PRESS RELEASE – ON the heels of an electrifying Easter weekend international tournament, the FLOW-Trevor Daniel Football Development Programme will take to the Sab (Vigie) Playing Field tomorrow, Sunday, in an attempt to once again leave participants, spectators and passersby in awe for what is promising to be a fabulous football, family fun and “belly full of laughter”.
Sixty-four players from 8 teams will hope to put on a magical display of skill: passing, controlling, dribbling, striking, scoring and tackling (or just trying to touch the ball without falling over) before their biggest fans and critics –their children! In a never before held event, the mothers and fathers of the members of the FLOW-TDFDP will be playing in a full tournament before their kids.
Sixty percent of these parents have never played any football ever, 10% are accomplished players (National, High School, College/University) and the other 30% are “professional PS4 and Nintendo videogame footballers”. Regardless of their footballing history, these parents are all fired up and ready to perform centre stage before their young.
There are many reasons for having such an event but we will touch on three:
1. Statistics show that kids are more likely to start, stay in and excel at activities that they see their parents involved in. This works for both positive and negative behaviours and activities. We want our kids to see their parents doing something positive, something that the kids themselves love. This will increase the chances of the kids committed to playing football into their teenage, adolescent and adult years.
2. We like to think of our programme as the “Footballer Factory” and with this idea we hope to consistently continue to attract kids and produce quality footballers for the next 100 years. With this event, we know that the memories gathered will linger long with these kids well into their adult lives and the experiences very likely duplicated with their own kids in the future. Resulting in more babies/toddlers steered toward football, and the TDFDP will continue to convert them into “football fanatics” and the perpetual cycle continues.
3. Technology has enhanced our daily lives. However, it has contributed to many of the health issues we find on the increase these days. Adults are less healthy today because they ran, kicked, jumped, climbed, flipped, swam, wrestled, threw stones and played outdoors less when they were kids 15-20 years ago as compared to those who grew up 30-40 years ago. Gadgets and devices have made it easier to stay connected with family and friends all over the world. Unfortunately, they have also made us lazy. Adults get stuck inactive 8-10 hours daily (at work and then at home) attached to computers and gadgets. Kids get home from school on weekdays and weekends and are babysat and supervised by TV’s, laptops, tablets, phones etc. for hours on end. The kids of yesteryear are the mummies and daddies of today who will be playing in this tournament.
Recreational Center of St. Lucia embarked on a “Physical Literacy Campaign” in 2016 where we planned to engage 15, 000 people to “MOVE”, to get active. This event will be the start to getting our members’ parents into regular training habits and on the road to getting fit and staying healthy, this will be the launch of our “Mummies & Daddies Football League”. We want to encourage them to start training before the doctors’ reports order them to start!
Telecom leaders FLOW have again taken the lead in this initiative and are not just sponsoring the event but are also participating. They have embraced the “Get Active” philosophy and are selling it to their staff. There will be an exhibition match to open the event between FLOW Staff and the FLOW -TDFDP Coaches. The kids are all eager to see their mentors — their coaches practicing/doing what they have been preaching. Can these coaches do what they have been teaching?
The FLOW Staff team will be no walkovers as Terry and Kissinger will lead a solid team comprising Futsal Champions, Black Heart Champions and ex-national team players as they challenge Coach Trevor, Coach Peppa, Coach Shem, Coach Craige, Coach Samuel, Coach Jade, Coach Dimitri, Coach Penny and Coach Kelcy. It promises to be a “never forget” event and we would like to invite the public to come out and be a part of it and to see firsthand this is how we play.
Interested parents can sign up today by contacting organizers at Tel # 486-8955.