Young Tacloban athletes unmindful of playing football barefoot

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 16  -- Despite playing barefoot, children of San Jose Central School are determined to play football, a sport they love most.

These children, all members of the San Jose Footbal Club don’t mind playing shoeless on a sandy field since it doesn’t matter how they play but what they get from playing.

“I’m already used of playing this sport barefoot since I joined the club last year,” said William Dacutno, 9, from a poor family. “But it’s better if I will have a football shoes and other gears so I could play better.”

His idol is Lionel Messi, the Argentinian professional football player, who plays for Argentina’s national team and Spanish football club Barcelona. Dacutno’s dream is to represent Tacloban City in a big football competition.

Like Dacutno, 12-years old Leo Reyan Fabi has been playing football barefoot for more than a year.

“I used to have a shoe but it’s already damaged,” said Fabi, a son of a jeepney driver. His elder brother influenced him to play football.

Seeing the kids playing barefoot minus uniform is a natural scene inside the campus of San Jose Central School, said John Ghannier Regis, volunteer football trainer of San Jose Football Club and a varsity player of the Leyte Normal University.

The football club has been existing for about 10 years, but it was inactive for two years after super typhoon Yolanda due to lack of training kits.

Like Dacutno and Fabi, Regis said he also experienced the same way of playing when he was still young.

Since these children are enrolled in public schools and their families are very poor, they have no means to buy footwear like shoes, socks and shin guards, said Regis.

Regis added that his football coach promised to provide the needs of the young football player by setting aside a portion of his salary to buy gears for poor players.

“Even if we don’t have a good field to practice the sport and even without gears, I can see the determination from the children to learn the sport. There is really a potential for these children to become good football player,” Regis said.

Like Regis, some former members of San Jose Football Club are now playing as varsity players in prominent school in the country. Among them is Jarred Troy Regis, who was admitted as high school varsity player of the University of Sto. Tomas. (RTA/PNA)