Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte on Thursday called on the youth to actively take part in various sports programs, as she lauded the city’s football club for its participation at the international Gothia football cup.
Belmonte said she is happy to be in a position to encourage more young players from the city to grow with the sport.
“Soccer is a sport that we can compete in internationally because height is not that important in soccer as it is in other sports,” she added, noting more homegrown Filipino players have a fighting chance to excel internationally in the sport.
Belmonte, who assisted in providing financial support and training for the delegation, voiced her all-out support for the teen booters.
The vice mayor was elated to share that the city’s football program was community-based and had touched the lives of underprivileged children from Payatas and out-of-school youth.
“Our very first team was composed of the children of our Payatas scavengers and they were called ‘Payatas Pazawayz.’ We later encouraged our OSY’s and other grassroots youth to participate in our training program from over 10 barangays,” she said.
The Quezon City Football Club tied up with Laos Football Club that provided free training to the teen footballers.
The Quezon City Football Club made waves in the first stage of the Gothia Cup presently being held in Qingdao, China, with its Boys-13 team tying for the top spot prior to the knockout stages.”‹