to enjoy the games and practice his skills at defense — basically the reason why his favorite football player is John Terre. He also likes volleyball and softball.
Twelve-year-old Karl Robert Angeles, on the other hand, is a second timer at theAlaska Football Power Camp. The Ateneo student idolizes Lionel Messi and is thankful of the Alaska activities for children. He went to the football festival with his seven-year-old brother, Kenneth Adan.
Both Nicolas and Karl feel lucky to have joined the Alaska Football Power Camps and Summer Football Festival. Their happiness stems from great learning they got from a whole summer of exclusive and effective training and the camaraderie that overflowed throughout the months.
“I hope we’ll continue the power camps and football festival in more years to come, so we can help more kids and make them happy,” Coach Lozano says, clutching to the hope for intensification of football in the country. “Life is not only for the big stars of football, it is for everybody.”
Since the Azkals beat defending champion Vietnam in the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup some years ago, it has dramatically revolutionized the way Filipinos perceive football. The win put the Philippines on the global football map and, now, the Filipino children’s love for the game has gone too strong.
Alaska hopes that someday, the youngsters of Alaska Football Power Camps, especially the natural-born Filipino children, can join the Philippine national football teams — inspiring the next generation of children while being part of the Azkals themselves.
To know more about Alaska Football Power Camp visit www. alaskapowercamp.com/football. For live tweets and updates, follow @ALASKAsportshub.