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| Culture & Press Division >Culture & Event> | ||||||
| SPORT FOR ENVIROMENT Vegalta Sendai Cup winds up in Lalibela |
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The Vegalta Cup 2011 (a football tournament named after the renowned Vegalta Football Club of the Sendai city, Japan) winded up successfully on 10 January 2011 in Lalibela. This programme was initiated by the Futaro Fund for Forests (FFF) who has been working in the forestry and water sector in Lalibela area for 12 years. During this time they noticed that there were numerous unregistered football teams in Lalibela of different age groups with very little chance for good training. As part of their environmental works, the FFF planned a football tournament and trainings and invited two coaches from the Vegalta Football Club for professional training of children in Addis Ababa and Lalibela, thus integrating sport for environment as the trainees planted tree seedlings after the games and training in Lalibela. On 09 January 2011, overlooking the semi-arid environment, the steep hills surrounding Lalibela town and bypassing the Nakutoleab Monastery, the visiting football coaches headed for the football pitch where they were warmly welcomed by the organizers and participants of Lalibela town. A banner hanging in the middle of the city announcing ‘the final football tournament organized by Vegalta Sendai’, added to the colour of the tournament. During the morning session, two games were held. The first game was between the under-13 finalists. BS-A beat Sora-A by one goal to nil. The second game was held between the under-17 finalists and Lalibela’s Ethiopian Coffee beat Lalibela’s St. George by one goal to nil. In the afternoon session, the under-15 finalists BS-B beat Sora-B by one goal to nil whereas in the under-20s game, Lalibela beat Save Your Holy Land by 5 goals to 2. The winning teams were awarded the Vegalta trophies that had been brought thousands of kilometers from Japan. They were also presented with football shoes and shirts. The visiting coaches, Inoue Kazunori and Fukuda Naoto, both from the Vegalta Football Club, Ato Tesfaye Gete, Deputy Mayor of Lalibela town, Ms. Kaori Niitsuma, Chairman of the Futaro Fund for Forests (FFF) and Dr. Kumiko Ito, Counselor and Medical Attaché at the Embassy of Japan presented the trophies and football kits to the winning teams. On 10 January 2011, the visiting coaches taught the basics of football to some 60 children from different junior schools of Lalibela town. The motto of the day read: “Enjoy Football, Enjoy Planting.” Coach Inoue Kazunori is a schoolmaster and Mr. Fukuda Naoto are both coaching youths at Vegalta Sendai. After introducing the coaches to the children, Mr. Inoue explained ball passing, ball control and dribbling to the children. This was followed by a practice that lasted about an hour. The children were then grouped into six teams named Tokyo, Lalibela, Planet, Zebra, Dinosaurs and FFF. While practicing, the coaches persistently stressed fair play and supporting team mates. They also urged the children to think of their next move before receiving the ball. Finally, Coach Inoue reminded the trainees to always practice what they learned and said, “one day, Japan and Ethiopia may meet in World Cup Tournaments because you have demonstrated equal skill and talents with the Japanese kids”. The program ended with the waving of the Vegalta Sendai Flag. |
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