The Homeless World Cup is an international soccer tournament, where a homeless person gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their life forever. This year, the tournament will be held in Paris, France from August 21-28.

We have completed three successful years. The Philippines has been represented in Melbourne and Milan. Last year, at the Rio games in Brazil, we brought home the Host Cup trophy, one of the 6 prestigious trophies given each year in the tournament.

Urban Opportunities for Change Foundation, Inc. began the selection process late last year in different provinces including Iloilo, Negros Occidental, and Quezon; to find players who will speak for their country, regarding the international issue of homelessness, using football as a tool.

The search for this year’s team is still ongoing. In line with this, we will be having the Manila leg try-out this Saturday, February 26, 1PM, at the Manila Boystown in Parang, Marikina. This event will be covered by Mr. Chino Trinidad of GMA 7′s 24-Oras.

Eight players will be chosen to represent the Philippines based on the following criteria:

1. Potential players must be 18 years of age, and with an NSO – authenticated birth certificate.

2. Potential players must be according to Homeless World Cup Rules on one of the following:

Homeless/Vulnerably Housed or
Orphan in an institution or
Street Dweller orInternally Displaced Refugee or
Currently in a drug rehab program and have been homeless in the past two years or
Indigenous Person who is not living in their tribal lands for reasons beyond their control, or is vulnerably living on their tribal lands or
Vendor of the Jeepney Magazine, the first “street paper” in the country and developing Asia.

3.  The potential player will be evaluated on their athletic ability and football skills.
4.  The potential player will be evaluated based on their current and/or past life story.
5. The potential player will be evaluated on what this opportunity can do for them and their community.6.  The potential player will be evaluated on their ability to communicate and speak for marginalized people.
7.  The potential player will be evaluated on his commitment and availability to the program.

This year, in the City of Light, we also want to see our three stars and our sun radiate proudly again among 64 national homeless teams. But most important of all, we want to see more lives change and shine among the brightest!

For additional information about the games, the selection committee, or other inquiries, please email our Project Director and head coach Rudy del Rosario at aburudz11@yahoo.com or contact him at 0920-2300486.

You can also partner with us and become part of a compelling and compassionate catalysts for change – inspiring Filipinos worldwide, while simultaneously moving the world to a greater awaremess and responsiveness to the issues of homelessness.

Help send our team to Paris, contact our Executive Director Reah Medenilla at ramedenilla@yahoo.com or at 0919-6761388.

Merci beaucoup!

“This is a childhood dream that I thought would never happen, and I thank Kaya Football Club for fulfilling a part of that dream,” said a teary-eyed Abdula Pasion who became one of the newest players of division one team Kaya FC.

Kaya FC, a semi-professional football team based in the Philippines, recently opened its doors to former squad members of Team Philippines to the Homeless World Cup (HWC).  The club competes in various men’s and women’s tournaments of the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), including the prestigious United Football League (UFL).

Kaya FC held a series of rigorous try-outs at the Urdaneta Village Park in Makati last December 2010. More than 70 hopefuls showed up, among them, players from Africa, Iran, France, Spain, Brazil, and a couple of foreigners of Filipino descent.

Abdula and his twin brother, Hammid, and Lexter Maravilla officially signed their contract to play for Kaya FC for the UFL last week.

“I’m very happy and nervous at the same time with this new challenge in my life. I think the break for playing for Kaya FC came too fast but I’m up for the challenge,” said Hammid Pasion.

Fellow newcomer Lexter Maravilla also expressed his happiness in being chosen to play for Kaya FC, most especially since they would be receiving training allowance.

Kaya FC shareholders also promised to help the “homeless” players find full-time jobs that could help improve the lives of their family.

In a clear showcase of skills and talent, the diverse group of footballers competed to win slots and have the opportunity to play for Kaya FC. From those numbers, 18 were chosen to be regulars, and seven were made reserves. Revect Lagarto and Leopoldo Aragon of the 2010 Rio team, and Mark Rosales of the 2009 Milan squad are also included in Kaya’s training pool.

Aside from the coaching staff and trainers, the managers and shareholders of Kaya FC were present during the try-outs and gave all the players the much-needed push and encouragement.

The club also prides itself in having members from the Azkals, the Philippines’ national football team. Also present during the tryouts were RP team captain Ally Borromeo and fellow squad member Anton del Rosario who have had successful stints in the Suzuki Cup in Vietnam.

