The Joy of Kicks!

On a pock-marked pitch surrounded by school buildings that have seen better days, the ball darts to the direction of a crouching reed-thin boy, who protects the goal as if his life depended on it. He dives to his left in vain. As soon as he picks himself up, he shakes his head. Then, another ball finds the back of the tattered net, prompting him to stop and ponder --- as if he had learned a lesson.

He moves on to take on the next kicker. Five straight balls fly past him. But he is hardly daunted. And when he was able to palm a ball away, moments later, his eyes flutter while the rest of the muscles on his mud-tainted face are flexed to form a priceless smile. All these he does on one boot and minus goalkeeping gloves.


"The other boot is with him," he says, pointing to another kid still wearing his school uniform, who was lining up waiting for his turn for a shot on goal. For some reason, the kid doesn't use his boot-covered foot in kicking. "I'm not used to wearing two boots," the frail-looking boy says, before blasting the ball that sails just a few inches high above the goal.


On the other side of pitch, a group of boys listen intently to their instructor, ignoring the boisterous crowd of schoolchildren playing games under the eucalyptus tree. On this sun-kissed afternoon, the serious looks morph into smiles as skills improvement drills that breed individual panache get going.


A man in shorts and slippers saunters by, checking the progress of the training, wading through the knee-high blades of grass on the field that serves as a playground for school-children at midday. And when he's done, he moves to the area where the surface is level and the grass don't totally impede on the ball's roll, where another group of boys work on their speed and skill negotiating the aligned cones one meter apart.

The sun was setting when the boys wrap up another day of training. Water is unintentionally sprinkled on the ground when "ice water" is shared and thrown around.

The snapshots are taken from the Andres Bonifacio Elementary School pitch, the home of ABES FC, one of the emerging football clubs under the Negros Occidental Football Association.

"Football is our passion," says 12-year-old midfielder Mico Posadas when asked to introduce the team. Mico's statement may appear PR-polished. Behind his declaration though are countless stories of triumph and struggle since 2003 when the club was formed.

BITTER PILL

There was a time when playing football at the school was restricted. The directive came from a school official, who thought the sport posed great injury risk to the students' frail bodies.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for ABES FC coach Ulysses Rillos, a music and physical education teacher, who recalls begging on his knees and crying as the school official explained the decision.

"I had no choice but to follow the decision," Rillos recalls. He was concerned apparently because the club was just starting out, taking its baby steps.

That did not dampen the enthusiasm, though. When the official retired at the end of the school-year, Rillos, who played competitive football while he was studying at Domingo Lacson National High School, organized a summer football grassroots clinic at ABES with the help of NOFA that drew around 50 kids.

"We started to get the community involved," he says. Aside from students in the school, Rillos says he invited kids whom he felt were treading the path of lawlessness. He also saw it as a way to promote harmony among students of ABES I and ABES II at a time when clashes between young boys from the two schools were a regular sight.

"I saw it as a way for them to return to school, instill discipline and stop the fights," he says. But the task proved to be easier said than done as Rillos found difficulty convincing parents, who were hesitant because off the additional expenses in training.

When he was able to persuade parents, Rillos and the club faced another challenge: Pool resources for the team to compete in tournaments.

The club, though, did more than just raise funds. It also helped promote the sport in communities. "We cleaned communities in barangays 1, 2 and 3 so we could buy equipment and uniforms. We wanted to show that we are committed with our football," he says.

COMMITMENT

The commitment is typified by the four trainers in the team. Although they don't receive a single centavo for their services, Bongbong Gonzales, John Rey Alemani, Brian Tumbocon and Epi Carlo Tumbocon religiously train the players.

"We're doing it for the love of the game," says Gonzales, a former student of the school, who now works the night shift of the school's security office. In fact, Gonzales even helps ease the financial burden on the club's expenses Rillos.

Rillos says he feels overwhelmed each time he is asked why he is steering the club. "Because I am teacher I see this opportunity to mold children," he says.

Aside from NOFA which provided balls, organizational and training support and donated two goals to the club, a number of sponsors have also contributed to ABES FC's cause, particularly mail and package delivery service provider Air21, which gave uniforms to the team.

As in any other club, Rillos sees the emblazoned on their jerseys as a source of pride. The main elements of the logo are an eagle, a fireball and the three stars representing barangays 1, 2 and 3. "The eagle symbolizes freedom and strength, while the fireball depicts our never-say-die attitude," Rillos adds.

One of the youngest clubs in the NOFA roster, ABES FC has made a good account of itself with its grassroots program, prompting the provincial football body to name the club one of the two football centers for excellence in Bacolod, the other being the University of St. La Salle FC.

The move has paid off with ABES FC providing the Philippine boys' Under-13 team a goalkeeper in Bellmark Ortega, who saw action in the Asian Football Festival in Sabah, Malaysia in May. Ortega is now an athletic scholar at West Negros College, where he is a high school freshman.

"That's what we are trying to do here. Produce good players who can make use of their football skills so they can study for free," Rillos says.

YOUTUBE BOYS

One player who has shown immense potential is 12-year-old striker Joel Villacoguer, who, despite playing on old, borrowed spikes, led the team to the title in an Under-13 tournament at the University of St. La Salle recently.

Villacoguer together with his teammates have been looking for avenues to improve their skills on and off the pitch. One player, Adrian Jason, shares how YouTube, the popular video sharing, has helped in heightening their for the game

"We watch football skill drills and the latest videos of David Beckham there," Jason shares. "We try to copy the techniques".

If that wasn't proof of their devotion for the sport that has captivated the world, one can take a quick peek at the ABES FC headquarters during a random lunch break.

Players focused on fixing their boots, trainers busy printing the numbers on the players' kits and Rillos passionately recounting the evolution of the club's jerseys since 2004.

"We started with orange bibs and now we have these," Rillos says, referring to their newest kit, a replica of the 2007-2008 Barcelona FC jersey.

The evolution from bibs to jerseys characterizes the growth of the club, which now has close to 100 members from less than 50 during its first few years.

And Rillos says the core of the current team is actually a product of the grassroots program of the club.

With the influx of players comes more responsibilities for trainers but they seem to be more than happy to do their part.

"We're just happy to see how the club has grown," Gonzales adds.

He says trainers were forced to schedule practice based on the players' birth years because of the huge number of players.

"We cannot handle them all in just one session. At least, if they are divided into groups we can pay attention to each player," says Gonzales, who attended the NOFA coaches' clinic conducted by a Spanish mentor last May.

Rillos manages to add pun on the irony of having more players, despite the absence of resources including a well-maintained playing field.

"One practice, I told the boys to bring out their scissors so we could cut the grass together. I made it as part of the warm-up exercise. It turned out to be better than using a lawnmower, which would have cost us a considerable amount," he says with a laugh.

He adds that his wards play better when they are on a different field, like Panaad or USLS, where the field is level and the grass is manicured.

"Practicing in our field is an advantage for the players when they compete in tournaments outside the school. There's the motivation to play well because for them, playing in a good pitch is already a privilege," he adds.

While Rillos remains in a jovial mood as he entertains the visitor, Villacoguer puts adhesive on his borrowed boot, gluing together the sole and the upper layer that detached after yesterday's practice. He says he hopes to finally get a new boot someday.

The team logo posted on the door, photos of the squad in action and a 12x8 inch poster of Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho on top of the bulletin board provide a fitting backdrop to the scene, a testament of a club that has lacked in resources but was kept alive and kicking by its unrelenting passion.

"Winning is secondary to us. What is important is how we learn from the struggle and hardships as a club," Rillos says. *