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Free of charge: Local soccer club gives underprivileged kids chance to play
Moved to do good for the community, a married couple founded a soccer club for underprivileged kids to play in for free.
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Tian (left) and Alif, players of Garuda Lions FC, pick up rubbish on the field as they have been taught to do at the club. (Archive/Courtesy of Frank Amadio)
O
n a windy day in a vast field south of Tangerang, over 50 boys were playing soccer together in groups. It is a common sight in Indonesian neighborhoods, except this one was a registered soccer club under the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) and there were licensed coaches helping them out.
“It just rained this morning, usually over 100 kids come here,” coach Fabio Oliveira told The Jakarta Post during our visit to the training ground on Jan. 29. Fabio is a well-known former player and coach of several senior Indonesian soccer clubs, as well as the former assistant manager of the Indonesian national team in 2012.
The club he is coaching now is Garuda Lions FC, a Tangerang soccer club and development program exclusively for underprivileged kids, who do not have the means to pay for the usual academies. Here, they can play and hone their skills meticulously.
“I think this is an interesting concept because in my hometown in Brazil, 95 percent of our greatest players, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Neymar, all came from underprivileged families,” Fabio said.
It is possible, then, that Indonesia’s future players are currently training on this field.
“People often say that, right? ‘We have over 270 million people here, there’s no way it’s that hard to get 20 great soccer players!’” he added.
