Courtesy: Canberra Times


Futsal scores in Solomons peace bid

BY Merryn Sherwood

6/01/2009

When Sydney pastor Brian Codrington went to the Solomon Islands eight years ago on a mission, he didn't expect that his background in futsal would have the potential to make the most difference.
But today in Canberra, Mr Codrington will introduce another generation of Solomon Island children to the national futsal championships.

The opportunity is part of a program that encourages the children to pick up futsal balls instead of guns.

Mr Codrington went to the Solomons to work with Samaritan's Purse, an international aid group, and to help the nation rebuild after two years of ethnic unrest.

''The mayor of Honiara said to me, 'There are a generation of kids now that have grown up on the end of machine guns and machetes,''' he said.

''They had lost a generation, he said, 'We need something for these kids.' They didn't have any organised sport for kids under 14.''

So Mr Codrington one of the pioneers of the game in Australia who has an elite futsal development centre at Dural Baptist Church in Sydney began to organise futsal games.

There is still only one international futsal court in the Solomons, in the capital Honiara, so the children play everywhere and anywhere.

''Now there are thousands of kids playing,'' Mr Codrington said.

''And we work with the outdoor soccer organisation and all the development up to 14 years of age is through futsal.''

Their program, Futsal Forging Communities, has been funded by AusAID since 2005, but it took two years to convince the Australian Government that it was worthy of support.

The program has visited eight of the Solomon Islands 10 provinces, with a ninth coming to Honiara to take part in the program.

As well as futsal, the program includes HIV/Aids education and information about healthy lifestyles. It will soon include a small business course.

''It really is a way to work with a community to provide a healthy place to live, it's using sport as a vehicle to build a community,'' Mr Codrington said.

The Solomon Islands has sent teams to the championships in Canberra since 2003. Last year, they brought an under-15 boys' and an under-16 girls' team and its open men's team, which later went on to compete at the 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

That men's team was the first group of players to come through from Mr Codrington's original program.

This week, though, the focus is on fun and providing the players with a pathway to grow through sport. It has also put them in a position to claim some pretty impressive gear.

Last night, the 10 players in the under-14 team made a stop at the Capital Football offices to buy new futsal shoes, which hasn't always been an easy task.

''The first time we came we went to shoe shops around here and they were baffled, they just have such wide feet, they were saying 'how do we get something to fit those','' Mr Codrington said.

''It's always a pretty big thing if someone goes overseas and comes back with proper futsal shoes, they are pretty sought after.''

More than 1000 players and 120 teams will take part in this year's tournament.

The 2009 National Futsal Championships opening ceremony begins at 3pm today at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena. Visit futsalnationals.com.au for more information.







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com