FOOTBALL for a Better Life, the grassroots football program of Spears Activation and PR Co., was given a citation at the recent Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards and received an Anvil Gold at the annual Anvil Awards.
FABL won a special citation from the PSA for its efforts to promote the sport nationwide by conducting football clinics with top coaches and national players since 2015. It was also given the Anvil Gold award, the highest symbol of excellence bestowed by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, which described the FABL as one that champions grassroots sports development.
The PRSP praised organizer Spears Activation and PR Co. “for opening windows of opportunity to underprivileged children and the benefits it brings to them.”
The PSA Awards is the oldest and most prestigious sports award-giving body in the country, while the Anvil Awards honors the most outstanding public relations practitioners, programs and tools as carefully chosen by selected PR professionals and a distinguished multisectoral jury.
Spears Activation and PR Co.’s President Albert Almendralejo and PSA’s Mr. Football Misagh Bahadoran accepted the trophy at the PSA Awards.
Meanwhile, Filipino-British footballer Graham Caygill and goalkeeping coach and Kaya Makati FC player Reffix Cuaresma accepted the Golden Anvil from the PRSP.
Bahadoran, Caygill and Cuaresma, are all Spears football ambassadors and FABL facilitators, together with Phil Younghusband, James Younghusband, Chieffy Caligdong, Simone Rota, Amani Aguinaldo.
Since 2015, FABL has visited 20 cities and provinces to conduct clinics and age-group tournaments. More than 20,000 Filipino kids have benefited from the program that makes use of football as an education tool. FABL gives young footballers a chance to be scouted and given scholarships at Metro Manila high schools.
Last year, FABL toured Gingoog in Misamis Oriental, Dumaguete, Dipolog, Tarlac, Laguna, Tagum in Davao del Norte, Pagadian in Zamboanga del Sur, Subic and the National Capital Region. It was also in 2016 that FABL launched a financial wellness component to the program wherein participants were given a short seminar on how to save.
Together with its partners, the Azkals Foundation, Pru Life UK, the Philippine Sports Commission, local government units, and the provincial football associations, FABL is planning to expand the program further to include more areas and have training for the local football coaches.