MRigney
03-13-03, 08:33 PM
DUBAI, UAE (United Arab Emerits), March 13, 2003 - The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championships may be postponed but football for at least one team of up-and-coming stars in the UAE is still going strong ? with a little help from Ford Middle East.
They may be barely old enough to run, let alone turn out to represent their country, but Andrew Madigan and John Lancia?s team of three-year-olds has been following a diligent training regime just like their more illustrious counterparts.
Madigan and Lancia, both keen soccer fans, pitched the idea of a toddlers? team last year. Fellow Dubai resident Virginia Hunt formed a little league of girls and boys and enlisted the support of Ford, who provided tee-shirts, training bibs, footballs and training cones.
The hotter weather may have forced a break in the action recently, but for three and a half months the team practised every Friday morning at Dubai?s Safa Park. Often as many as 18 little ones turned out to play, supervised by their parents, and occasionally other toddlers who were having fun in the park also joined in.
?The team grew by word of mouth and it was a good way to introduce youngsters to outdoor sports,? says Virginia Hunt who works for a Dubai-based school. ?The soccer has finished for this year but we had enough balls, tee-shirts and cones from Ford left over at the end to share among the parents, so now every toddler has their own ?soccer starter kit?!?
They may be barely old enough to run, let alone turn out to represent their country, but Andrew Madigan and John Lancia?s team of three-year-olds has been following a diligent training regime just like their more illustrious counterparts.
Madigan and Lancia, both keen soccer fans, pitched the idea of a toddlers? team last year. Fellow Dubai resident Virginia Hunt formed a little league of girls and boys and enlisted the support of Ford, who provided tee-shirts, training bibs, footballs and training cones.
The hotter weather may have forced a break in the action recently, but for three and a half months the team practised every Friday morning at Dubai?s Safa Park. Often as many as 18 little ones turned out to play, supervised by their parents, and occasionally other toddlers who were having fun in the park also joined in.
?The team grew by word of mouth and it was a good way to introduce youngsters to outdoor sports,? says Virginia Hunt who works for a Dubai-based school. ?The soccer has finished for this year but we had enough balls, tee-shirts and cones from Ford left over at the end to share among the parents, so now every toddler has their own ?soccer starter kit?!?