By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Nov 10: Nurturing local talent in football through active academies and competitions is vital to creating a strong foundation for the development of young athletes.
Kuching Division Football Association (KDFA) president, Datuk Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman, said to achieve this, the association has a first phase long-term plan which is to encourage and provide support for local football academies.
According to him, the first phase involves creating excitement and improving player awareness in football.
“We aim to establish competitions that will help academies become more active in training players, which will then help identify potential talent for Kuching City FC, starting with the Under-17s,” he told reporters.
He said this during the semi-final matches of the PETRONAS Youth Football Closed Tournament at the Sarawak Stadium today.
He said although implementation of the first phase could take from one to two years, the focus will be on the growing pool of local talent.
“The more teams we have, the greater the pool of players we can tap into,” he added.
On the same note, Fazzrudin said in addition to supporting the academies, the Kuching Football Association also assists by organising competitions, coaching training courses, and even providing equipment to participating academies.
“Once the academies are more active, the rest of the football ecosystem will naturally fall into place, creating a sustainable pipeline of players for Kuching City FC and beyond,” he said. — DayakDaily
