Munich boosts teen booters’ dreams

When you bring together 56 children from 23 countries, language barrier is expected.

But once they stepped on the field, football became their universal language.

Philippine representatives Miguel Basmayor, Ivy Tapiz and Catherine Bradborn were part of the 10th Allianz Junior Football Camp in Munich, Germany, last Aug. 27 to 31.

“At first, we had a hard time with interaction but everything changed when we started playing,” said Pampanga native Bradborn, whose mother is a national lawn bowling player.

The trio was chosen from 4,400 children who vied in various regional camps for players aged 14 to 16 years. A total of eight trained in Bangkok where the Asian representatives were picked.

Tapiz, who turns 16 in November, also topped a robotics competition for the AJFC participants.

“The Bangkok training was my first international trip so getting the Munich trip was a blessing,” said Tapiz, who also tried softball and volleyball in her province Dipolog.

“Watching a live FC Bayern game, meeting the players, watching them train, all those experiences are enough to last us a lifetime,” said De La Salle Zobel’s Basmayor, a former national youth member.