Tacloban City – After weeks of preparation, FundLife International, through its Football for Life Academy (FFLA) programme, launched the first ever FundLife Summer Kickoff.
Held at the University of the Philippines Visayas – Tacloban College on Sunday, 18 March 2018, the 7v7 football tournament welcomed teams coming from Samar, Tacloban, an other places in Leyte.
FundLife officially ushered in the summer months with a football tournament designed to promote play, camaraderie, teamwork, and unity. Also, to celebrate the achievements, lessons learned from failures, new friends gained, and new experiences earned over the past school year.
Celebrating summer through football
Led by volunteer intern and Event Organizer, Doris Sassen from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), in partnership with FundLife International, the Summer Kickoff celebrated the start of the season by successfully bringing together 20 teams coming from different places and backgrounds, and with different experiences and stories to share.
Using football as a unifying force for good, the tournament was a fantastic opportunity for community- and school-based teams to showcase their skills, make new friends, and meet the FundLife and FFLA crew.
With three categories for the tournament: U19, Men’s Open, and Women’s Open, the tournament saw a good mix of players with different skill levels and understanding of the sports. And it is through the tournament that they can observe and learn strategies on how to improve their game plans.
Additionally, the tournament served as an avenue for FundLife to spread awareness of its work and programmes that benefit children from marginalized communities, complementing their education and opening opportunities for values formation, personal and interpersonal development, and leadership capabilities.
FFLA coaches and Arsenal in the Community coaches generously shared their stories (why they joined FundLife, what drives them to help underserved children in Tacloban, etc) and imparted words of inspiration and encouragement to the young crowd, even inviting them to ask questions about what FundLife does and how the FFLA programme can be instrumental to their development.
Surpassed target
The tournament aimed to gather 15 teams but eventually welcomed 20 teams with 195 players in total. This allowed the organization to effectively spread awareness (to a bigger crowd than expected) of its endeavors and invite future coaches to join the FFLA.
Several participants expressed their interest in joining and team captains and coaches personally approached the organizers to thank them for hosting such event and that they look forward to more tournaments in the future.
Kickoff Champions
After a whole day of fun and games, the Summer Kickoff ended with a short awarding ceremony and handed out certificates and medals to the placers and champions for all three categories.
Congratulations to the following teams:
Amigas United FC
CHAMPION
Women’s Open Category
PBA
CHAMPION
U19 Mix Category
Team Bura
CHAMPION
Men’s Open Category
And that’s a wrap for the first ever FundLife Summer Kickoff! We wish everyone a good summer and hope to see the teams again in upcoming tournaments. Keep playing, keep believing, and keep working hard and smart to achieve your dreams!
Check out more photos from the FundLife Summer Kickoff here.
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