Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Football Association has organised a grassroots festival which is part of a long-term programme to attract children to the beautiful game.
More than 80 participants attended the grassroots festival which was organised for newcomers to the Junior Fans Club, a club run by the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) for kids aged between four and 12.
The young players not only participated in fun drills that involved basic techniques such as dribbling, passing, receiving and shooting, they also enjoyed pressure-free small-sided-games with their pals.
Liu Yik Shing of the Hong Kong national futsal team also demonstrated ball juggling and shared his passion with the young players. In short, the youngsters enjoyed a joyful and fruitful event.
The Junior Fans Club is one of the grassroots initiatives of the HKFA and serves more than 300 kids currently. Club members attend regular trainings throughout the year with festivals and game days in between.
“The HKFA will continue to promote grassroots football in the territory and we intend to organise more festivals in the near future,” Rico Chan, HKFA Grassroots Football Manager, told the AFC.
“Grassroots development has a long history in Hong Kong but we think there’s always room for improvement. While we have organised some relatively larger-scale festivals in the past, we also want to run more ‘localised’ events so as to reach out to more children.
“The HKFA places as much emphasis on smaller-scale, local grassroots activities as the larger-scale, territory-wide ones. We hope that in the near future, these localised grassroots events can help us further broaden the football population in Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong is one of many AFC Member Associations taking their own grassroots initiatives sparked by the celebration of AFC Grassroots Year in 2013.
Photo: HKFA