City under-15s paid a visit to the Singapore Disability Sport Council’s football team as part of their visit to Singapore for the Lion City Cup.
There were two teams present at the event, one for children with cerebral palsy and another for those with physical disabilities.
City’s coaching team of Scott Sellars, Kristian Wilson and Darren Bowman mixed in the City team with their Singaporean counterparts and set up a series of drills and games to put them through their paces.
After a sufficient sweat had been worked up, the lads then played a small-sided game where there were some silky touches and neat finishes from both sets of players.
The team were given a warm welcome by Fauaziah Hanim Ahmad who sits on the board of the charity with a mission to make sport inclusive for everyone.
“We don’t want to be in a situation where it’s disabled players and players – they are all just footballers,” said Fazia, a sentiment that was backed up throughout the visit.
The Academy’s head of coaching Scott Sellars reflected on an enjoyable afternoon’s play, citing the visit as an important part of the player’s development.
“We really wanted to come here to see the work that Fazia and her team were doing and we enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with these two teams.
“It’s also great for the boys’ development, not just as players but as people,” Sellers said.
Coach Zai, who used to work with the Singapore FA and has been working with the SDSC teams for the past three years, revealed just how much the players had been looking forward to City’s visit.
“This is a really special day for all of the boys – they’ve really been looking forward to it for some time and it’s great to see the boys out there having fun and great for them to have representatives of the Premier League champions here in Singapore.”
Zai’s enthusiasm radiated across the pitch as he epxlained how, like Fazia, he wanted to give something back to the local community in an area that they feel has been overlooked.
There was a real sense of fun in the afternoon, with the City team only too happy to slap high-fives, show their skills and give pointers to the Singapore team.
“Everyone knows that footballers are really well looked after, even at this age, so it’s good for them to find out just how lucky they are to be in the situation they’re in.” Sellers added.
At the end of the session Scott Sellars presented each Singapore player with a certificate to commemorate the day and the City players gave them training jerseys as mementos.
City kick-off their participation in the Lion City Cup against Vasco da Gama on Monday. City are in Group B of the competition which starts tonight with Vasco v Singapore u-15s.
