Booters from USC and USJ-R compete in the first Cesafi futsal tournament at the USC Main gym. (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
THE CEBU Football Association (CFA) in coordination with the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) continue to promote the sport of futsal around Cebu Province.
Over 11 towns have already been introduced to the sport, which is variant of association football played on a hard court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors.
Starting in 2016, the CPSC and CFA already made a tremendous effort to institute the sport towards the young talents in line with their Grassroots Training Program.
On their first year, the group was able to come up with eight teams.
“On our second year, our efforts resulted to 20 great teams already. 10 teams for the boys and 10 teams for the girls,” Attorney Mark Tolentino of the Provincial Administration said.
According to the Futsal Head Committee Jose Antonio Trebol, they are still focusing in going south since towns from the north are already familiar with the sport.
In fact, in 2016, Cebuanos dominated the National Batang Pinoy Futsal. A team from Mandaue emerged champions in the high school boys category while Sacred Heart School- Ateneo de Cebu was the victor for the high school girls category.
“This is why we want to further promote this sport. There are a lot of youngsters who showed promising talent and we want to nurture it even more,” Trebol said. Meanwhile, the Sacred Heart School- Ateneo de Cebu team B, University of San Carlos (USC)-A and Saint Theresa’s College logged victotries at the start of the Ladies’ Futsal event of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc (Cesafi) yesterday at the USC- Main Campus Gymnasium.
Ateneo B defeated STC, 7-1, behind the hat trick of Arantxa Trebol.
USC-A toppled the University of San Jose-Recoletos, 11-3, while STC defeated USC-B, 9-0.