About 40 children between the ages of nine and 12 years will be trained at an intensive program this summer before playing in a friendly match against a team from within the Greater Bay Area.
The event, titled ‘HSBC Life presents: MUST CPK Soccer Training Center – Summer Kid Intensive Soccer Experience Day 2022,’ was held last week on the front pitch of the International School of Macau (TIS). The event attracted more than 500 aspiring children and their parents.
Operated across four sessions throughout the whole day, the event saw the children showing off their soccer skills in front of a group of veteran local soccer stars and coaches, such as former Team Macau goalkeeper, Domingos Chan Tat Sun and incumbent coach of the MUST CPK Soccer Training Center, Emmanuel Libano Noruega.
The children also received comments and suggestions about their skills on-site.
Explaining the event, Domingos Kong, co-founder of MUST CPK Soccer Training Center, said that nurturing soccer talent for the city is a key objective.
“The main goal of the event is, first and foremost, to train soccer players in and for Macau,” Kong said. “In the upcoming two months, we’ll train [the 40 selected young players] intensively to compete in a friendly match – maybe two – against a GBA team. The plan is quite tight, actually.”
According to Kong, the match will be played within the campus of the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), either on the main field or on the field of the TIS.
Discussing future goals of the training academy, Kong said that with ample resources from various walks of life, soccer training will be able to thrive in Macau. “Who knows! Maybe in 10 years, we’ll see these children playing in national teams in World Cup Finals,” Kong added. AL