Mikee Carrion, Kaya FC assistant coach since 2008, said that recruiting poor and homeless but talented football players is the team’s way of giving back.  “It’s our version of ‘corporate social responsibility.’ I saw a lot of commitment, hard work, and heart from the HWC players who wanted to be part of the Kaya team.  I’m sure their drive and passion comes from the hard times that they have gone through in life,” said Carrion.

Coach Mikee advised the team to just follow their dreams and to dream big. He also wishes that his new wards would soon be the next ones to represent the country for the Philippine Azkals main team. He watched the game between the Azkals and Indonesia in the recent Suzuki Cup with them in an after-training get-together and he saw how happy the boys were watching the game. The coach said he could not imagine how they would even feel if they were the ones playing.

Kaya FC has a reputation as a formidable team in the local football community, with players as tough as nails. The team’s gesture, however, has shown their ‘soft spot’ for the less privileged but skillful players.

That night after the contract-signing and training, Leopoldo, a self-confessed fan of the Azkals, approached Anton and asked his permission to have a photo opportunity with him.

Anton gladly obliged and asked Leopoldo’s other HWC teammates to join them and followed with a warm and welcoming moral booster; “Come on guys, we’re teammates now!”

L-R: Homeless World Cup – Team Philippines coaching staff Sel Pimentel, Leopoldo Aragon, Anton del Rosario of the Azkals, with Lexter Maravilla, Abdula and Hammid Pasion of the 2010 Rio team.

***

In the second half it was our little Leopoldo, who settled the team and controlled the outcome. Norway scored on a penalty, but Toniemark sealed the win with a brilliant move and strike in the left corner of the net.

Team Philippines finishes the 2010 Homeless World Cup with seven consecutive wins. A 25th place finish, winner of the Host Cup and an 8-3 record. Two of their three losses came in the opening day against Brazil and Chile, the two premier teams of the tournament who battled it out for the Homeless World Cup trophy.  In the end, it was host country Brazil who emerged victorious.

There are many real champions of these games. Including the people in the home countries who are giving to marginalized people, making a difference in homeless peoples lives. As Mel Young says, “This game is a celebration of a year long effort by organizations around the world.”

It is a celebration. I celebrate this team with all my heart. They are a gift to the Philippine Nation and to all of us who have worked with them. But now, the finals played, the trophies won, it is time to let the game begin in earnest. Everyone needs a home!

The lyrics of the song talk of the change within the group and the courage and pride the team will take to the Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup, taking place at Capacabana Beach from the 19^th-26^th September 2010.

The track was produced by WM Communications, and the video, was filmed and produced as a donation by Manie Magbanua Jr. of Filipino Pictures Inc.

Team Philippines is very grateful to all the hero volunteers who have shared their time and talent for this MTV:

-From Filipino Pictures Inc., thank you to Bernice Ilagan, Bombi Plata, Mela Almonte, Misha Balangue, Harold Frejas, Jippy Pascua, Adonis dela Cruz, and Nestor Fuentes.

-Special thanks as well to Ivo Matthew Cruz, Jovesh Mendoza, Lawrence Zamora, and Paeng Gordovez of Kaya Green Band.

-We were also supported by Unitiima World Beat led by Ryan Barros, Jay Ambanta, and Christian Galang.

-Additional voices and instruments were provided by Govinda Marquesto, Tapati Tarongoy, Kevin Becira, Tristam Miravalles, Martin Miravalles, Ryan Guarina, Anabelle Ofalsa, and Reah Medenilla.

-Rap lyrics were in collaboration with Tristam Miravalles, Cecill Artates, and Ernie Cifra.

Team Philippines has been surprised at the generosity of the Bacolod community. Urban Board member Leo Arnaiz would say. “Welcome to Ilonggo hospitality.” But Sunday lunch was the most sacrificial and significant.

Team member’s Tonie Mark Arinal and Michael Quinlat’s families killed the “fatted calf ‘ for us. In a dwelling too small to fit us, and with resources too little to share, they provided us with more than we could hold. It did not seem like the feast would end. We started with rambutan and then rice, shrimp, crab, milkfish, clams, chicken, pork, roast duck, and finally Coach Onie’s favorite, brazo de mercedes!

This was the first time in the three years of organizing the Homeless World Cup Team that a team member’s family has invited us to their dwelling, served us, and fed us. It provides us organizers with a sense of gratitude and achievement. It also puts into perspective the art of sharing. An art perfected by the needy, and occasionally copied, poorly I may add, by the rest of us. They didn’t even ask for a receipt!

