Class four student Shakil, who resides at Foy’s Lake in Chittagong, has passed a special day in his life. Momentarily forgetting the hustles and bustles of everyday life in the port city, the underprivileged boy thoroughly enjoyed playing football with his friends yesterday at MA Aziz Stadium. His joy was doubled as he was taken care of by the coaches of his beloved football club, European champions Real Madrid.
Like Shakil, Mosharraf also enjoyed the day and termed it the most memorable day in his life.
Including the duo, a total of 115 underprivileged children, comprising 90 boys and 25 girls aged 7-14 experienced a unique training session conducted by three coaches of the Real Madrid Foundation. The training session was part of a three-day programme titled “YKK Asia Group Kids Football Clinic”, organised by two Japanese companies YKK Holding Asia Private Limited and YKK Bangladesh Private Limited and the Bangladesh Football Federation. In the second day of the programme yesterday, the coaching trio of the Real Madrid Foundation trained the deprived kids who all study at UCEP School in the port city’s Ambagan area.
One of the school’s pupils, class four student Rasheda said she could not play football in her everyday life that is why yesterday was a great opportunity for her to be introduced with the beautiful game. “Now, I want to play football on a regular basis,” said an elated Rasheda.
Rasheda’s classmate, Mojammel, on the other hand is a big fan of Cristiano Ronaldo but did not quite know that the Portuguese superstar footballer plays for Real Madrid. Mojammel was amazed upon finding out that Ronaldo plies his trade with the Madrid giants and expressed his delight after learning about the different techniques of football from Real Madrid Foundation head coach Pablo Gomez Revenga, Javier Garcia Torres and Rafael Palacios Peinado.
Following the conclusion of the training session, the underprivileged boys and girls were absolutely ecstatic after receiving jerseys, boots, balls and certificates from the organisers.
One of the deprived kids, Hannan, said the certificate will enable him to undergo more training sessions in the national and international level. The little kid hoped that there would be more playgrounds and fields for them to practice in the future.
Local coach Mohammad Musa said the Chittagong Zila Krira Sangstha has to introduce more tournaments in football in order to hunt and explore potential players.
Rafael agreed, saying some of the kids are really talented and have great interest in football so the administrators should try and utilise their talents.
Revenga echoed the same sentiment and added that if given proper attention and care, the kids can reach their full potential.
The three-day training camp will come to an end today.
