Former FC Bayern Munich legend Giovane Elber conducted a football clinic with the Tuloy Foundation kids at the Tuloy Sa Don Bosco, Alabang in Muntinlupa last Saturday.
A total of 27 aspiring football players, from ages 15 to 18, participated in the clinic, with Elber, together with Allianz PNB, aiming to instill the passion of football for the aspiring football players.
The clinic began with dribbling skills’ training, where Elber showed off his professional skills which brought “oohs” and “aahs” from the kids. This was followed by an exhibition match.
At the start of the exhibition game, he demonstrated his blinding fast dribbling skills and managed to slice through the kids’ defenses with ease, but never attempted to shoot for a goal.
After the exhibition match, his parting advice to the kids was to always demonstrate teamwork, citing football legends such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as examples, and the deep playoff runs of Croatia and France.
“Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo can help any team, but if you see Croatia and France, they did well in the World Cup because of teamwork,” Elber said. “If you play as a team, you will win.”
For aspiring young Filipino football players, he advised them to never neglect their education.
“To train to become a footballer you cannot forget about school. School has to come first,” he said.
After the clinic, he chose the best offensive and best defensive players in the match consisting of two boys and two girls.
He was also set to attend the third Allianz National Youth Futsal Invitational on Sunday in Calamba, Laguna where he was scheduled to award the Luzon representatives of the Allianz Explorer Camp to be held in Singapore and Munich in August.
During his FC Bayern Munich stint, he scored a total of 150 goals in 266 games. He also had four Bundesliga titles and a Champions’ League trophy under his belt.