The SDP’s youth football team will participate in the Yaacob Ibrahim Challenge Trophy this Sunday, 11 March 2012.
The party recently adopted the team as part of our program to reach out to youths in Singapore.
Renaming the team the SDP Fushan Warriors (originally FC Fushan Warriors) the boys have been playing in several tournaments under manager and coach Mr Eddy Rahman.
Ths Sunday’s competition will be held at Kolam Ayer Community Club starting from 8:30am to 6pm. The Singapore Democrats will be there to cheer our team on.$CUT$
But the SDP’s adoption of the team goes beyond football. We want to use the opportunity to help them develop and excel in school. This dovetails with Coach Eddy’s philosophy.
He has made it clear to the players, many of whom are still in school, that they will be suspended from the team if their school perfomances are below par. He makes it a point to review the boys school work.
He has also identified boys (especially those in secondary schools) who are in need of tuition. “Even though schools provide remedial classes,” Coach Eddy tells us, “these boys may not be attentive or take them seriously because they take these classes as another school activity.”
However, if it comes from the Coach and using soccer as an incentive, they would be more receptive to the classes. Coach Eddy communicates with his players’ parents through regular e-newsletters.
The SDP’s Community Services Unit is looking into the possibility of providing tuition classes for some of the boys. We are also looking to helping the boys wholistically by teaching them skills such as time management, conflict resolution, effective communication and so on.
To this end, we have had enthusiastic support from the public. One of them, an owner of a sports company, has donated footballs to the team to encourage the boys to continue to play hard. We thank him for the much needed support.
Part of the SDP’s philosophy of undertaking this project is to expose youtrhs in Singapore to national issues and to get them interested in society and the issues that will affect them. One of the problems that youths in Singapore face nowadays is that they are alienated from the public process and because of this seek out activities that are detrimental to theirs as well as society’s well-being.
The SDP will draw up a programme to help the players along. Coach Eddy has done a terrific job in getting the boys together. He is a role model for the boys and his efforts to help the boys with positive youth development ought to be commended and supported. The Singapore Democrats intend to do just that.
But such an undertaking requires much resources. Help us to make this project a success by volunteering your assistance. To find out how you can help, email us at sdp@yoursdp.org. You can also support this project financially. There is much that can be done and we hope that you can help fund this worthwhile project. To donate, please click here.
But first, come and meet Coach Eddy and the boys at the Kolam Ayer Community Club this Sunday.