All matches are play at THE CAGE.
Asia Now Junior Indoor Soccer League - The league being first of its kind in Singapore featured a total of 36 teams of various age-group from six to eleven, with games play on alternate Sunday mornings of every month at "The Cage".
"What we want to do is to instill the idea of fair play to these kids, therefore the winning team is not decided by the number of goals scored but based on point system of the 'green card' and 'blue card' system we devised." said Mr Jamaludeen Kunjun, the Technical Director of Singapore Soccer Academy (SSA) - the tournament organizers, , on the idea behind this youth indoor Sunday tournament .
The "shaking hands" ceremony at the end of the match, is one of the values the tournament wants to promote.
The “card” system which Mr Kunjun explained that to qualify for a "green"card, every players must completed the given specific task when they play, and these are noted by the respective coaches for the various teams in SSA.
An reveiw is done by the coaches after the matches to see how much each player did his specific task and then a report submitted.
Whereas, a “blue” card will be issued to any player for any foul committed, however, instead of given the marching order, this particular player will be “sin-binned” for one minute to reflect the mistake he made that warranted the card before allow back to the game.
According to Mr Kunjun, who is also a certified AFC coaching instructor, a medal will be awarded to each participating player at the end of the tournament in October.
This unique way of teaching the skills and values of the game had impressed Mr Simon Littlewood, the President of "Asia Now", the main sponsor of this unique tournament.
"I like the whole idea when they (SSA) first approached me" said Mr Littlewood, who has been calling Singapore home for the past 20 years.
"As this league focus on having the right behaviour when playing the game, rather than putting pressure on these kids to achieve results in terms of scoring more goals than their opponents.
"And it's very important at this age to learn how to pass and kicking the ball properly." he added.
Which is probably why Mr Ben Breen, one of the parents is glad to have his son taking part in this competition.
"I hope my son, Liam (pictured above, wearing yellow boots), not only learn the basic skills and proper techniques and also the values of teamwork and discipline the game is promoting through this event." said the father of the 8-year old custodian-cum-outfield player.
Whereas, a “blue” card will be issued to any player for any foul committed, however, instead of given the marching order, this particular player will be “sin-binned” for one minute to reflect the mistake he made that warranted the card before allow back to the game.
Woodlands Wellington's captain Noor Ali (in grey outfit) coaches one of the teams that is taking part in this tournament.
According to Mr Kunjun, who is also a certified AFC coaching instructor, a medal will be awarded to each participating player at the end of the tournament in October.
This unique way of teaching the skills and values of the game had impressed Mr Simon Littlewood, the President of "Asia Now", the main sponsor of this unique tournament."I like the whole idea when they (SSA) first approached me" said Mr Littlewood, who has been calling Singapore home for the past 20 years.
"As this league focus on having the right behaviour when playing the game, rather than putting pressure on these kids to achieve results in terms of scoring more goals than their opponents.
"And it's very important at this age to learn how to pass and kicking the ball properly." he added.
Which is probably why Mr Ben Breen, one of the parents is glad to have his son taking part in this competition."I hope my son, Liam (pictured above, wearing yellow boots), not only learn the basic skills and proper techniques and also the values of teamwork and discipline the game is promoting through this event." said the father of the 8-year old custodian-cum-outfield player.
"The whole idea is to let the kids to have fun, enjoy the game in a free environment which we would like to thank our sponsors for making this possible." said Mr Stephen Rajah (pictured above, in green jersey as he brief his players during a break), one of the directors of the SSA as he sums up the thought of the day .
A SHORT CLIP FROM ONE OF THE MATCHES PLAYED
(P.S: Many thanks to Singapore Soccer Academy for making this entry possible, for details on the "Asia Now Junior Indoor Soccer League", please log on to http://www.singaporesocceracademy.com/)
I wonder if we could pilot this at Prime League level?
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the usual scoring criteria, with an eye to implementing it at S.League level.
Might solve the whole integrity issue ... but then again, it would be like Singapore's education system where everything is given a score - look how successful that is.