SPAIN’S revered Real Madrid football coaches officially kicked off the series of football clinics in the Philippines at Megaworld’s state-of-the-art McKinley Hill Stadium on Monday in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Led by Andrew Tan’s conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), parent company of Emperador Inc., and the PinoySports Foundation, headed by former Sen. Edgardo Angara, the sports clinic is set to mentor 36 local coaches and 360 students from the National Capital Region.
A total of 180 kids took part in the kick-off leg where Rosa Roncal, international manager for Social Projects of Real Madrid, expressed the foundation’s pleasure to share the skills and values of the team to Filipino kids.
“It’s an honor for me representing Real Madrid Foundation,” Roncal said. “You will be trained with the tactics and techniques Real Madrid uses. But what is most important is you will be trained in values and the philosophy of our team.”
The monthlong clinic will be supervised by Real Madrid Coaches Joaquin Lopez Martinez, Jose Agustin Soto Garcia and Daniel Landaburu. The McKinley clinic will end on October 9, while another clinic will be held from October 12 to 16. There will also be a football workshop for 12 coaches and 120 players in Baler (Aurora) from October 19 to 23 and 26 to 30.
Also gracing the ceremony are AGI Executive Director Kevin Tan, Emperador Distilleries Executive Director Kendrick Tan, President of Philippine Football Federation President Mariano Araneta and Cesar Abalon, who represented of Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro.
Sen. Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Games, Amusement and Sports, also attended the inaugurals.
“We are proud to be part of this biggest Real Madrid football clinic in the Philippines. Through the guidance of these professional coaches from Real Madrid Foundation, we hope to produce some of the best football stars in the world,” Kevin Tan said.
The rolling clinics are modelled after the training programs conducted by Real Madrid Foundation in other Asian countries such as Japan and China.
Real Madrid, known for producing some of the world’s best professional football players has been conducting sports clinics to promote football among children around the world particularly in Europe, US, Asia Pacific and Africa.