Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
Football Association of Singapore (FAS) received a boost in their grassroots initiatives after being endorsed for the Silver membership of the AFC Grassroots Charter.
The Grassroots Charter is a development tool for Member Associations to raise the quality of their grassroots programmes. It identifies 20 performance categories such as grassroots competitions, fairplay, partnerships and personal development, and FAS has met all the criteria in the charter.
FAS’ attention on grassroots activities includes both boys and girls and in recent years, tremendous focus was given to women’s projects to encourage participation through various women’s events, competitions and programmes, such as the FAS Women’s Premier League, and FAS U14 Girls League, among others, as well as organising FIFA’s quarterly ‘Live Your Goal’ festivals.
FAS has also organised ‘Respect’ campaigns that instill values of teamwork, respect and sportsmanship as part of their personal development programme to build character. Coupled with engaging private clubs and academies to continuously develop the game, it also landed them an AFC President Recognition for Grassroots Football award in 2017.
Additionally, the push on non-elite football activities through school festivals and annual school championships have made football the fastest growing sport for children in the country. Development plans for elite football in the U-14, U-16 and girls U-12 categories have been set in place, as well as a retention programme.
The success garnered by FAS is a result of team effort through partnership and collaboration with the media, sponsors and government support in promoting the game that has also seen the inclusion of parents, teachers and volunteers within the community.
Aside from grassroots, coach education has been given attention as well. FAS holds the record of one of the Member Associations with the most number of qualified coaches with 600 ‘C’ licensed coaches, 154 ‘B’ licensed coaches, 58 ‘A’ licensed coaches and 24 ‘Pro’ licensed coaches under its wing.
