The Last Saturday Club (TLSC) + Futbol sa Kalye

April 24, 2010, the last Saturday of April.

We trooped to Tondo, Manila to finally meet the Futkaleros. With bags of toiletries in hand, a pedicab filled with a huge kaldero of arroz caldo from Illustrado (thank you, Bea!), plates of sandwiches, a cooler, and boxes of fruit juice, we braved the scorching Tondo heat and spent the whole morning with a bunch of wonderful and extremely talented athletes--- the kids of Futbol sa Kalye.

Futbol sa Kalye, or "Futkal" for short, is a group founded by Mr. Peter Amores which provides a venue for less fortunate kids to learn and play football.  Four years since it was formed, the group has already established a football community in Tondo (a known urban poor area within Metro Manila). 

Football sa Kalye has instilled and continues to instill the values of discipline, hardwork, sportsmanship, and camaraderie among its Futkaleros.  Parents of the Futkaleros have changed the way they feel about the sport.  Nowadays, they don't simply refer to it as just one of those juvenile games.  They have grown to love and fully support it because they saw significant change in the behavior of the kids.  More importantly, Futkal now serves as a 'safe haven' for the kids.  It provides a good enough reason for the kids not to join gangs and instead focus on the sport and their studies.  

To date, through Futbol sa Kalye, two students have received college football scholarships.  Peter and the rest of his team continue to do wonders for the kids in Tondo, and they hope that in time, they can do the same for kids in other poor and depressed communities.

Here are some pictures from our outreach activity for Futbol sa Kalye. Photo credit: TLSC

*upon arriving in Tondo

*proud Futkalero

*warm-up, Futkalero style :)

*Paul, jamming with some of the Futkaleros

*UP Fighting Maroons vs. Tondo Futkaleros

(my brother, who's currently captain of the UP Football Varsity Team, brought some of his teammates and one of their coaches to engage the Futkaleros in a 3-on-3 game)

*the cooler the Futkaleros requested--- a gift from your friends in TLSC :)

*preparing the yummy arroz caldo

*serving Round 2! The arroz caldo was a hit :)

*Coach Anto Gonzales of the UP Fighting Maroons sharing a few words of wisdom

*TLSC members getting a "feel" of Futkal ;)

*Futkaleros getting their bags of toiletries

*TLSC members with the Futbol sa Kalye coaches

(Coach Peter Amores, guy wearing the red cap, is the founder of Futbol sa Kalye)

*UP Fighting Maroons and Tondo Futkaleros

(Thank you UP for spending Saturday morning with us!)

*group shot! :)

To learn more about Futbol sa Kalye, click here:  http://futkal.org/

To learn more about TLSC or The Last Saturday Club, click here: TLSC on Facebook

For the last Saturday of May, TLSC will be repainting the walls of the library in the Sta. Ana Elementary School :)