GOLDEN FRIENDSHIP FOOTBALL CLUB FOUNDER IKE OLANDESCA (with sunglasses) LEADS HIS PLAYERS IN TRAINING AT THE WESTRIDGE SPORTSPARK IN BRGY. CARMEN CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY.
CAGAYAN DE ORO City — Local coaches and clubs love their players to be recruited by Manila based schools or clubs. Countless of these players from Mindanao and Visayas now play in the ‘Big City’.
These coaches are so proud of them and they love to tell the world that ‘Hey that is my player’.
However, deep inside these coaches and clubs wish that they get something when their players move to bigger schools or clubs in Manila after working endless hours to develop them.
As of the moment they get nothing except for bragging rights. Bragging rights which could not be eaten or be brought to make a wife of a dedicated coach happy.
That now about to change as the Golden Friendship Football Club is set to revolutionise the supply chain of players here generally in Mindanao and particularly in Cagayan de Oro City.
Passionate football promoter and now president of Iligan-Lanao Regional Football Association (ILRFA) President Percival ‘Ike’ Olandesca, is introducing this system here as he forms the Golden Friendship Football Club (GFFC).
“We should have a uniform training program in the grassroots and our aim now is to supply the players no longer to the local clubs and schools but to clubs and schools in Manila or even to other parts of the world,’’ he said recently as he helped train his players at the Westridge Sports Park.
He added that the GFFC with its set of coaches train players and then sign them. “Once we sign them then we can demand for monetary compensation from the Manila teams or clubs from abroad,’’ he said.
In a short time, Golden Friendship FC has attracted 10 clubs whose players have started to train with them at the Westridge Sports Park every Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The clubs include KCS Phoenix FC, IS Red Lion FC, Don Mariano FC, Kauswagan National High School Titans FC, BES Falcons FC, LMA FC, Kauswagan Angels FC, Merry Child FC, El Salvador FC, City High Young Guns FC and Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School MOGHS.
GFFC head coach Marlon Merlin is very happy for this development as the players will be guided and the coaches will be compensated.
Merlin also welcomes other clubs to join them to unite all the football enthusiasts in the city.
“I hope and pray that CdO clubs will be united for the players of Cagayan de Oro. Let us put these dreams into reality by working hand in hand and together we cry happy tears,’’ he added.
The idea is great as it gives hopes to the local clubs and coaches. Hopes that finally their efforts will be compensated after all the hard work they have put up in developing the young players.
Olandesca’s program initially is only for football as it is close to his heart. However in the future, he will move into other sports like basketball, volleyball and boxing and form the Golden Friendship Sporting Club.
“We are in fact looking for other athletes for other sports aside from footballers to be scholars in my school, the Little Me Academy,’’ he said.
This idea is actually being practice in the academies of football clubs in advanced football playing countries.
The clubs scout for talented players from communities or even from other countries and then enrol them to their academies. They then sell them to rich clubs when they are really good to gain profit.
The GFFC is still in the infancy stage and is expected to suffer growing pains.
However, the efforts of Olandesca and his coaches are giving hopes to the local players and clubs that someday they can also smile their way to the bank instead of only bragging around with an empty stomach. (l.biantan@gmail.com)
