| James Kon |
OVER 230 trainees were involved in the Projek Ikan Pusu (PIP) Grassroots Football Development Programme with the concluding finale at the PIP Grassroots Carnival held recently at the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) Artificial Turf pitch.
The year-end carnival was organised to support the International Football Federation (FIFA) and Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) recommendations for national grassroots football development.
Emphasis was put on the importance of systematic and scientific junior football development through the ‘Let’s Play!’ slogan campaign, according to PIP Manager Cheah Swee Ming.
Cheah Swee Ming received the AFC’s ‘Best Grassroots Leader Award 2018’ at the 2nd AFC Grassroots Conference 2018 in November in Kuala Lumpur.
“We really learnt a lot about the best practices across Asia during the conference,” he said. The conference was also attended by NFABD Technical Director John Whittle, Head of Grassroots Development Haji Rozaimie Nizam bin Haji Jainal, and NFABD/PIP Head Coach Haji Omar bin Haji Jamil.
The ‘Best Player’ awards were also conducted at the carnival.
Md Shaqeel Qays Wafri bin Md Suhardi won the Under-8 category; Md Syahmi Waie bin Khairul Affendi won the Under-10 category; Md Adyka Farel bin Jamaludein won the Under-12 category; Md Ali Fahmi bin Nordin was named best player in the Under-14 category and Md Ammar Rawi bin Abdul Suwardy in the Under-16 category.
The Top Scorers award winners were: Awangku Khairi Hazim bin Pengiran Hamirul Hamdi (Under-8), Md Asyraf bin Naruddin (Under-10), Md Ikhwan Rizqullah bin Abdul Azim (Under-12), Md Saiful Mahri bin Sambri (Under-14) and Md Shafiq Safiuddin bin Abdull Shariff (Under-16).
PIP trainees who achieved good results in the Primary School Assessment (PSR) were also presented with certificates of recognition.
Asked about PIP’s formula for attaining both football and academic achievements, Haji Omar shared, “Let’s just say that we apply PIP’s ‘Soccer-Smart’ and ‘Study-Smart’ principles that motivate the trainees to be more disciplined and to help them focus on studying more effectively.
“Alhamdulillah, this year’s carnival was much more successful than last year’s. I am very happy to see all the players, parents, the organising committee and coaches working closely as a united team. We are also happy parents were given the task of managing the teams. It turned out to be more fun for all involved. All in, everybody went home – tired but happy, satisfied and looking forward to the next carnival,” said Md Bahrin Haji Harris. His son Muhammad Danish Izz Syahmi represented the country at the Football for Friendship (F4F) programme of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia earlier this year.
Cheah Swee Ming thanked all parties involved in making the carnival a success.
“Thanks to the strong continuous support from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, the Department of Youth and Sports, the Sports Medicine and Research Centre, NFABD and everyone at PIP – especially the organising committee, all coaches, parents and players. This year’s carnival turned out to be yet another very successful team-building effort.”