We will leave Bacolod with new family. What could be better than a relationship made lifelong, by roast duck. The bones sucked dry as we squat on our haunches in a hollow block dwelling, eating rice with our fingers and laughing with new Ilonggo friends.

On their arrival from Manila, a motorcade led them from the airport to a press conference hosted by Congressman Anthony Golez.

After Coach Rudy del Rosario and Urban Board member Leo Arnaiz spoke, the journalists asked to hear from a player. They got more than they expected. Abdula Pasion, communicated eloquently the change in his life because of a game, and dream he has yet to realize. He ended by saying, “We will our try our best to raise our country’s flag in Rio. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!” The people present, led by the media, erupted in applause after he spoke.

The team visited Rafael B. Lacson Memorial High School in Talisay City, the school of Tonie Mark Arinal and Michael Quinlat. The players were mobbed in the assembly and the teachers struggled to get the students to return to their classes. Both Tonie Mark and Michael left their alma-mater with a troubled history. This return was an emotional redemption and a reinforcement of the change in their lives.

The need of people whose poverty has been generational is more than a job, a home or an event. It begins with a belief in their own value and significance. That belief has to be nurtured and fed and encouraged. In addition, people need to have trust in the society and people around them. The Homeless World Cup has provided for Filipinos an impetus for that to happen.

In 2009, the Scottish Homeless World Cup team picked the Philippines to give to, as the Scots had a goal to help someone less fortunate than themselves. This year we expect the Philippines to give to some other country. It may not be out of their physical excesses, but out of overflowing hearts.

This tour has not been without football challenges. West Negros University and Bacolod United generously played our team, to help prepare them for Rio. In rousing matches Team Philippines picked up two wins 6-5 and 7-6. It was a fitting climax for Michael Quinlat on Day One of the Bacolod tour. He scored the winning goal in both games.

On Day 4 Team Philippines played three back-to-back games. Talisay City, with Mayor Eric Saratan present, fielded three select teams, one of the players currently on the national side, helped his squad overcame a halftime deficit to hand Team Philippines their first loss 7-5. For Team Pilipinas, local heroes Tonie Mark Arinal and Leopoldo Aragon powered the team to a 2-1 record.

This event was made possible in part by the contribution of Cebu Pacific, who provided plane tickets for our team’s travel to Bacolod. To support Team Pilipinas, visit www.streetsoccerphilippines.com or call Rudy Del Rosario at 0920-230-0486.

In Quezon Province, in Bacolod, in Laguna, in Davao, in Leveriza, football is being played, like it is played the world over. In South Africa the very best are gathered, many of those have honed their skills in the streets, on dirt fields, and off graffiti stained walls. They have kicked a ball, and played a dream over and over, until that dream became a reality.

This Homeless World Cup Team is not much different: the dreams, the passion, the hope for glory, and the pride of country, except for one thing. Poverty has given them this opportunity. Poverty, the earth’s thief that takes away dignity, hope and opportunity, as if it has some divine right, is being used, in a twist of righteous fate, to give back that which it has always robbed.

The Homeless World Cup Team Philippines has this incredible opportunity to give hope, dignity and opportunity to the poor and homeless people in this nation. The last two weeks have propelled this team into the national conscious, because of the willingness of major media networks to feature them, as ambassadors, rather than use them as show-biz.

Ultimately the success of the Homeless World Cup and Team Philippines will happen off the football pitch, in the rice fields and factories, with the sweat and sacrifice of us all, and long after this one time opportunity for these eight players has gone.  But this game will not pass. It will stay and persist until poverty has been eradicated, and even then a ball will bounce, off some wall.

Partner with Team Philippines. Kick poverty.

Abdula, Hammid, Leopold, and Revect, the four youngest HWC Team Philippines members, joined the hit reality show Pinoy Big Brother Teen Clash 2010 for an afternoon of fun.

The HWC boys appeared on the show under the guise of Kuya’s guests who needed to be taught how to play soccer by international housemate from South Korea, Ryan. The episode, which aired on Monday, May 31, 2010, featured the boys playing a game of soccer against four PBB Housemates.

PBB has also surprised Team Philippines by mounting a fund-raising event called the Big Goal Concert, where the remaining housemates will perform to help our boys raise the resources needed to fly and compete in Brazil this September.

For more information on how you can be part of this special event, visit the Pinoy Big Brother Teen Clash 2010 website by clicking here.

Follow the links below to visit each individual player page with photos, bio, and information on financial need.

