The second edition of the invitational SIFF Junior International Futsal Challenge (SJIFC) which officially commenced yesterday is a good exposure for our young futsal players.
That’s according to National Futsal Coach Damon Shaw who witnessed day one of the competition yesterday at the Multipurpose Hall.
The competition featured seven teams from Australian academy futsal teams based in New South Wales.
They are fielding teams for the senior men’s category, U17, U14, U12, and U10 teams.
About 70 players from Australia along with their parents, coaches, team managers and officials are in Honiara.
They arrived on Wednesday. They were led by a former Kurukuru coach.
The challenge runs until Sunday 17th December 2023.
Star Sports managed to catch up with Futsal coach Draw who expressed excitement with the hosting of the competition for the second time this year.
He said, such competition is very important for the development of Futsal in Solomon Islands.
“This tournament is good for the little kids to get some international exposure, play futsal and make lots of friends.
“This will give the young players a good run and exposure for them as young players,” he said.
He stressed the importance for such exposure for the future development of futsal in the country.
“Some of these little ones will become national futsal players representing the country in the future.
“So the focus for this country now is to have more kids playing.
“We need development.
“We need to develop so many players and get more play time.
“Players need to keep playing and never stops learning because one day these kids will become top futsal players. This is good for Kurukuru,” he said.
When Star Sports visited the Multi-purpose Hall yesterday, competitions for the younger categories were played.
And everyone were excited.
“The atmosphere is exciting and everyone enjoyed the competition so far,” Shaw said.
As witnessed by Star Sports the local kids were excited to showcase their skills and played infront of the home crowd giving the visitors a hard time.
National football star Raphael Lea’i was also at the Multi-purpose hall to watch the competition and meet the visiting officials.
Competitions continue today and its free for the public at the Multipurpose Hall and SIFF Academy Multipurpose Hall at King George Sixth area.
By MOFFAT MAMU
