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Foreigners build World Cup dream in
Taiwan
Staff writer, with CNA
Saturday, Feb 06, 2010, Page 4
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British soccer coach Daniel Calvert runs
youngsters through their paces during a soccer camp in Taipei City yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
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David Camhi has a goal that most in Taiwan would not even
dare to dream of ¡X Taiwan qualifying for the soccer World Cup.
That goal, however, can only be achieved if more attention is
given to youth soccer in the country, he says.
Frenchman Camhi shares the same vision as Britons Daniel Calvert and Michael
Chandler, so they started a children¡¦s soccer camp in 2004 to promote ¡§the
beautiful game¡¨ and build a foundation for the sport by teaching the
fundamentals to children between three and nine years old.
They launched the program because of their love of the game and desire to see
Taiwan do better in international soccer competitions, Camhi said at Shi Pai
Junior High School¡¦s soccer field, where the team runs the Master Football
Academy (MFA), a weekly camp.
¡§Taiwan is probably the only country in Asia where soccer is not a popular
sport,¡¨ Camhi said on a sunny morning as he watched Calvert, the camp¡¦s head
coach, lead dozens of children in a warm-up with their parents looking on.
Children at the camp participate in training sessions every Saturday and play in
real games in a league every Sunday, going up against teams from other Taipei
academies at the Dazhi Riverside Park.
About 300 children attend the weekly camp, which sells coupons and does not
require full registration. That means children can join and drop out at any
time, said Camhi, certified as a soccer coach by the French Football Federation
and the Football Association of England.
The camp¡¦s participants have different motivations.
Yvonne Neddo, whose five-year-old son Gabriel signed on with the camp about
three months ago, said she thought soccer would be appropriate for her child.
¡§Soccer is a good sport, aerobic exercise for the body, and keeps you ¡¥on your
toes¡¦ ¡X nothing heavyweight for muscle building,¡¨ she said.
A fourth-grade boy surnamed Chao joined the camp when he was riding a bike with
his father ¡X a soccer player in college ¡X in the park two years ago and saw a
training session.
¡§I think he was influenced by his father¡¦s love of the game. They watched games
on television together all the time, and he found out that he loved it too,¡¨ Mrs
Chao said.
A Mr Huang said his daughter, one of the few girls in the male-dominated camp,
¡§joined the camp purely for exercise.¡¨
The academy is very happy with how the camp is developing, although it means the
coaches ¡§have almost no days off,¡¨ Camhi said, but the academy has even bolder
plans ahead.
It will hold an event in collaboration with the Ministry of Education in May to
promote youth soccer and the upcoming soccer World Cup in South Africa. The
academy is also hoping to sign a contract in the near future to hold a Tottenham
Hotspur International Player Development Course summer camp from July 12 to
July 16 in Taipei.
Tottenham Hotspur, from the English Premier League, sees potential in Taiwan¡¦s
market and is scheduled to bring in six coaches and an ambassador who is a
former player for the camp, which will consist of 50 youth players and 50
underprivileged children, Calvert said.
¡§We hope that this camp will be a starting point for a long-term relationship
with the team to help Taiwan develop its youth soccer,¡¨ he said.
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