BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Muntaqim yesterday participated in the Mini Football Festival hosted by the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) at the Berakas Sports Complex, Borneo Bulletin reported.
Over 100 primary school students took part in the mini festival, which was organised by the coaches who were taking part in the Grassroots Football Coaching Certificate Level 2, and Course Facilitator, Hj Puspa bin Hj Mohammad, felt that it was an overall success.
“We didn’t expect the huge turnout. We were only expecting 70 children to turn up, but over 100 registered for the mini festival,” remarked Hj Puspa.
“I think the coaches handled the kids very well, but there are a few things to improve on. It can’t be perfect the first time around.”
Preparing for the unexpected is one lesson which has been learnt, and is an issue which will need to be resolved before the national festival, set to be held in February 2013.
“The next step is to give them a national festival, where we’ll be expecting 500-1,000 pupils. I want to add more alternatives in, and add more games during the training session. I noticed a lot of the kids were tired after a few exercises, so we have to figure out a way to make sure they enjoy the game more,” observed Hj Puspa.
With such a great response to the dry run of the festival yesterday, Hj Puspa is looking forward to next year, but acknowledged that it would not have been made possible without the assistance of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
“The public response has been good, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the. Ministry, the Sg Hanching Primary School, who allowed over 50 of their pupils to participate, and also the parents, who were more than willing to help. It was clear that they really wanted their kids to play,” said the course facilitator.
The mini festival has shown a lot of promise for the development of grassroots football in the Sultanate, which was made successful by the coaches, who were sitting for their level two coaching certificate, whereby they will be duly awarded at a closing ceremony of the course which will be held this morning at the NFABD House.