The COVID-19 global pandemic hit everyone hard. It turned lives upside down and gave the way the public live and think a different perspective. It also meant that overseas travel became nigh on impossible.
Getting out of your house was hard enough for many, going abroad a mere pipedream. And that of course meant that competitions like the McDonald’s Kanga Cup suffered. After two years hiatus though the Cup is back and with it an overseas guest.
ActiveSG Football Academy from Singapore, offers a holistic football programme which is designed to develop skills for football, build character and encourage children and youth to pursue their passion in football with teachable moments such as teamwork, honour, and resilience. And the team is no stranger to the Kanga Cup.
ActiveSG Football Academy had participated in previous iterations of the Kanga Cup where in 2018, two teams consisting of U9 and U11 were sent to participate in the Shield category. In 2019, three teams consisting of U9, U10 and U11 were sent to participate in the Shield category and all three teams had podium finishes.
“This time, the Academy has entered a team in the U13 Plate category to see how the team fair against the others,” Joanna Goh from ActiveSG confirmed. “The opportunity to participate in the Kanga Cup represents an aspirational platform for academy players who will be inspired to do well.
“This whole experience will also serve as a purposeful culmination of the Academy’s upcoming leagues and tournaments, whereby selected players get to travel, train, and live in a high-performance environment and compete in a renowned international youth tournament against players from different standards and cultures.”
The Kanga Cup is a fun and exciting tournament for all and offers a great football experience as well as producing the opportunity to make friends and potentially living the life of a professional player for a week. Incorporating all these aspects into a trip to Australia means that the tournament is an excellent addition to the Academy’s curriculum.
“Overall, the Kanga Cup will complement the Academy’s comprehensive pathway for youth development in football supported by a well-established road map for selecting and rewarding the Academy’s most talented players with the right values and behaviours,” Goh revealed.
“These include support services from Singapore Sports Institute and CoachSG for these players as well as their parents and coaches as part of the overall eco-system development. We would like to thank Sport Singapore and parents for making this trip possible. We would like to thank Ministry of Education schools for supporting selected club players to pursue their football passion at overseas competition during academic term.”
Playing abroad is a fantastic learning tool, not just physically, but also academically and culturally. This is something that our guests from Singapore are really looking forward to.
“The Kanga Cup is billed as the largest international youth football tournament in the Southern Hemisphere,” Goh commented. “This would be the very first overseas competition for the kids since the reopening of the borders. We are looking forward to going on nature walks, visiting the city centre and maybe take in the Australian Institute of Sport.”
Keep an eye out for ActiveSG Football Academy and make sure you say hello to them on the fields of Canberra this July.
