FOOTBALL is getting a big boost in Cagayan de Oro after a businessman turned his golf practice range into a football field.
Football lover Edgardo Sytiongsa opened The Sports Park just in front of the Country Village Hotel on Villarin street, and hosted the Globe Football Festival initiated by the country’s football great Chieffy Caligdong.
The facility boasts a well-manicured all-green Fifa standard pitch with small goals and lots of parking space. It can be rented for practice or small sided competitions.
CMOFA head Percy Guarin utilized the place for the JPW Summer Football Clinic 2014.
JPW are the initials of the three coaches involved in the project, Jeralp Ronquillo, Wilbert 'Webie' Racines and Guarin.
The trio have joined forces to teach basic skills to young footballers in Cagayan de Oro city. Ronquillo is a PFF-licensed coach and Physical Education teacher working at Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan. Webie, on the other hand, is a Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) licensed C coach. He coaches the Olles club in Bukidnon and was the coach of the Mindanao team in the Milo national championship from 2009-2013. He also coached the Region 10 elementary team in the Palarong Pambansa from 2011-2013.
Percy Pinero Guarin is the most senior among the three. He was one of the coaches of the Philippine U-11 team that trained at Loughborough University in England last year.
He was also a former member of the national team and was part of the national training squad that honed its skills in Russia in 1983.
Guarin’s coaching credentials include an AFC C license he earned in Manila in 1996, an AFC B license he completed in Bacolod in 1997, and an AFC Instructors Course in Thailand in 2002. He also passed an AFC Conditioning Certificate in Kuala Lumpur and an International Coaching Certificate in Germany in 2004.
In 2007, Guarin also completed and passed the Japan Football Association (JFA) C License International Course in Fukushima, Japan.