Monday, September 24, 2007 Anna Serrano: 'My Girl' of Davao football By Romy Sabaldan Davao Beat
A YEAR ago, Ana Sofia Serrano consented for a pictorial with Javi Romero-Salas, Jed Diamante, and the rest of Ateneo's Team A champion squad of the Duterte-DFA Football Festival.
Coming from a muddy, rain-drenched field, despite sheer exhaustion playing in the 7-A-Side pitch, the group managed to flash their smiles receiving the champs medals.
The 7-year-old youngest daughter of the Davao Doctors tandem of opthalmologist and derma specialist Drs. Crisostomo and Cecil Realubit Serrano is one of those child football players who relish going out in the great outdoors just running, jumping, kicking, and slide-tackling for the ball in sweet abandon.
Coach Noel Presto's charges give their best employing the game plan with precision mid-field penetration cruising through muddy grass en route to a goal.
Much as we would want our children to gain more exposure and experience in full- blown tournaments, we can only do as much with the cash-strapped Davao Football Association (DFA) maintaining the tradition of the Tionko-owned field as a registration-free zone for children. As you can see only the tares are growing in the peripheries.
We hope to break tradition, though, by making ourselves available to new, and innovative ideas.
We have actually started the ball rolling with DFA Director Boboy Arrieta's initiative of organizing the 1st United Colors of Football under the modest sponsorship of Coke, Monterrey and Apo Mineral Spring Water.
With Anna Serrano back in harness, running and kicking even in dark, rainy, overcast cloudy skies is easy as ABC for Javi Romero-Salas humming the popular "My Girl" Sam Milby hit revival of: "I got sunshine on a cloudy day."