• Abdula Pasion
• Hammid Pasion
• Leopoldo Aragon
• Lexter Maravilla
• Mark Maravilla
• Michael Quinlat
• Revect Lagarto
• Tonie Mark Arinal

]]> http://www.streetsoccerphilippines.com/2010/05/30/meet-the-new-team/feed/ 16 http://www.streetsoccerphilippines.com/2010/03/02/blog-post-about-2010-team/ http://www.streetsoccerphilippines.com/2010/03/02/blog-post-about-2010-team/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:17:33 +0000 Team Philippines http://www.streetsoccerphilippines.com/?p=436 Urban Opportunities for Change Foundation is excited to announce Rudy del Rosario as the 2010 Director of Team Philippines. As a national sports hero, motivational speaker, and advocate for all children, he gives us football from within. I learned a new word recently called up-cycling—taking something and not just recycling it, but putting it to another use. I believe the Homeless World Cup up-cycles. It uses football to not win games but to change lives. Rudy has experienced both.

Please join us in welcoming Rudy Del Rosario as the 2010 Philippines National Street Soccer Director.

William Shaw
Executive Director
Urban Opportunities for Change Foundation, Inc.

Rudy Del Rosario—Spreading the Love for Football

By Ana Santos

Trying out different sports until they find one they actually like is a phase most kids go through.
But Rudy del Rosario wasn’t like most kids.

At the age of 10, Rudy, as most boys would, tried out for the basketball team, but didn’t make the cut.

“I’m 5’10”, but I don’t know, maybe I just didn’t have it in me,” Rudy said, looking back on the experience.

With no place on the basketball team, Rudy tried football, and from the beginning, it was love.
A lot of people profess love for their favorite sport, and for athletes, it is certainly expected; but for Rudy, that first kick of a football was the start of a life-long love affair.

“Maybe it’s because I grew up as the only boy in a family of five sisters,” Rudy said. “My dad passed away when I was six years old so I grew up surrounded by women. The lure of the field as my own space was what probably got me,” he said.

Rudy’s love for the sport propelled him to take up a B.S. in Education and a major in physical education from Philippine Normal University and then on to many years of playing football for the national team.

Today Rudy is a football coach in various schools and develops their sports programs.

“I especially like being around children and being the one to put a football curriculum in a school that doesn’t have one yet,” Rudy said. “It’s my dream to have many people fall in love with the sport as I have.”

Spreading the love

Beyond the schools, Rudy has tried to spread the love for football in his own village by hosting a summer camp called “The Art of Playing Football School” (APFS), which he started in 2001.

“It [football] really is an art for me,” Rudy said, whose other talents include being a poet, music composer, and the acoustic guitarist and vocalist for a band called Kaya Green Band.

“Dribbling the ball is like dancing”—a line Rudy often uses when coaching.
With the certainty of one who has mastered movement on the field, “You need rhythm!” he said. “Like the Brazilian players when they play for the World Cup, they bring in their samba players. That’s how they play—one team in tune, moving with a certain beat.”

During one of the APFS summer clinics, Rudy noticed that there were many street kids on the sidelines watching. “When I asked them if they wanted to join in and play, they said ‘yes,’” he shared.

This posed a bit of a problem though as the residents began to worry about the presence of street children in their village. The kids were held at the gate by the village guards.

“I’d have to pick them up from the guardhouse and this made me really sad because this is a sport for everyone,” Rudy said. “And honestly, the street kids play hard; they kick hard even without shoes. Sometimes I would collect old shoes from the other players just to give to the kids.”

“I really believe in Urban’s concept of the Homeless World Cup. It gives hope to these kids, gives them a sense of achievement and builds their self-esteem,” Rudy said, who looks forward to contributing to the success of the Homeless World Cup in the 2010 games held in Rio De Janerio.

“When you think about it, the world’s greatest football players like Pele were poor,” he said. “They all grew up in the slums. And, like I said, the street kids really play with more heart.”

Rudy believes this opportunity with the Homeless World Cup will allow him to spread the love of football to many more people. During his years as a player on the national team, he shared that he was able to make many friends.

“It gave me the chance to travel around the Philippines and abroad. I learned so much from that,” he said.

“People tell me I know people from north to south of the Philippines and can probably run for public office,” chuckled Rudy, referring to the Filipino joke about being as well-known as a campaigning political aspirant.

“I always reply that I’d much rather be running out on the field,” Rudy said, a man still clearly in love with football, even after many years of playing it, teaching it, and living it.