AmCham Indonesia Teams Up with PPIA to Co-Sponsor Youth Futsal Tournament
Players included teens from Jakarta orphanages and Special Olympics
From the Q4 Edition of The Executive Exchange Magazine
The score was only 1:0 after fifteen grueling minutes of first half play. The defensive battle was surprising given the setting. The pitch, no bigger than a regulation-sized basketball court, was a forgiving, beautiful artificial grass surface at the Grand Futsal indoor facility in Kuningan, Jakarta.Scoring was not designed to be a premium for this popular sport in Indonesia, especially among teenage players with no shortage of adrenaline or competitive juices. Futsal, as it is called internationally, is the pinball version of football (or soccer for American football aficionados who refuse to mix vocabulary with the globe’s premier sport). It is a serious sport played five-on-five, with FIFA World Cup tournaments, world championship competitions and legions of players in this football-mad world. Its popularity among youth and adults alike in urban areas of the archipelago is not surprising, given the paucity of parks and football fields and the abundance of concrete and parking lots.
Yet this futsal match was not your casual Sunday pick-up, like those often seen on the back lots of Jakarta.
This was the finals of the Pelangi Futsal 2008 Tournament, an event co-sponsored by AmCham Indonesia and by the Indonesian-American Friendship Association, or PPIA (Perhimpunan Persahabatan Indonesia-Amerika).
Other main sponsors included LIA (the English Foundation supported by PPIA), McDonald’s, PT Siwibakto Darma and the Special Olympics.
Seven teams from orphanages across Jakarta participated in the first-ever PPIA-AmCham sponsored tournament on December 6, 2008. The orphanages represented included An-Najaj, Assurur, Chairun Nissa, Desa Putera, Kampung Melayu and the Nusantara Foundation. The winning team from the Special Olympics of Indonesia (SOINA) rounded out the competition. Each team brought eight players.
The offensively-challenged first half was a combination of nerves, strong technical play on both sides of the ball, and intense competition. Perhaps due to tired defensive legs from multiple matches over three plus hours, the game’s offense came alive in the second half, as the victors, Mumammadiyah, scored three unanswered goals to take the championship trophy by a score of 4:2.
All the teams received trophies, presented at a final ceremony by U.S. Ambassador and Honorary President of AmCham, Cameron Hume.Yet to call this only a “tournament” would have discounted the true value of the event. It was an opportunity for underprivileged kids (most aged 15-18) to play in organized matches on an enclosed, lined pitch with uniforms, shin pads, referees, and scorekeepers, perhaps for the first time in their lives. For the Special Olympics team, it was a chance to give kids often excluded from society the same thrills and opportunity -- a show of confidence often denied them even before they set foot on the pitch of life.
In between games, the organizers staged various skills competitions to the delight of on-lookers. In one particular drill, players tried to stay afoot and shoot a straight penalty kick through a small cardboard goal after spinning around a cone three times.
And perhaps the biggest thrill came even before the action got underway – a coaching clinic led by two players from the Indonesian national team. Some players were able to step forward and showcase their street-hardened, technical skills with the famous footballers.
Plans are to make the futsal tournament a regular occurrence. “This is our first [futsal] event with the hope of having one or two per year,” explained Vera Djuliarso, director of PPIA, the organizer of the event. The continued support of AmCham will go a long way towards reaching that goal.
When asked how the tournament could be expanded, AmCham Indonesia Governor and Deputy Chairman of PPIA Second Deputy, Jim Filgo commented, “We hope to invite American [and international] teams and include more elementary school kids.” Encouraging cultural exchange at the adolescent level is the primary goal. Getting more ex-pat kids to connect with the Indonesia community is consistent with PPIA’s aim to foster friendship and understanding across cultures. And if Filgo’s vision of an international tournament is realized, expect even lower-scoring, more competitive affairs.(Photos copyright AmCham Indonesia)
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