Payatas kids prepare for pricey LA Galaxy football clinic

Ten young football players from the impoverished Payatas community in Quezon City will be among the 150 kids in the P14,000-per-participant football clinic with the LA Galaxy, champions of the 2011 Major League Soccer (MLS) of the United States. The coach and players said the clinic would be good preparation for a tournament they will be compete in on December 4. "Kuya Dan (Palami) has been so incredibly kind to sponsor us," said Roy Moore, volunteer coach of the Payatas FC, after meeting on Sunday with the parents of the kids who will meet the LA Galaxy on December 2 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. Earlier in the day, players of the Payatas FC met at a barangay multi-purpose court, which is the usual venue of their weekly drills. Moore said Jay Peñaflor, Renz Rebosura, Stephen Abutog, Ricardo Ocampo, Piolo Ocampo, John Carlo Rebosura, Carlos Belgica, Hans Niemes, Kristoffer Yanto, and Angelica Sagum will be part of the football clinic. Jay Peñaflor is the captain of the under-13 team while Ricardo Ocampo is the captain of the under-11. Kristoffer Yanto is the under-13 goalkeeper and Piolo Ocampo guards the goal for the under-11. Renz and John Carlo Rebosura and Stephen Abutog are among the seniors. Hans Niems, Carlos Belgica, and Ricardo and Piolo Ocampo are junior members. Angelica Sagum is the only young lady from Payatas to join the clinic with the LA Galaxy. "Natutunan po namin dito sa football ang maging sport," Ricardo Ocampo said in an interview with GMA News Online. He admits that it is sometimes difficult to be a sport in football. "Minsan po mahirap kapag naiinis. Itinatabi na lang namin ang emosyon. Natututunan naman namin kung paano mag-tackle at mang-agaw ng bola na hindi naniniko. Alam ko na pong mag-dribble, header, throw-in. Itinuturo naman po sa amin ni coach Roy." The players have been in training for the past several months--some since last February. "All of them were present in the last tournament for example where we reached the semifinals in both the under-12s and under-10s at Corinthian Gardens," recalled Moore, co-director of the Fairplay for All Foundation. Moore is also a contributing writer for football for GMA News Online. The usually weekly sessions are done with the kids' young neighbors, who join in the fray. Not around though are the players' parents. The kids said their parents are either busy with home chores or are resting after a week of work. "We do separate training sessions sometimes for the selected players of tournaments leading up to the tournament. But now the December 2 training session will be our pre-tournament training, which is absolutely amazing," Moore effused. He said some of the parents might be able to accompany their children to the LA Galaxy clinic. The Loyola Heights campus of the Ateneo de Manila University is the venue of the December 4 tournament the Payatas kids will be at. Some of the Payatas FC players had been in a session with the Younghusband brothers of the men's national football team on the occasion of the Philippines-British Friendship Day last October. The Payatas FC were also at least season's finals of United Football League. Under-11 team captain Ricardo Ocampo said there are no football tournaments in Payatas and they have to go elsewhere to play football. They also don't play football in his Payatas Elementary School because the campus is small and has no space for a football field or court. Under-13 team Jay Peñaflor is a grade 6 student at Commonwealth Elementary School, which has a covered court but has no soccer balls and even if they did, Jay said they would not be allowed to play because wayward balls could break some glass windows. Peñaflor also said they have no football in their MAPEH (Music, Arts, Physical Education, and Health) classes because the lessons of the teacher he has now are mostly about music. - OMG, GMA News