Teamwork gets things done

THE collaborative efforts of the committees of the Cebu Football Association (CFA) resulted to a smooth flow of this year's 15th Aboitiz Football Cup, which closed last weekend.

Cebu's longest running football tournament, which started last November, ended a month earlier than expected last March 17 with the men's open, 38 and above and under-23 final matches.

"Walay major problems. Smooth ra ang flow and although naay mga changes, they were controllable," said CFA Tournament Director Glen Quisido.

The group responsible for the huge opening salvo, which saw the presence of the Philippine Azkals, also closed it with the Aboitiz Group executives gracing the awarding of champions and the giving of special awards to outstanding players for the
first time.

"With all the committees involved, we were able to achieve our goal to finish it on time and within the P1.3-million budget," said Quisido.

It was a good working relation with some of the committee heads like Engr. Rodney Orale, who took charge of the referees and Mike Veloso who managed the budget for the event.

Quisido also pointed out the importance of the teams to the board's system, which made scheduling of games efficient.

They made it clear to the teams before the event that they should inform the board of any changes a week before the games to avoid last-minute cancellations, and the teams abided by this.

For the entire duration of the tournament, there were four coaches’ meetings organized to give opportunity for timely consultations and discussions between the coaches and the board for immediate response of concerns from the teams.

Although only a few games were scheduled in November and some matches got delayed because of other tournament set in between the tournament, they were still able to finish the tournament on time.

Some of the games were also moved to the Cebu City Sports Center so as not to delay the schedule of matches.

In fact, the idea of having the semifinals and finals at the CCSC football field will be pitched to the Aboitiz board and sponsors for the next staging of the competition.

Also, aside from giving the winning team a trophy, they will also suggest giving soccer balls.

The board will meet next week for the assessment.

Quisido said that by then, they will know the adjustments needed for next year. But with the feedbacks from most clubs, they will still follow the same system for another smooth flow for next year.