The 25th Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament 2023: Nghia Dan Children's School determined to reach the final

Practice hard

Present at Nghia Dan district stadium, witnessing the training session of young players under the guidance and enthusiastic instruction of the coaching team, in the hot weather up to nearly 40 degrees Celsius, we felt more and more the will and enthusiasm of the children in training.

Young players warm up before entering the field. Photo: Minh Thai

12 players of the Nghia Dan Children's Team, aged 10 and 11, officially participated in the 2023 Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth Football Tournament, carefully selected from communes and towns. The young players all have good physiques and have good football skills. However, they have not practiced together much, so the problem that needs to be solved is to increase their understanding. The team practices 2 hours a day so that the players can improve their physical strength and maintain their ball sense until the tournament starts. The coaches constantly remind them about safety and avoiding injuries.

Hoang Cong Tuan from Nguyen Lam village, Nghia Lam commune said: Myself and my friends feel very honored to represent our district to participate.Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children Football Tournament 2023After a period of training, we are mentally and physically ready to step onto the field with the spirit of playing our best, trying to achieve the best results in each match."

Players practice to improve their shooting skills. Photo: Minh Thai

After the warm-up exercises, the team was divided into groups to practice tactical coordination. The "attacks" were instructed by the coaching staff to be practiced smoothly, which were small coordination in the middle, 2 wings and fixed situations. After practicing all the exercises, the students played games according to the training plan of the coaching staff to relax their bodies and prepare for new exercises. Le Quang Thuong was very excited to participate for the first time. Quang Thuong confidently shared: "I am very happy to participate in this year's tournament, I will try my best to bring glory to my district."

The young players were engrossed in their training sessions, while the coaches followed them closely to adjust each technical move. Outside the field, many parents, after dropping their children off at the field, stayed behind as regular spectators to watch the activities of both teachers and students. An eager training atmosphere was truly taking place here.

Mr. Dao Anh Thu, whose son Dao Minh Anh was selected to join the team for training, said: “Our house is about 25km from the district, but every day I take my son there regularly, not letting him miss any training session. In sports competitions, I always want my son and the team to achieve the highest results, but in football it is difficult to predict anything. Therefore, no matter what the team's results are, I believe that being able to enter the field and feel the enthusiastic cheers of the fans and parents is a beautiful memory in the children's lives.”

Aim for the final

With a spirit of enthusiastic training and high determination, the young players of Nghia Dan district are determined to bring home the prize. Photo: Minh Thai

At present, the whole team is racing against time to achieve the best physical strength and form on the opening day of the qualifying round. Head coach Truong Van Minh - who has many years of experience leading the Nghia Dan district team said: The Nghe An Newspaper Cup Youth - Children's Football Tournament is a tournament that gathers all the talents of teenagers and children in the province and is highly competitive. Therefore, the player selection process is also carried out early and thoroughly. Up to this point, we have shaped the playing style for the players. Although many players are participating in the match for the first time, however, with their love for the king sport, along with the encouragement of the audience, and the support from family and friends, the young players are very confident and always ready with the highest spirit to enter the battle.

“Many players, even though they live 25-30 km away from the training site such as Nghia Mai, Nghia Yen, Nghia Loc communes..., do not hesitate to return to the training ground every day. That makes us, the coaches, appreciate and devote ourselves to training and nurturing them so that they have more motivation and passion for football. It is worth mentioning that compared to previous years, the physique and physical condition of this year's players are better. The whole team is training, aiming for the season with the determination to pass the qualifying round and reach the final round,” added head coach Truong Van Minh.

This year's Nghia Dan Children's Team has uniformity in both physique and football playing technique. Photo: Minh Thai

Unlike previous years, this year the training conditions are also much better, from the field to the supporting equipment, thanks to which the quality of the training sessions has been improved. Mr. Luong Ba Vien - Deputy Director of the Center for Sports, Culture and Information of Nghia Dan district said: We have built an early and specific training plan, assigned staff in charge to work with a high sense of responsibility, ready and proactive to compete. With the determination and competitive spirit of the whole team, we always believe that the Nghia Dan District Children's Football Team will achieve high results at the Youth - Children's Football Tournament of Nghe An Newspaper Cup in 2023".

Minh Thai