Giving grassroots football a helping hand
Sports bring people together, from family and friends to just about everybody in a community. That is why I’ve always been very vocal about sports being promoted for all ages, and at all levels.
When corporations come forward and institute programs for the youth, it always brings me great satisfaction.
Pru Life UK is one of the latest groups to enter the sports scene locally, using football as its tool to help enhance our youth.
But it takes a sports-minded individual to come up with the program, support it, and see its implementation.
Lee Longa, Pru Life UK executive vice president and chief financial officer, got into sports at a young age, playing both basketball and tennis, and now is into golf and badminton. It was his love for sports that not only prompted him to institute programs not just in his company, but also inspired him to give our youth more opportunities to get involved in sports with concrete programs.
It just shows that once your life is influenced by sports, you will try to get everyone involved in it as well.
PHILIPPINE STAR: Talk about this football program that you have.
LEE LONGA: Football for a Better Life is a grassroots development program for football that intends to help identify talents from the grassroots community across the country and open opportunities for the Philippine Azkals to improve its chances in global competitions. The program hopes to help provide underprivileged children from remote areas the opportunity to obtain skills training, discipline and holistic development, and possible athletic scholarships in prestigious schools or recruitment to the Little Azkals. How did you come up with this particular program?
It was really the Azkals’ potential that made us take notice of the need to get involved in sports development and give it a little boost. As we all know, the Azkals have been enjoying victories in recent years, but continue to be unsuccessful in entering the global arena. The World Cup remains to be a dream up to this day, with the government offering little fiscal support to our athletes. We also champion grassroots sports development because it’s in line with our commitment to nationbuilding. What do you hope to achieve?
Ultimately, it aims to make people see that through football, there can be a better life — we want them to realize their potential. We hope it inspires Filipino kids to become disciplined, strong-willed, brave, respectful, and loyal team players like our program ambassadors, which may later on help them gain an upper hand in life. We hope to achieve a lasting impact. Why football?
Aside from football being a popular sport in England, where Prudential PLC – our parent company – is based, it was considered to be one of the underrated sports in the Philippines as well. There’s also the fact that football is a dynamic and physical team sport that helps its players develop tactical and strategic abilities. You are making a conscious effort to get your employees into sports as well. Why?
At Pru Life UK, we really value wellness that goes beyond financial. It extends to other dimensions such as physical wellness. As a way to make sure our employees are physically healthy, we highly encourage sports in the company and support the different units in coming up with ways to promote staying fit through our annual sportsfests, yoga and Zumba sessions, and other recreational activities. This also helps create synergy and bond within the team, which in turn helps them to be more productive and collaborative.
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